Wolves Reach Vail, the Avon and Breck Areas

Colorado Parks and Wildlife recently updated their wolf-tracking map, and the latest edition indicates that wolves have reached Vail, and are close to the Avon and Breckenridge areas.

The agency's latest map, updated this week, shows that wolves have already established a presence around Vail, are pressing south toward the Town of Breckenridge and have been recorded around Avon.

Of course, that might not mean they've taken up residence there, so to speak, but collars placed on wolves that were released in late December have pinged back signals indicating they have visited those areas.

CPW released 10 gray wolves onto state-owned public land in Summit and Grand counties in December.

The wolves, some of which have already died, have spread fairly quickly across parts of Northern and Central Colorado.

Here is some CPW information about the collar data:

• Currently, the collars are programmed to record a position every four hours.
• Once four locations are recorded, the packet of four locations is then transmitted via satellite to CPW biologists.
• Some factors, such as dense cloud cover and closed terrain, can delay the frequency of position recording and data transmission.
• By looking at the data, CPW staff can learn where wolves have been, but they cannot tell where wolves are at a current point in time, nor can they predict where the wolves will go.
• To protect the wolves, specific GPS data will not be shared.

Notable Updates:

• This map was created using GPS data from all functioning collars in Colorado.

• ​Two of the ten collars placed on wolves translocated in December are no longer providing signals to CPW biologists. This includes the collar that failed in March and an additional collar that was partially functional in March but has since failed. The animals with the failed collars are traveling with other animals with functional collars, which currently allows CPW to monitor those animals.

• Wolf 2303-OR was found deceased on April 18, 2024, in Larimer County. The initial necropsy report found the cause of death was trauma, consistent with predation. The full necropsy was performed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which will release the final report upon completion. ​

For more information on wolves in Colorado, go here .

To report a sighting of a wolf, which CPW is asking the public to do, go here .