Folks around Montana are reacting to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks' new wolf hunt plan. It eliminates the quota, allows trapping, and increases the number of wolves a hunter can take.

Many hunters say it's about time, but wildlife advocates are getting ready to fight the new rules.

Footloose Montana, an anti-trapping group, says the rules will endanger other threatened species, as well as hikers and pets.

Volunteer Connie Paton says a host of other wildlife advocates are prepared to sue the state over the new regulations.

"There’s no way to monitor all the traps,” says Paton. “There are tens of thousands of traps, now we're going to have another layer of nine inch steel traps that makes it totally unsafe for any human to go out in the back country."

Hunting organizations say the new regulations are exactly what Montana needs. Mark Holyoak with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation says wolves have a place in Montana, but he says there needs to be a balance.

"This plan is what is needed right now in Montana,” says Holyoak. “The reason is because there's a booming population of a certain predator right now, and in order to bring that back down to regular levels, where the mountain lion is, where the grizzly bear is, and where the big game species are, yes, this needs to take place."

For a link to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks' wolf hunt regulations, click here.