Hunter says wolves attacked dogs
Although a wolf attack left two dogs dead and another injured Sunday in the St. Joe River backcountry near Avery, Idaho, experts say such encounters are rare and should not deter people from visiting public lands.
Jamie Parker said he was hunting cougars with his Plott hounds about a mile east of town when the attack took place. The dogs were trailing a scent far ahead of Barker when they stopped barking.
It took nearly two hours to catch up with the dogs. When Parker and his companions got to the top of the ridge, they saw blood and then a pack of wolves running at them. The wolves turned back after Parker fired shots above their heads.
“It was the worst thing I’ve ever been in,” said Parker, a longtime hunter, dog trainer and local motel owner.
Wolves were reintroduced to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming in 1995 after having been hunted nearly to extinction. About 650 wolves are now believed to live in Idaho, including in the headwaters region of the St. Joe River.
Wolves are expected to be taken off the endangered species list later this year. Once this happens, Idaho plans to issue wolf hunting tags.
For now, though, it’s illegal under federal law to shoot wolves in most cases, said Steve Nadeau, large carnivore coordinator for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Wolves may be shot if they attack a guard dog or herding dog, but they may not be shot if they attack other dogs on public land. Wolves may be shot if they attack a dog on private ground, Nadeau said.
If wolves do approach or threaten a dog, Nadeau said, he recommends shooting above the wolf, yelling at it, throwing objects or charging at the wolf.
Once wolves are taken off the endangered species list, the state hopes to make it easier to shoot wolves that pose a threat to pets on public land, Nadeau said.
Despite the growing number of wolves in the state, Nadeau said, attacks on dogs remain rare. Each year the state issues about 3,000 permits for hound hunters, with only one or two reports annually of dogs being attacked, Nadeau said. Wolves attack other dogs because they are pack animals defending territory from other canines.
“If your pet is with you, you’re typically pretty safe as long as the wolf knows the dog is associated with a human,” Nadeau said. “It’s when dogs are on the loose and away from humans when they typically get attacked.”
Nadeau recommends keeping dogs near and putting bells or beepers on their collars. Hound hunters can minimize risk by releasing their dogs only on fresh cougar tracks and staying as close to the dogs as possible, he said.
Parker said he’s hunted around Avery for 30 years and has done everything possible to keep his dogs safe from wolves, including using bells, but he now plans to stay out of the forest entirely with his dogs.
“I’m done hound dogging,” he said. “I’m not turning out a dog with all these wolves.”
Parker said the two hounds he lost were highly trained and worth an estimated $13,000 to $15,000. His surviving hound, Lilly, is recuperating from deep bites.
The reintroduction of wolves to Idaho has been a “disaster,” Parker said, and has made public land less safe for sportsmen. He said many local residents are now fearful of venturing into the nearby forests because of increased wolf activity – they can be heard howling just outside of Avery most nights, Parker said.
The federal government, along with many scientists, believes wolves play an important role in Idaho’s forests, where they’ve roamed for thousands of years.