If you reintroduce wolves to a state they once roamed, the chances of them sticking around are pretty good. And Grand County, Colorado appears to be a new emerging “wolf hot spot,” according to the Coloradoan. 

Ranchers have spotted wolves there over the past two months, generally “where Grand, Routt, and Jackson counties meet.”

“We know what is happening because we are out there, and from what we are seeing, that is the new hot spot for wolves with five or six in that area,” said Tim Ritschard, a Grand County rancher and president of the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association.

The area spans the Gore and Rabbit Ears ranges between Kremmling, Toponas and Steamboat Springs, bordered by portions of U.S. Highway 40 and Colorado highways 131 and 134. Current wolf activity confirms wolf presence in this specific area between Sept. 24 and Oct. 22. This is the same area where wolf 2307 was found dead on public land back on Sept. 10. The necropsy is still in-process.

The new “hot spot” is also the location of several wolf depredations, which were confirmed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, according to the Coloradoan; however, ranchers say that CPW no longer publicly identifies wolf locations or whether livestock depredation was a result of a wolf encounter. (Click here for a full list of confirmed wolf depredations.)

Because cattle have been moved out of higher grazing areas as winter approaches, Ritschard anticipates wolves doing the same.

“So now it’s a matter (of) if we see the wolves down on our low country,” said Ritschard.

The latest CPW wolf activity map has wolves moving back into drainages in the middle of Jackson County and across the line to western Larimer County. The map shows wolves are north of Interstate 70, for the most part, though, since their release, three of the 10 have died and a female and four of her pups from the Copper Creek pack are currently in a holding facility.

Stay tuned to GOHUNT for further updates.