The wolf hunting season in Montana's unit 3 is closing on Monday, 30 minutes after sunset.

Unit 3 encompasses almost the entire southern half of Montana, including portions of Cascade, Judith Basin, Lewis & Clark, and Fergus Counties.

The quota of 12 wolves was reached yesterday during opening day of the General Hunting season.

Nine wolves from Unit 3 were taken during the backcountry season, and four more were harvested yesterday, making it a total of 13 wolves taken from the Southern Montana unit.

The state quota will remain at 75 wolves, meaning that one less wolf will be taken in either Unit 1 or Unit 2. A total of 23 wolves have been taken state-wide.

Carolyn Sime, the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' wolf program coordinator, said a successful wolf hunting program will depend on communication and cooperation with hunters, and that so far, everything is going smoothly.

Sime says the issue remains controversial, as some groups feel wolf hunting is the wrong way to manage wolves, while others believe the state quota of 75 is too low.