February 17, 2010 in Outdoors, Idaho

Elusive target

Idaho’s wolf hunt leaves many tags, hopes unfulfilled

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Kathy Plonka photo

Milt Turley, who says he “fed three hungry boys” on elk he’s bagged over the years, sees wolves as competition for his favorite game.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)

AVERY, Idaho – Milt Turley wants to shoot a wolf.

He and his wife, Kay, live in close proximity to the shaggy-haired predators. Wolf tracks have appeared on the couple’s private beach along the St. Joe River, and their two Rottweilers growl when they hear wolves howling at night. Last fall, Turley shot at a young wolf that was prowling a hillside near their house, but it ran off.

Five months after buying an Idaho wolf tag, Turley’s disappointed that it’s still unfilled.

“We’re finding out that it’s damn difficult to kill a wolf,” he said.

Only six weeks remain in Idaho’s wolf hunt – the first in the state since wolves in the Northern Rockies came off the Endangered Species List. State officials say it’s unlikely that the 220-wolf quota will be met by March 31. Through Tuesday, hunters had killed 155 wolves.

“This is all new territory for us – the first regulated wolf hunt in the Lower 48,” said Jon Rachael, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s state wildlife manger.

Some wolf-hunt opponents predicted that 220 wolves would be shot during the hunt’s opening week. But wildlife managers knew it wouldn’t be that easy, Rachael said.

“It’s hard to target a wolf because they move around so much,” said Jim Hayden, Fish and Game’s regional wildlife manager for the Panhandle, where only 16 wolf tags have been filled. “I’ve talked to a number of hunters, all savvy outdoorsmen, who’ve heard them howl or seen one, but haven’t been able to harvest one.”

The mild winter also hampered hunters’ success. During the previous two winters, deep snows concentrated prey – deer and elk – in the valley bottoms, making the wolves more visible, Hayden said.

Visible or not, wolves are definitely around. As Turley drove a pickup along the St. Joe River Road earlier this month, he and Kay watched the snow-covered road for tracks. For Turley, taking a wolf would fulfill a personal goal and make a political statement, too.

The retired couple said they signed petitions supporting wolves’ reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park, but opposed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s transplant of Canadian wolves into central Idaho during the mid-1990s.

Milt Turley said wolves compete against him for his favorite meat. The 65-year-old has bagged 72 elk in the mountains of Idaho and Montana, shooting his first elk at age 11 near Pine Creek in Shoshone County. When his sons were teenagers, Turley bought tags in both states so he could fill up the freezer.

“That’s how I fed three hungry boys,” said Turley, a welder who earned a master’s degree and ran North Idaho College’s welding program for 18 years.

Even now, the couple seldom buys beef. They say it’s too fatty and lacks the flavor of wild game.

Milt Turley’s views spilled over into activism. He’s a member of “Save Our Elk,” a group that advocates removing wolves from Idaho.

Kay Turley supports her husband’s desire to take a wolf. “He’s not sick and twisted. He’s not evil and he’s not a killer,” she said.

Said Milt, “I’m just concerned that my grandkids won’t have the opportunity to hunt elk because of the predation going on.”

From the road, they spotted a wolf kill – the carcass of a cow elk lying on the ice covering the St. Joe River. Aside from one lung glistening in the snow, only the elk’s ribs, backbone and head remained. A flurry of tracks indicated that at least two wolves had chased the animal down the hillside. The blood trail led about 500 feet along the road before it veered down to the river.

“That was one big-ass wolf,” said Turley, studying a 7-inch wolf print.

Kay Turley is a retired operating room nurse, but she said that frequent sightings of blood and guts on the St. Joe River Road disgust her.

“Why do I have to see elk pulled apart every time I go up the St. Joe River?” she said. “I’ve got as much right to see an elk or a deer as they (environmentalists) have to see wolf scat or hear wolves howling.”

Wolves are part of the Rocky Mountain’s ecosystem, countered Andrew Wetzler, wildlife conservation director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of 13 environmental groups that tried to block wolf hunts in Idaho and Montana through federal court action. Re-establishing wolves in their historic range benefits other wildlife, he said.

In Yellowstone National Park, wolves keep elk herds on the move. Elk don’t congregate for long stretches in stream bottoms, which has allowed willow and aspen to grow back, Wetzler said. Wolves also reduced coyote numbers by as much as 50 percent. That led to rebounding populations of rabbits, voles and other small mammals, providing more food for hawks, eagles and owls, he said.

Grizzlies and other scavengers also benefit by grabbing meals from wolf kills, Wetzler said.

“A top predator, like the wolf, has a cascading effect on the ecosystem,” he said.

The first wolf pack in decades was documented in the St. Joe drainage in 1998. Since then, Turley said he’s seen fewer elk in Idaho Fish and Game’s Unit 7, a hunting area that extends up the St. Joe River from Avery.

Unit 7 used to be one of the Idaho’s Panhandle’s better-known elk-hunting areas, said Hayden, the regional wildlife manager. The unit still accounts for some of the highest hunter success rates in the Panhandle, but it’s come down from “exceptional” to “good,” he said.

