In February, the majority of Colorado’s gray wolves continued to explore the northwest corner of the state while a lone wolf continued in the southwest. 

This is according to the latest map from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, which shows the collared wolves activity between Jan. 21 and Feb. 25. It shows that there was wolf activity in watersheds connecting portions of Rio Blanco, Moffat, Garfield, Mesa, Routt, Jackson, Summit, Eagle, Grand and Pitkin counties. 

It also shows continued activity in the watersheds connecting the southwest counties of Colorado, including Park, Teller, Fremont and Chaffee. In last month’s map, Colorado Parks and Wildlife reported this activity was connected to exploration by one female wolf. 

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To give a general sense of where the wolves have been, the map shows the Colorado watersheds where at least one GPS point from the wolves’ collars has been recorded. 

Between January and February’s watershed maps — as Colorado’s wolf population nearly doubled with the introduction of 15 wolves from British Columbia and the release of the five Copper Creek pack members that had been in captivity — the movements stretch across more watersheds in all directions. 

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This is the first map that has shown a full 30 days of activity of the 20 wolves released in January. 

According to Parks and Wildlife, neither individuals nor groups of wolves have settled in any particular areas so far. 

“We’re getting some big movements of some animals,” said Brad Banulis, Parks and WIldlife’s senior terrestrial biologist in its northwest region, at the agency’s regional Sportsperson’s Caucus in Grand Junction on Tuesday, Feb. 18. “We’re also seeing some animals that really aren’t moving much from their release (sites).”

Currently, there are 28 wolves in Colorado that have collars. Parks and Wildlife has functioning collars on all 22 surviving wolves it has brought from British Columbia and Oregon, on four of the Copper Creek Pack pups released back into the wild in January, and on two wolves that entered Colorado from Wyoming in 2021. 

In February, Parks and Wildlife also confirmed the presence of at least two additional uncollared wolves in the state. 

One was confirmed to be exploring Moffat County. After periodic reports and wolf sightings in the area, a scat sample revealed that while it was indeed a wolf, it did not match the DNA of any of Colorado’s reintroduced wolves. 

The agency also reported that an uncollared wolf — not part of reintroduction efforts nor the one exploring Moffat County — was responsible for the death of a cow in Jackson County on Feb. 5. 

The fifth Copper Creek wolf pup also remains uncollared after evading capture last fall. The agency has given little public indication of its whereabouts, other than to report it was not in Jackson County in early February when the cow was killed. It stated the pup was “confirmed to be in another location of the state.” 

Having this many wolves collared is a “phenomenal number” to be able to monitor the overall population, Banulis said last week. 

“But, in reality, that’s only going to last so long,” he said. “Hopefully, these collars will last about 2.5 years from a battery life standpoint without any other issues associated with damage or anything.” 

Travis Duncan, the statewide public information officer for Parks and Wildlife, told the Aspen Times that this type of migration from other states will always be a possibility. As the numbers grow — through future reintroductions as well as naturally — how the agency tracks the animals will also shift. 

“As wolf population numbers grow it will be difficult to know a precise number of wolves in the state from each den, migrations from other states, and mortalities,” Duncan said. 

With this growth, the agency will conduct and release a minimum count of the state’s wolf population each winter, Duncan added.