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The 2011-2012 wolf hunting season in Montana fell short of achieving the quota of 220 wolves.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks reports that a total 166 wolves were harvested during the season in 14 separate wolf hunting units across the state.

Ron Aasheim of MT FWP said, "Certainly what we heard during the general season was a lot of it was incidental. Maybe people even passed up chances because they were hunting elk and didn't want to spook elk or deer. Again, we learned. We are still trying to learn what are the best ways to get to that quota that we established."

Mike Garrity of Alliance of the Wild Rockies said, "We are disappointed. We went to court seeking to stop the wolf hunting. We asked for an injunction. We haven't gotten it, but the court hasn't ruled in our case yet. We think that Congress acted unconstituitonally when they passed a rider delisting wolves. For the first time ever they used a rider to delist a species."

Bob Gibson of MT FWP noted, "Right around Billings here and in the Beartooths, Absarokas, and clear over to Bozeman was closed because that quota was met. The quota was not met in southwestern Montana...in the Butte area and going up the Bitterroot to Missoula and through the Flathead."

On Friday, the FWP Commission will decide if it will extend the wolf hunting season in western Montana's Bitterroot Valley, where this year's harvest fell far short of expectations.