In 1915 America's Congress appropriated $125,000 (equivalent to $4m today) for the purpose of "destroying wolves, coyotes, and other animals injurious to agriculture". By the 1930s there were essentially no wolves in the western United States, though some survived in the upper Midwest. It was not until the 1990s that a few—at first imported from Canada—were reintroduced. Around 2,600 now roam between Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The grey wolf in the Northern Rockies was first delisted from federal protection in 2011, allowing hunting.
In August 2025 Montana's fish and wildlife commission authorised a quota for hunters and trappers of 452 grey wolves, equivalent to two-fifths of the state's estimated population. A single Montanan hunter can get a licence to kill up to 30 wolves, split between a 15-wolf hunting permit and a 15-wolf trapping permit. On private land, hunters can use thermal rifle scopes. The eventual aim is to reduce the population to 450, the lowest sustainable level as determined by a 1987 plan to guide the species's reintroduction. Montana's governor, Greg Gianforte, has backed higher quotas, bounties of up to $1,000 per kill and trapping methods such as neck snares.
Despite the political heat, fewer than 2% of licensed hunters kill a wolf. Ranchers receive compensation for livestock lost to wolves.
Occam's eraser: The philosophical principle that even the simplest solution is bound to have something wrong with it.