With only a few days remaining before the end of Montana’s general wolf-hunting season on March 15, a record 315 wolves have been harvested across the state, with the bulk of them taken before cold temperatures and heavy snows made hunting and trapping conditions more difficult.

As of March 10, preliminary results from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP), the agency tasked with managing the elusive predators, indicate that hunters harvested 165 wolves and trappers killed 130. Train and automobile collisions were responsible for three mortalities, according to FWP.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services Division killed eight wolves after investigating reports of…