Current numbers: 9
Pack status: Active. Designated in 2013.
The Carpenter Ridge Pack was formed by wolves that split off from the Smackout Pack in northeast Washington. They were known to have had at least two pups in 2014, but in 2015, there were only two wolves sighted in the pack.
At the end of 2018, the family was made up of 11 wolves, including a breeding pair. One wolf from the family was collared by state wolf biologists in January 2019. In November 2019, a collared male wolf (W87M) from the pack dispersed into eastern Montana. He was then killed in a legal wolf hunt in Montana’s Little Belt Mountains.
In 2019, nine wolves including a successful breeding pair were confirmed in the pack.
A two-year-old female was collared in July 2020, and she dispersed north. In an area just west of the Smackout Pack territory, she formed a new pack called the Onion Creek Pack.
In 2020, six wolves and a successful breeding pair were confirmed in the pack. In 2021, four wolves were confirmed, and then five wolves were confirmed in 2022. One wolf from the pack was illegally killed in 2022. This killing was under investigation until the statute of limitations expired in 2024.
Nine wolves were confirmed in 2023. In May, WA155M from the Leadpoint pack was collared as a yearling, and he dispersed to the Carpenter Ridge range.
In 2024, nine wolves, including a successful breeding pair, were confirmed, with two wolves dispersing from the pack. Wolf WA148F dispersed from the Carpenter Ridge territory in March 2024 before localizing near Creston, British Columbia, in May, while wolf WA149M dispersed to the Dirty Shirt territory between November and December.
Photos
Useful Links
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife – Carpenter Ridge Pack
