Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on how the Idaho Fish & Game Commission is planning to authorize the auction of 10 "special wolf tags" to the highest bidders - even if they may not be all that special, considering that 15,339 wolf tags has been sold as of the end of the day yesterday. The special tags will, however, be those numbered sequentially 1 through 10, which weren't sold earlier. "I think there'll be some value in the novelty," said Jim Unsworth, deputy director at Idaho Fish & Game. But, he said, "We don't expect this to be a big fundraiser." That could change in the future, he noted, if the department opts to hold controlled hunts - which means limited tags - for wolves in certain areas.

Gov. Butch Otter, who's said for the past two years that he wanted to be the first to bid on a chance to shoot a wolf, already has a tag. The governor bought his wolf tag on Aug. 26, according to department records. That was during the first week the tags went on sale; he purchased the tag at a Boise sporting goods store. "He said he wanted to get a wolf tag, he's got a wolf tag," said Otter spokesman Jon Hanian. "I don't know if he's going to bid at the auction or not." But Hanian said Otter "thinks it's great" to hold the auction.