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The West, without the filter.

Morning. Coffee's on, let's get into it. Big week in the West — Montana just admitted it's been overcounting wolves for years, Oregon hunters dodged a bullet, and a couple of YouTube "hunters" back east just proved a point I've been making for a while.

In this edition:

Montana FWP released its 2025 Annual Wolf Report, and the headline number is a gut check: the state's updated population model (iPOM 2.0) now puts wolves at roughly 725 animals statewide — down from the old model's estimate of 1,094. That's not because a third of the wolves vanished overnight. The old model was overcounting, likely for years, and the new one shows the population has actually been declining since 2013.

FWP's response: cut the harvest quota from last year's 450 (hunters and trappers took 247) to a proposed 250 for the 2026-27 season.

Here's my read. This is what wildlife management is supposed to look like — the data changed, so the quota changed. Nobody dug in to defend the old number because it was politically convenient. If you hunt wolves in Montana, a tighter quota stings. But a management agency willing to correct its own model is worth more to hunters long-term than an inflated population estimate that eventually gets used against us in court or on a ballot. Speaking of which...

If you want a say: public comment is open through August 12, and the Fish and Wildlife Commission votes on the proposal August 19. Details at fwp.mt.gov.

Sources: Daily Montanan | Flathead Beacon | Daily Inter Lake

Initiative Petition 28 — the so-called PEACE Act, which would have criminalized hunting, fishing, ranching, and most animal agriculture in Oregon — will not appear on the November ballot. The Secretary of State's office finished signature verification Friday: the campaign needed 117,173 valid signatures and came up with 104,262. Short by about 13,000.

Good. But don't get comfortable. This was the petitioner's third attempt, and it's the closest he's come — close enough that even Governor Kotek felt the need to publicly exhale. The measure didn't fail because Oregonians rejected the idea at the polls; it failed on signature math. The people behind it will be back, in Oregon or Colorado or Washington, and next time they'll be better organized. The lesson from every one of these fights is the same: the side that shows up early wins. If you live in a Western state, know who's filing ballot initiatives and when. By the time it qualifies, you're playing defense.

Sources: Willamette Week | KOIN

Two Columbus-area YouTubers behind the channel Creek Kings Outdoors — William Bethel, 28, and Justin Booth, 23 — pleaded guilty to a combined 40 wildlife charges after poaching whitetails from 2019 through 2024, much of it inside Three Creeks Metro Park and on private ground where they had no permission. They filmed it, posted it, and even claimed on camera that some of the deer came from Kentucky. Ohio DNR's investigation found those bucks were killed illegally in Ohio. "Investigation" might be generous when the evidence has a subscribe button.

The sentence: about $29,000 in restitution, another $7,800 in fines, nine days in jail, five years of probation, and hunting, fishing, and trapping privileges revoked for five years.

I'll say the quiet part out loud: this is the endpoint of a content culture that rewards the kill shot over everything else. When your income depends on dead animals on camera, every season becomes a supply problem. Most content hunters don't poach. But the incentive structure — bigger bucks, more content, faster — bends people, and these two bent all the way. Eighteen years of guiding taught me that the guys who need the fish or the animal the most are the ones most likely to cut corners to get it.

Nine days in jail for a five-year scheme. That's the part worth being mad about.

Sources: ODNR release via Richland Source | Fox 56 / Nexstar (penalty details)

⏰ North Dakota pronghorn — apply by August 5. Game and Fish is offering 1,310 licenses across 18 units this fall, flat from last year even though summer aerial surveys (15,292 miles flown) showed the herd up 12%. They're deliberately holding harvest conservative to keep the growth going. Residents only, lottery draw, applications due by midnight August 5 at gf.nd.gov.

🐻 Tahoe bears are breaking and entering at record pace. South Lake Tahoe police have logged 174 bear calls so far this year versus 97 over the same stretch last year — nearly double — with multiple bears getting inside occupied homes. California's black bear population is now estimated around 60,000, triple what it was in the '90s, and residents are spending thousands on electric mats and reinforced doors. A fed bear is a dead bear, and Tahoe keeps proving it at scale. Fox News

🐻 Grizzly mauls hiker on Anchorage-area trail. A woman was attacked on an overgrown social trail above the Bear Valley neighborhood bordering Chugach State Park — a classic surprise encounter, with the bear coming out of thick alders at close range. She was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries; one of the group's three dogs was off leash and got separated in the chaos. High winds likely masked their noise. A reminder as berry season ramps up: brushy trails, wind, and loose dogs are a bad combination in brown bear country. Anchorage Daily News

The Montana wolf story and the Ohio poaching story are the same story, told two ways. One is an institution correcting itself when the numbers demanded it. The other is two guys who decided the numbers — bag limits, seasons, boundaries — didn't apply to them because a camera was rolling. Hunting's future in the West gets decided by which of those instincts the public associates with us.

See you next week.

— Matt

Western Vantage is written by a former Columbia River fishing guide who spent 18 years on the water and now spends his time in the Idaho backcountry. No sponsors, no filter.

Forward this to a buddy who hunts. That's how we grow.