Control wolf habitation. Even Native American tribes that venerate wolves will kill them if they move into tribal hunting grounds or land.
Herd protection.
Get that sweet, sweet trophy. The grey wolf has been on the endangered species list since 2014 and was removed in 2020. This is the first time in six years they could be hunted and the number of licenses is low so being able to hunt a wolf is not the same as hunting deer. They are difficult to hunt so there are some bragging rights to bringing one down. You’re not just going to pour its pee on yourself and hide in a tree waiting for one to walk by.
Daddy wolf does any number of things to give momma wolf a headache. Leaves the toilet seat up. Can’t find something. Forgets the birthday, anniversary, etc… Honestly answers “do these jeans make me look fat?”, Doesn’t refill the toilet paper. Typical male wolf stuff.
Wolf populations don’t just “even out”. Not until they run out of alternative prey. And there’s these giant fenced in yards full of fat, slow deer. Then there are the slow little cotton ball shaped deer…
Wolves are predators … they kill ungulates in large numbers, particularly the newborn. When they have killed off large numbers of ungulates the population crashes. As a result, many wolves starve to death as their population crashes. Now there are both fewer ungulates and fewer wolves. Predator control is the best way to keep both populations healthy.