Big-game tag brings wolves closer to state management in Idaho
Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho – The Idaho Fish and Game Commission has officially designated the gray wolf as a big game animal in the state, but a commissioner said Monday it will be a long time before anyone actually hunts wolves for sport.
The commission unanimously voted late last month to change the official status of gray wolves from “endangered species” to “big game animal,” bringing any killing of the species under commission regulation.
Commissioner Cameron Wheeler, whose eastern Idaho district encompasses part of the wolf recovery area in Idaho, said any wolf season in Idaho would be tightly restricted, perhaps even as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It would likely attract trophy hunters, he said.
“I grew up in a rural part of eastern Idaho, where part of hunting legacy is, if you harvest it, you eat it,” Wheeler said. “I don’t know if I’d want one stuffed sitting in my den.”
Many elected state officials, resentful over having wolves forced on the state, have resisted cooperating with the federal government on wolf management. But Wheeler said it is more productive to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“We have to deal with the reality of the situation,” Wheeler said. “I’m looking for ways to manage the wolves, and I’m saying, ‘Let’s manage them in the best possible way for the people.’ ”
Wolf reintroduction in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming started under the Clinton administration in 1995, when about 30 animals were transplanted from the Canadian Rockies. There are now an estimated 760 wolves in the three-state recovery area, including 360 in Idaho, and the federal government says it is ready to begin the process of removing wolves from federal protection.
First, however, all three states must adopt management plans for the predator. The plans of Idaho and Montana have been accepted. Wyoming’s has been rejected, stalling the process.
Suzanne Stone, Rocky Mountain field representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said her organization hopes to delay any wolf hunting in Idaho until at least five years after its removal from the endangered species list.
“There needs to be time to allow the state to show it would be responsible for managing species,” Stone said.
Idaho Conservation League program director Justin Hayes said the state’s move was premature, but he acknowledged that if wolves are managed as a game species, they would have to be managed to sustain a robust population.
“They would have to manage wolves to support the pressure that a hunt would put on them,” Hayes said. “As long as that’s occurring, its hard to argue against it from a management standpoint.”
Hunting already helps control populations of black bear and cougars, two other top predators in Idaho.
Ranchers oppose wolves because some prey on livestock, while many big game hunters dislike them because they also subsist on elk and deer.
The Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery annual report said 52 cattle, 99 sheep, nine dogs and five llamas were killed by wolves in the three states during 2002. In response, 46 wolves that had turned to livestock as prey were killed.