Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials have confirmed a calf killed on a Jackson County ranch over the weekend was the result of a gray wolf attack.
Jackson County rancher Don Gittleson owned the calf that was killed by wolves — one of several incidents his family has reported to CPW in recent years.
“It was eaten up quite a bit, and judging by some of the stuff on the calf, I suspect the calf wasn’t completely dead when they were eating on it,” Gittleson said. “That has kind of been the case with most of them.”
Gittleson said he could not be sure if one wolf or multiple wolves were responsible for the most recent confirmed depredation on his land, but a couple of days before he discovered the calf’s carcass, he saw a single gray wolf in the area while driving his grandson to school.
Gittleson also said he is familiar with a single, male gray wolf involved in prior depredation events on his livestock, but he added that he has also observed a pair of wolves around his property in recent weeks that appeared to be traveling together — and who he suspects are part of the 10 wolves relocated as part of the state’s reintroduction effort.
“(That wolf) is traveling by himself, so that is kind of how I recognize him,” Gittleson said. “I wouldn’t say that I can look up and see a wolf and know it’s him. We do recognize his footprint, although there’s going to be others now that have a print the same size as his.”
A CPW spokesperson did not provide additional information on Tuesday related to the depredation at Gittleson’s ranch over the weekend.
Data provided on the wildlife agency’s website shows the confirmed wolf depredation Saturday at Gittleson’s ranch was the second such incident reported in Colorado in May, and the eighth since the state relocated 10 wolves from Oregon to Colorado in December. The other six incidents occurred in April.
Combined, the eight confirmed incidents have resulted in the deaths of five calves and five head of cattle.
The state wildlife agency reimburses individuals for damages caused by gray wolves to livestock, and livestock guard animals under a policy whereby livestock producers must submit a claim to be eligible for compensation for the fair market value of their livestock lost to confirmed wolf depredations.
Since the state’s voter-mandated reintroduction effort began in December, only one claim has been processed in the amount of $1,514. The funds were paid to a Jackson County rancher for a confirmed depredation incident on April 7, according to CPW.
As of Tuesday afternoon, CPW’s gray wolf depredation database showed the agency had not yet received a claim for the wolf attack this weekend, nor had it received claims for the other six wolf attacks confirmed in 2024.
Gittleson said he thought the lack of claims received by CPW this year was likely a product of market forces.
Under the process, he said, a rancher must file a notice of the wolf depredation within 10 days of the incident. A claim on the livestock can be filed based on the previous year’s market, or a rancher can wait until the fall to make the claim based on those prices.
“The way the market is right now, it would be in your best interest to wait until this fall because cattle prices are very high and they are probably not going to get any lower,” Gittleson said.
Prior to the wolf reintroduction, CPW recorded 13 confirmed wolf depredation events between December 2021 and November 2023.
Those pre-wolf reintroduction incidents saw the loss of six head of cattle, seven calves, three dogs and three sheep, resulting in the state’s wildlife agency paying a combined $39,892 to the ranchers.
CPW released 10 gray wolves on public land in Summit and Grand counties in December. All of those wolves, along with two male wolves captured in the North Park area in February 2023, wear collars allowing the wildlife agency to track their whereabouts.
The collars record the wolves’ location every four hours, but CPW has reported at least two of the collars attached to the animals prior to their December release have failed.
The state’s wildlife agency releases a map each month showing which watersheds that the collared wolves have traveled in, but the activity does not mean wolves are present throughout the entire area. The most recent map depicts watersheds in which collared wolves have traveled between April 23 and May 21, and shows the animals explored similar territory as they have in the past with some exceptions.
Whilewolf activity has been in the Middle Blue River watershed,which ends on the north side of Dillon Reservoir in Summit County, the most recent map is the first that indicates activity in the Upper Blue River watershed.
Alongside the wolf depredations reports in recent months, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials confirmed in April the death of one of the 10 reintroduced wolves relocated from Oregon. Federal officials said the wolf, which was found dead in Larimer County in mid-April, was likely killed in a mountain lion attack.
Summit Daily Digital Engagement Editor Shelby Reardon contributed to this report.
Trevor Ballantyne is the city government and housing reporter. To reach him, call 970-871-4254 or email him at tballantyne@SteamboatPilot.com.
