Exploration continues in similar northwestern counties  

In October, Colorado’s collared wolves continued to explore several of the state’s northwestern counties.

According to the most recent map released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, which shows their activity from Sept. 24 to Oct. 22, the wolves continued to move primarily around portions of Routt, Jackson, Eagle, Summit, Grand and Larimer counties.

The map uses Colorado’s watershed boundaries to show where wolves have been detected.

While these are predominantly the same counties the gray wolves have been detected in the 10 months since reintroduction, this most recent map shows less exploration in the watersheds in Eagle and Rio Blanco counties and more in watersheds within Jackson, Routt and Larimer counties than last month.

This includes GPS detection in the watershed around Steamboat Springs and the northwestern reaches of Larimer County where they were not detected last month.

In addition to the eight wolves that remain in the wild — six from the 10 reintroduced in December and two in Colorado before reintroduction — Parks and Wildlife spotted an additional uncollared wolf in Grand County in September.

The agency identified the wolf as a fifth pup from the Copper Creek pack that was captured and relocated to a sanctuary in late August and early September. While Parks and Wildlife attempted to capture the approximately 6-month-old wolf for 19 nights, it failed, so the pup remains in the wild.

The Copper Creek Pack’s other four wolf pups as well as the adult female remain in captivity. Parks and Wildlife expects to release the pups back into the wild this winter. The adult male from this pack died in captivity four days after its capture. The cause of death is still being investigated.