Idaho wolf hunt will last longer
Inaugural hunt extended to March 31 or until wolf quota is reached
by JASON KAUFFMAN
In a move that’s sure to generate controversy, hunters will have another three months to fill their wolf tags after the Idaho Fish and Game Commission last week voted to extend the state’s first wolf hunt well into 2010.
In those Idaho hunting zones where hunters haven’t filled hunting quotas, including the local Southern Mountains zone, the hunt will now run through March 31 or until wolf harvest limits are reached, whichever comes first. The Southern Mountains zone covers the Smoky Mountains, the Wood River Valley and the Pioneer and Boulder mountains and runs east across several more mountain ranges to the Idaho-Montana line.
The extension means hunters will have more time to hunt wolves on snow, which may make spotting and pursuing the elusive predator easier. Among conservationists, the extension is controversial because pregnant wolves may be killed.
Wolves in the northern Rockies generally give birth to pups in mid-April.
According to a news release from Suzanne Stone, Northern Rockies representative for Defenders of Wildlife, the commission’s decision has serious implications for the health of the region’s wolves.
“Hunter knowledge of the whereabouts of denning sites is widespread,” Stone said. “Wolves only breed once a year so the take of one pregnant wolf kills any chance of reproductive success for its pack for the year, along with the five to eight pups she was carrying.”
So far, hunters have killed eight wolves in the large Southern Mountains zone, with several of those taken from the valley’s Phantom Hill wolf pack. The commission set the quota for the zone at 10 wolves.
The commission extended the wolf hunting season during a meeting on Thursday, Nov. 19. Wolf harvest limits were not changed.
Montana has already closed its inaugural wolf hunt. The overall quota in that state was 75 wolves.
Statewide, Idaho hunters will be allowed to kill 220 wolves. The hunt was already scheduled to run through March 31 in two areas: the Sawtooth and Lolo wolf zones, the latter located in north central Idaho.
Other areas where the season was extended are the Panhandle, Palouse-Hells Canyon, Selway, Middle Fork, Salmon and South Idaho wolf zones. Those areas were scheduled to close Dec. 31. Hunters will need a 2010 wolf tag, in addition to a 2010 Idaho hunting license, for hunts extending into the new year.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials set wolf harvest limits by 12 zones. The season will close in each zone when the limit for that zone is reached, or once the statewide limit is reached.
As of Tuesday, Nov. 24, the statewide harvest was at 113 wolves. Wolf seasons have already closed in the Dworshak-Elk City zone in north central Idaho, the McCall-Weiser zone in west central Idaho and the Upper Snake zone in eastern Idaho.
In addition to the Southern Mountains zone, two other zones are near their harvest limits. The Palouse-Hells Canyon zone is two kills away from the limit of five wolves. In central Idaho’s remote Middle Fork zone, hunters are just four wolves shy of the 17-wolf limit.
Wolf hunters are reminded to check the harvest limit in the wolf hunting zones they intend to hunt. To find out whether a wolf zone remains open, hunters should call (877) 872-3190.
Hunters are required by state law to report that they’ve killed a wolf within 24 hours. Hunters must present the hide and skull to a Fish and Game conservation officer or regional office within five days.