Decision could allow more wolf deaths

Idaho hunters may be able to shoot more wolves than originally planned.

With the state’s wolf population expected to exceed 1,000 by fall, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission decided Thursday to allow 428 wolf deaths – 100 more than initially discussed.

The 428 figure includes all types of mortality – hunting, natural, accidental trapping and wolves killed when they prey on livestock. When the limit is reached, the state’s wolf hunt would cease.

“We’re looking at a wolf population today at least five times above the federal management standards,” said Cal Groen, Fish and Game Department director. “We made a great history today. … We can now be managers of the wolves.”

The mortality rates adopted by the commission would return Idaho’s wolf populations to 2005 levels. Groen said the packs need to be thinned to protect elk herds and reduce livestock deaths.

“If you look at the number of packs getting into trouble, it’s more than doubled,” he said.

But the fate of Idaho’s first managed wolf hunt may depend on what happens next week in a Missoula courtroom.

Twelve environmental groups are asking for a temporary injunction reinstating Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies.

The groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in April. The suit said the estimated 1,500 wolves roaming the Northern Rockies is still too low to promote healthy, self-sustaining wolf populations. Craig Noble, a spokesman for the Natural Resource Defense Council, said 2,000 to 5,000 wolves are needed to ensure genetic diversity.

The states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming intervened in the case in a move to fend off court action that would halt public hunts.

“I’m not here to cry wolves,” said Cameron Wheeler, a wheat farmer from Ririe and chairman of Idaho’s Fish and Game Commission. But if the injunction stops hunting, “we could have 1,700 to 1,800 wolves in this state” before the court battle is resolved, he said.

Idaho’s wolf management plan calls for wolf populations that “fulfill their ecological role” without affecting sustainable harvests of other game, including elk. Each Idaho wolf, on average, eats 14 to 18 deer and elk per year, according to state wildlife managers.

“If you have 1,000 wolves taking 16,000 elk, that’s too many,” said Tony McDermott, a Fish and Game commissioner from Sagle.

For the next five years, Idaho’s wolf management plan calls for keeping populations at 500 to 700 animals. However, “we’re not even sure that we can get there through hunting,” McDermott said.

Between 50 percent and 70 percent of Idaho’s deer hunters have expressed interest in buying $10.50 wolf tags, which go on sale in July. But wildlife managers are predicting low success rates for hunters getting a wolf – perhaps as low as 3 percent to 5 percent.

About 5 percent of Idaho hunters with black bear tags kill one, compared with a 20 percent success rate for elk hunters.

Hunters with wolf tags might be successful in the open country of Southern Idaho or even in the Panhandle, McDermott said.

“In the heart of Idaho’s wilderness,” he said, “it will be extremely difficult to shoot a wolf.”