Long trek: One wolf's journey across southwest Montana leads to fatal end

In 2022 a male wolf that was captured and fitted with a GPS collar south of Dillon decided to take a long hike through some of Montana’s most spectacular wild country.

If the wolf had hitchhiked a ride in an automobile, the distance covered is close to 300 miles. But those miles don’t reflect the elevation gains and losses of climbing up and over the mountain ranges. They also don’t tally the rivers that course through the landscape, including the Madison, Gallatin, Yellowstone and Clarks Fork Yellowstone.

Unfortunately, we only know all of this because the wolf made a decision that proved fatal.

With me today is Brett French, Outdoors Editor for the Billings Gazette, to tell the story of this lone wolf’s trek.

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Montana Untamed, hosted by Thom Bridge, covers the state's rugged landscape from hook and bullet to policy and science.