Hunters and trappers can be their own worst enemies. The World Wide Web saw red this weekend as animal rights groups took great pleasure in spreading photos of hunters and trappers posing in bloody scenes with their wolves. The most offensive features a man keeling and smiling. In the background, in a circle of snow tinted with blood, is a wolf, its tongue hanging out, its foot clamped in a leg-hold trap. Men posing with dead wolves is sufferable. In this case, the guy is mugging for the camera while the wolf suffers in the background. Then the idiot posted the photo on the Internet/Rich Landers, SR Outdoors. More here.

Question: How is it possible to find accurate information about wolves, given the hysteria promoted by both extremes?

Wolf hunting ended Saturday in most of Idaho. Hunters have bagged 372 animals since the season began in August,  cutting the state’s estimated wolf population roughly in half, according to the latest count. Idaho Fish and Game officials are pleased, while wolf advocates find the high total worrisome.  There was high interest in this year’s hunt. Idahoans and out-of-staters purchased more than 43,000 wolf tags. The individual success rate wasn’t great. But overall, Idaho wildlife manager Jon Rachael says the hunt met the state’s goals. … Idaho didn’t put a season limit on wolves killed except in select parts of the state. Conservationists worry about the effects of losing nearly 400 wolves to hunting/Jessica Robinson, Boise State Public Radio. More here. (US Fish & Wildlife photo)

Thoughts?

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission raised the bag limit on wolves and set spring chinook fishing seasons at its meeting in Boise Thursday. Commissioners approved a department proposal to raise the wolf hunting bag limit to five per calendar year, and the trapping limit to five per season in the Panhandle and Clearwater regions. But the commission also decided to extend the higher bag limits to hunters and trappers in the Middle Fork Zone. Jeff Gould, chief of the Idaho Fish and Game Department's wildlife bureau said earlier this week, the goal of the higher bag limits is to allow skilled hunters and trappers to help the state achieve its goal of shrinking wolf numbers, reducing predation on elk herds and lessen conflicts with livestock. He said allowing more wolves to be killed will reduce the population but not put it in jeopardy. … There were more than 1,000 wolves in Idaho prior to the start of the 2011 hunting season. A population survey compiled by the Nez Perce Tribe and IDFG estimated there were at least 746 wolves in the state at the end of the year/Eric Barker, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Are you comfortable that Idaho is managing its wolf population well?

Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter has offered to send Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber 150 wolves, saying his own state has a few of the predators to spare. Monday's offer came in a tongue-in-cheek letter where Otter sarcastically apologized to Kitzhaber after an Idaho hunter killed a wolf from an Oregon pack that strayed across Idaho's border to the east. On Feb. 2, the Idaho hunter killed a brother of an Oregon wolf that became a celebrity by wandering hundreds of miles into Northern California seeking a mate/AP. More here.

Question: Do you wish Idaho really could send Oregon 150 wolves?

Wolves are coming to the big screen today in “The Grey,” a man-versus-beast thriller starring Liam Neeson. When their plane crashes in Alaska’s frozen wilderness, a bunch of oil-field roughnecks fight for survival. Not only do the men combat cold and hunger, they’re stalked by a wolf pack. Film previews feature eerie howls and shots of feral eyes glinting in the darkness. When carnage ensues in this R-rated film, the wolves are usually the winners. But the movie’s portrayal of wolves as man-eaters dismays Gary Wiles. “My first reaction was, ‘Oh, no!’ ” said Wiles, a wildlife biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “It looks totally like a Hollywood-contrived movie: something to strike at people’s basic fears”/Becky Kramer, SR. More here.

Question: Will this movie affect the wolf debate?

Let's kill every wolf in Montana. Sounds like a popular idea these days among hunters. While we're at it, let's kill every grizzly bear, every black bear and every mountain lion. Throw in golden eagles, bald eagles, rattlesnakes and coyotes. We'd be left with a hunter's paradise - a state teeming with game animals and hunting opportunity, right? That's the sentiment I heard recently at a meeting on the hunting season setting proposals in Butte, where an oft-angry group of sportsmen called for large-scale killing of predators to increase the number of deer, elk and other game species. The suggestions ranged from having government trappers shoot wolves from helicopters to creating a season on eagles so they don't kill mountain goats/Nick Gevock, Montana Standard. More here.

