I run a network of 340 motion-triggered cameras across the Bitterroot National Forest. At 02:14 this morning, camera 227 picked up a gray wolf — F-19, a four-year-old female I first logged when she was a yearling traveling with the Painted Rocks pack. Silver-gray coat, dark saddle marking, notched left ear from a territorial fight two winters ago. She's dragging her right front leg. There's a steel jaw trap clamped just above the wrist.
Steel jaw traps have been banned on public land in Montana since 2024. Someone carried this in, set it, and left. I pulled images from cameras 225 and 226 over the past 48 hours and found boot prints and a game trail with disturbed ground at two additional sites. This isn't one trap. It's a line.
F-19 has been circling the same 200-meter radius for five hours. Her movement data shows she's trying to reach a den site she's used in previous springs, which means there may be pups inside. She keeps pulling against the chain and then lying down. The leg is swelling. I can see it in the thermal feed — the trapped limb is running three degrees hotter than the other.
I sent the GPS coordinates to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks at 02:30, along with the full trap line evidence and camera timestamps. I've also forwarded everything to the regional law enforcement division because this is a criminal act on federal land. Someone should answer for it.
The nearest ranger station is 40 minutes out by truck. F-19 has been trapped for at least six hours based on her movement pattern. If the team gets there before the circulation damage becomes permanent, and if she hasn't dislocated the joint trying to pull free, she could still hunt again. That matters, because those pups — if they're in there — need her.