BY GEORGE PRENTICE
Another wolf hunting season throughout Idaho begins tomorrow.
The 2013-2014 wolf hunt season runs Friday, Aug. 30 through Monday, March 31, 2014, except in the Lolo, Selway and Middle Fork zones, where the season will close at the end of June 2014. On private land in Idaho’s Panhandle Zone, the wolf hunting season is open year-round.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game says an individual may buy up to five wolf hunting tags per calendar year, but no more than two gray wolf hunting tags may be used in the Salmon, McCall, Weiser, Sawtooth, Southern Mountains, Beaverhead, Island Park and Southern Idaho zones. No more than five tags may be used in the Panhandle, Palouse-Hell Canyon, Lolo, Dworshak-Elk City, Selway and Middle Fork zones.
The wolf trapping season opens Friday, Nov. 15, in most Idaho zones.
The 2012 Idaho Wolf Monitoring Report indicated that 683 wolves lived in 117 packs at the end of 2012, an 11 percent drop from the 746 wolves in Idaho at the end of 2011.
Fish and Game reported that there were 425 wolf killings in 2012—329 were killed by hunters and trappers, 73 by ranchers or federal wildlife agents, and 16 killed by various other means, such as being hit by automobiles. The other deaths were not caused by humans.
The report also indicated that 92 cattle, 337 sheep and two dogs were suspected of being killed by wolves.