Question: Who's more hysterical — certain hunters who want to kill all wolves or certain conservationists who want to spare all wolves?

Correction: Wild dogs attack Rottweiler in Wallace/Mike Perry, KHQ

Domestic dogs were attacked by four wolves around 6 p.m. Wednesday night on the 600 block of Burke Road, just outside Wallace. One dog died and another sustained a facial bite, said Shoshone County Sheriff Mitch Alexander, and there were many wolf tracks in the area. A neighbor reported the dog that died was a Rottweiler. Idaho Fish and Game notified residents in the area and informed them that it is legal to shoot the wolf pack. Calls made to Idaho Fish and Game official Josh Stanley about the attack weren't returned. Mullan resident Barry Sadler didn't just have his dogs attacked by wolves a few years ago - they chased his daughter into the front door and came right up on his porch. Sadler shot and killed one of the offending wolves/Kelsey Saintz, Hagadone News Network. More here.

Question: Do you still think Br'er Wolf is harmless?

Kathy Stewart calls her green van the “Wolfmobile.” She wears T-shirts and coats with pictures of wolves. She says the wolf is her guardian. So, the message she wanted to deliver to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game on Monday about wolves was not surprising. “Stop killing them.” “Get education about the wolf. Don't go out and kill it because you can,” she said before a candlelight vigil at Independence Point. Stewart, joined by husband Glen wearing his wolf T-shirt, was one of about 10 people who took part in the event organized by the Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance/Bill Buley, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here.

Question: Do you consider the small turnout an indication that wolves don't have much support in North Idaho?

From a press release: The Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance (NIWA) will conduct a candlelight vigil to honor 337 fallen Idaho and Montana wolves, and protest the war against wolves, this evening starting at 4:30 - the night of “The Full Wolf Moon.” They will gather near the Independence Point parking lot in Coeur d'Alene and walk through downtown from there. NIWA is joining Howling for Justice and Wolf Warriors to make The Candlelight Vigil for Wolves under the Full Wolf Moon a “Howl Across America” event, encouraging wolf supporters to hold their own vigils across the country on this special night/Coeur d'Alene Press. More here.

Question: Is it proper for Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance to referred to wolves killed during wolf hunts in Idaho and Montana as “fallen”?

An Idaho Department of Fish and Game official said Thursday the state will use aerial gunning and professional and government trappers to kill wolves in the Lolo Zone, even as public hunting and trapping seasons continue. Dave Cadwallader, supervisor of the department's Clearwater Region, said he wants a multipronged approach to wolf control in the difficult-to-access area where elk herds are hurting. … Idaho's wolf hunting season opened in late August, but only six wolves have been harvested in the Lolo Zone … That is far fewer than the 50 to 60 wildlife managers want to remove from the area, where elk numbers have fallen from a high of about 16,000 in the late 1980s to about 2,000 today/Eric Barker, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Is the state of Idaho acting properly in targetting Lolo Zone wolves for trapping and aerial kill?

It may be revisionist history or simply effective campaign rhetoric, but at least Rep. Phil Hart isn’t waiting long to correct the record – as he sees it. Hart, R-Athol, said yesterday that it was the Idaho Legislature’s passage of House Bill 343 that spurred Congress to remove Idaho and Montana wolves from the U.S. Endangered Species List in April and allow this year’s wolf hunt. Forget that U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, and other members of Congress and Gov. Butch Otter have worked the issue since before wolves were reintroduced in Idaho in 1995. “I was one of the main authors of the wolf emergency bill last session, which caused Congress to delist the wolves about three days after the (Idaho) Senate approved that bill,” Hart told me/Dan Popkey, Statesman. More here.

Question: Which critter above scares you most?

A St. Maries woman is convinced she’s spotted wolves within city limits. Two others are sure they’ve heard them. While deer-watching one evening Brittany Odekirk caught a glimpse of more alarming wildlife. “We have a calico deer that is white from the mid-side back and I’ve been sitting and watching for it to take some pictures and I saw the wolves instead,” she said. “I’ve been watching them now for three weeks.” The wolves run through the field on the hill across from her home at Second Street and Dakota Avenue. “I’ve seen them twice on two different days and heard them twice on two other days,” she said. “We believe it is a mom and her pups, because several of the howls are more like yips”/Mary Orr, St. Maries Gazette-Record. More here. (St. Maries Gazette photo: Brittany Odekirk and her daughter Madison stand on their back porch.)

