Ranch Hand Kills Wolf Caught in Act, Could Face Jailtime
June 2, 2026 – The federal 10(j) rule, which Colorado has, allows ranchers and livestock owners to shoot and kill wolves caught in the act of attacking livestock, working dogs, or to protect human life and that law is about to be put to the test. The results have the attention of ranchers across the West who deal with depredations.
Miles Blumhardt has reported that an employee of the Nottingham Ranch, located in Eagle and Routt Counties, shot and killed a female wolf, the dam of the King Mountain pack, in March as the wolf was running toward cows with calves at side. Susan Nottingham said the employee shot two warning shots and shot a third before the wolf ran off. She said the employee was doing what she pays him to do- care for the cattle.
The breeding male of the same pack died during a collaring operation in January, which Nottingham said prompted the female and four pups to move to the ranch’s calving grounds where 1,100 cows were located. She said she was notified by Colorado Parks and Wildlife two to three days before the wolf was killed that the collar data put wolves between her house and her calving barn, which she said are about a mile apart.
Nottingham said she passed along the warning to her night calving help and the mounting pressure prompted one employee to quit mid-calving season. She said she doesn’t blame him. Nottingham has been compensated for three calves killed by wolves in 2025 and said numerous other depredations went unconfirmed by the agency. She was previously denied a lethal take permit over a dispute about carcass management, though a site assessment performed by CPW indicated it wasn’t a viable conflict management strategy due to the ranch’s size- nearly 20,000 acres. After spending tens of thousands of dollars to fight denials, Nottingham said she once had a longstanding positive relationship with CPW until wolves were released near her ranch. CPW has denied interview requests.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife, in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is leading an investigation into the wolf death and has not yet released details of the case. If the kill is legally justified, CPW can grant Nottingham a retroactive lethal take permit. Of not, the employee faces a $100,000 fine and a year in jail.
Source: Western Ag Network
