Hunters, resurgent wolves vie for elk

The first scheduled wolf hunt in Idaho in six decades was nipped in the bud this summer by a federal lawsuit.

That leaves hunters in Idaho – and even Washington – helpless to do little more than wonder how the reintroduction of wolves is affecting their elk hunting.

This year, for the first time, Idaho had hard evidence suggesting that growing numbers of wolves are having a statewide impact, not just impact in localized areas.

Last year’s hunter harvest of 19,150 elk in Idaho marked the first season in three years that the kill dipped below 20,000 elk.

The combination of a tough 2007-2008 winter in North Idaho plus habitat issues and wolves could reduce the harvest by another couple thousand statewide this year, said Brad Compton, Idaho Fish and Game Department big-game manager.

Actually, that’s a given, since Idaho big-game managers looked ahead and offered 3,500 fewer elk tags than last year, including 3,000 fewer cow permits.

Winterkill was a culprit in the Panhandle, but no one is overlooking that Idaho now has more than 1,000 wolves, and elk are their preferred prey.

Soon after they were reintroduced in the 1990s, wolves began getting blame for reducing herds in certain areas or preventing them from recovering when elk numbers drop. Now the predators are more firmly established.

“We’re going to start seeing the effects on a statewide basis,” Compton said.

“I, too, am extremely concerned and frustrated over the recent (court) ruling (that curtailed plans for a limited wolf hunt this fall),” Compton told the Idaho Statesman last month.

In 2005, Tom Keegan, Idaho’s Salmon Region wildlife manager, had no scientific evidence to indicate that wolves were decimating elk.

“Our aerial surveys found record numbers of elk – 11,200 – in the four key units of the Salmon Zone,” he said. “However, last winter, they were down to 8,400. I can’t necessarily say wolves are totally responsible for the drop, but they could be.”

Keegan points out that declining elk calf survival has been an issue for years throughout the Pacific Northwest even before wolves were reintroduced.

States such as Washington, where wolves aren’t yet an issue, also are having calf survival problems.

Meantime, hunters can improve their chances by understanding how wolves change elk behavior.

“I suspect the guys hunting elk the same way they did 15 years ago, watching the same saddles or hunting the same series of open meadows aren’t finding elk if wolves are in the area,” said Keegan.

“When wolves are around, elk are not likely to be standing out in the open.”

Aerial surveys prove the elk are still around, but not necessarily in spots hunters have found them in during the 80 years since wolves were targeted for extermination.

“We have evidence that wolves cause elk to move more and use heavier cover and rougher ground than they used to use in order to make it tougher for wolves to prey on them,” Keegan said.

“When wolves first move into an area, that might be an indicator that elk are there. Some hunters actually attempt to follow the wolves. But if the wolves have been in a drainage for several days, they probably have made a kill and are picking up a few stragglers, but the larger group of elk have probably moved out.

“If you’re not seeing fresh elk sign, you may have to move, and I know that’s not easy for established elk camps.”

Washington resident Tommy Petrie Jr., a serious and successful elk hunter and president of the Pend Oreille County Sportsmen’s Club, has documented wolves in the mountains near Usk with photos and by snowshoeing into areas to find their kills.

He said he hasn’t seen evidence the elk are devastating Washington big-game, but he’s definitely seen wolves changing elk behavior.

“Hunters have to adapt, too,” he said, noting that he’s been bowhunting elk in Idaho’s St. Joe region since the early ’90s with a group of hunters that always used to find elk in each of six drainages they covered.

“After the wolves moved in, we could go into two drainages and not find any elk sign, but then we might find a ton of elk in the third drainage.”

Even though hot bulls seem to stop bugling when they sense wolves are near, Petrie said his group has continued to have great elk-hunting success.