Question: How concerned would you be about wolves if they were this close to your home?

When Mark Earls saw a shaggy, white wolf crossing a road in North Idaho’s Hoodoo Valley, he pulled out his cellphone to snap a picture of it. “What boggled him was that the wolf didn’t run away,” said his wife, Chelsea. “It didn’t appear to be afraid of him.” The wolf escaped from Wolf People, which operates a retail store on U.S. Highway 95 near Cocolalla, Idaho, and keeps captive wolves for viewing and filming, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The wolf apparently got out by digging underneath the fence, said Chip Corsi, Fish and Game’s regional manager. By some neighbors’ accounts, it has been seen in the area since June, acting like a stray dog. A captive wolf on the lam is a concern because it’s used to being around people/Becky Kramer, SR. More here.

Question: What do you make of the story Wolf People workers originally told that the wolf had died?

• Thursday Poll: A near supermajority approves of the use of trapping to reduce the number of wolves in Idaho. 74 of 116 (65.18%) agree with the decision to trap troublesome Elk City area wolves. 40 of 116 (34.48%) oppose the use of trapping to kill wolves. 2 were undecided.
• Weekend Question: How do you refer to the 5 northernmost counties: North Idaho or northern Idaho?

Trapping will be used to try to remove members of a wolf pack near Elk City and hunting outfitters working in Idaho's Lolo Elk Hunting zone will have another month to try to kill wolves there. Dave Cadwallader, supervisor of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game's Clearwater Region, said he approved the trapping effort after a wolf was killed by Idaho County deputies last weekend. Trappers from the federal Wildlife Services Agency will work with department officials, a landowner and the Idaho County Sheriff's Department to monitor the trap. In May, shortly after wolves were removed from federal protection, Cadwallader gave deputies authority to shoot wolves in and around the remote mountain hamlet/Eric Barker, Lewiston Tribune. More here. (AP file photo)

Question: Should trapping be used to thin out Idaho wolf numbers?

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game will authorize Idaho County sheriff's deputies to kill wolves causing problems and fraying nerves at Elk City. Dave Cadwallader, supervisor of the department's Clearwater Region, said a pack of about seven wolves frequenting the remote mountain town for months has killed dogs, attacked livestock and become habituated to people. “They are just hanging in and around town and they are there frequently,” he said. “It's just getting too close for comfort and I am going to go ahead and issue kill permits and the agents are going to be two deputies that live there and a couple of Fish and Game officers.” It is believed to be the first time the department has given local law enforcement agents the permission to kill wolves/Eric Barker, Lewiston Tribune. More here. (AP file photo)

Question: Is this a reasonable (only) way to handle troublesome wolves?

• Tuesday Poll: In a strange vote, as many Hucksters voted to reduce the state's wolf population to 150 or less as they did to increase the population to 1000 or more — 39 of 112 (34.82%). The rest of the votes were divide among these options for number of wolves to be allowed in Idaho: 10 (8.93%) wanted 500 to 750 wolves; 9 each (8.04%) wanted 150 to 300 and 300 to 500 wolves; and 6 (5.36%) wanted the approximate current number of 750 to 1000 wolves.
• Today's Poll: What should be done to the girls who stripped their softball teammate on a school bus?

Idaho’s Republican lawmakers know what they want to do now that the state has regained control of wolves. “We need to put as much pressure as we can on those wolves, pin them down and drive them back into the wilderness,” said Republican Sen. Monty Pearce, chairman of the Senate Resources and Environment Committee. “I think we need to thin them down rapidly.” Officials at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game believe about 1,000 wolves are in Idaho, though the official number is 705. The agency will begin work to establish a new population goal this month, with a new hunting season for wolves expected this fall. Pearce and other lawmakers don’t want the agency to wait. The New Plymouth rancher wants the season opened immediately and the state to adopt the minimum set in its 2002 Wolf Management Plan: 150 wolves/Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman. More here. (AP file photo)

Question: How many wolves do you want in Idaho, if the current number is around 1000?