Wyoming Game And Fish cuts 2026 wolf cap to 22 in Yellowstone area
Wyoming Game And Fish plans to cut the 2026 wolf hunt cap in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to 22 wolves after a canine distemper outbreak reduced the state’s wolf numbers to the lowest level in two decades. Ken Mills, the department’s wolf biologist, said the overall mortality limit is half of last year’s level, and the change comes after hunters killed 31 wolves in the 2025 season under a 44-wolf maximum.
Ken Mills and the 22-wolf cap
“As far as the overall mortality limit, it’s exactly half,” Mills said. He also said, “We want to grow the population by 28 wolves.” Wyoming biologists estimated 253 wolves and 14 breeding pairs statewide at the start of 2026, down 23% and 42% from 330 wolves and 24 breeding pairs at the end of 2024.
Jackson region quota cut
The biggest cut is in the Jackson region, where Wyoming Game and Fish is proposing to reduce the limit in hunt areas 8, 9, 10 and 11 from 19 wolves to six. The department is also proposing to reduce the limit in hunt areas 6 and 7 from five wolves to no more than two. Mills said, “The wolf numbers in the Cody, Lander and Pinedale regions were relatively stable in 2025.” He added, “The largest reduction was in the Jackson region.”
Canine distemper in 2025
Wyoming’s trophy game area population fell 19% to 132 wolves in 2025, below the state’s 160-wolf objective. The disease was detected in 64% of the animals biologists handled during routine capture work last year, and the trophy game area had exactly 10 breeding pairs in 2025. Wyoming’s wolf hunting season in that area runs from Sept. 15 to Dec. 31.
The lower cap gives hunters less room in the Greater Yellowstone area while Wyoming tries to rebuild a population that remains below its management target. The proposed reductions are not uniform across the state, and the next season will be the first test of how quickly the wolf numbers respond to a smaller kill limit.