Part of the change is habitat related. Over the past 50 years, lodgepole pines have overtaken meadows, reducing foraging areas for elk, Hayden said. In addition, the harshness of the past two winters took a toll on elk numbers.

“And wolves have had an impact over time; we can’t ignore that,” Hayden said.

But aerial counts seem to indicate that the unit’s elk herd is holding its own. In 1998, when the first wolf pack was documented in the St. Joe, biologists counted 1,735 elk in the unit. Last February, they counted 2,145 elk.

The shadows were starting to lengthen in the St. Joe River Valley when Milt and Kay Turley returned from their afternoon wolf hunt. Although Milt tramped up and down forested draws into his 50s, a heart attack has made him rely more heavily on his ATVs and pickup to scout game.

“I’ve seen four or five wolves this year, but boy, are they quick,” he said. “And, they’re wary now.”

As Milt put away his rifle, Kay went to her computer, recording where the couple saw the wolf kill and making notes on the size of the tracks. For dinner, she put an elk roast into the oven.

As darkness fell, Dart – their 118-pound Rottweiler – suddenly lifted his head and growled low in his throat.

“Do you hear a big, bad wolf?” Kay asked.

Milt Turley turned thoughtful, recalling the young wolf that got away up the hillside. It had silvery-gray fur.

“I would love to have a nice, light-colored skin,” he said, “to hang in the front room.”

Eight comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  TOOBAD2 on February 17 at 8:16 a.m.

  WE HAVE TO DO WHAT WE HAVE TO DO TO PROTECT OUR FAMILY AND PROPERTY. IF THAT MEANS A WOLF HAS TO LEAVE SO BE IT.

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  maestro64 on February 17 at 9:12 a.m.

  I’ve been hunting in Idaho, Alaska and Minnesota for 30 years and am still amazed at the rage of wolf hatred. The wilderness means just that, WILD! And it cannot be wild if people are trying to control or own it. The presence of all the animals signals a healthy balance, where as the lack of predators so we can all have a shooting gallery mentality to our rightful elk is silly. My children appreciate all that the wilderness offers and they respect each and every animal within it. Their inheritance is the ability to enjoy all aspects of the wilderness. Now, the real tragedy of this story in my eyes is the belief that because the hunter cannot easily hunt elk from his truck any more he has been wronged. In fact, as we all loose our ability to get around the wilderness at some stage. It seems odd to me that a person would choose to bend all the rules of the wilderness “ie..survival of the strongest” to satisfy a selfish desire.

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  maestro64 on February 17 at 9:26 a.m.

  One last thought…when can we all set aside the need to kill anything that we find as a competitor to our needs in the wilderness? While living in Juneau, AK I overheard a woman on a local radio station call-in and voice her complaint that the fish and game should do something to help the poor sea lions that were being eaten by the killer whales. When can we all wake up and understand this is the way of nature and it is OK that there are predators and prey in the world?

• 

  GLFSTRMIV on February 17 at 12:23 p.m.

  Does’t make sense..

  You can hunt Elk or deer

  Why can’t wolf hunt Elk or deer?

  If you don’t feel comfortablie, THEN MOVE OUT!

• 

  spokanecommunistparty on February 18 at 4:15 a.m.

  what is this Texas? Hunting is a blood sport for the subnormal and mentally ill. Do something to raise your IQ’s, like learn to use your cell phones. Try to join the 21st century.

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  cowboy on February 22 at 7:38 p.m.

  so the new word for kill is harvest?

  why would you live in a place that you hate the animals that live there? if you hate wolves go live in the city.

  I own some wooded property and love all the animals that live on it even the wolves.

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  gslbball on February 23 at 7:08 p.m.

  Put some cattle and sheep on your wooded land and you’ll see things differently after a little sport killing by the big canines.

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  adam376 on July 30 at 11:36 a.m.

  my question to all of you is how stupid are you. First off the wolves in idaho that were native were timber wolves not canadian gray wolves. I live and work in the st joe national forest. did you know that just one pack of wolves needs to eat every few days. thats 3 elk per week or around a 150 a year for one pack. you want to know how many packs i saw this spring. five different packs totalling 28 wolves and that wasnt in a very big area. everyone hates the wolves because they know if nothing is ever to be done they will kill everything like they started to before. You know the first time they killed all the wolves in idaho they had a reason to. now on the retarded save the animal people like peta want to have all thewlves back when they have no idea whats even going on. Once the wolves kill all the elk, deer, and moose into record low numbers all the tree huggers will blame it on over hunting and the people. the wolves would never do anything wrong in there eyes. For all of you people that love the wolves why dont you come to work with me and see what its really like out in the woods. and maestro64 if you really hunted in idaho you would know what has happened to the elk population in the last ten years unless you couldnt ever kill anything anyways. so for all you tree huggers animal activists out there quite your crying there just a dog that you put here that never should have belonged and i will keep killing them everytime i see one:-)