19th–Early 20th Century: Decline
- The gray wolf was extirpated from the western United States during the 1900s, primarily due to loss of habitat and conflicts with people.
- By the 1930s, wolves were nearly eradicated from Montana through bounties and poisoning campaigns.
- While the population of wolves in Montana declined dramatically, tracks, scat, and/or observations of large canid-like animals were either reported or those animals were killed up until the 1970s. Most are thought to have been dispersers from Canada, and little to no successful breeding activity was evidenced or sustained consistently through time.
