By John Miller, Associated Press
Thursday, July 14, 2011
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho wildlife managers won't have quotas on wolves
in much of the state for the upcoming hunting season as they seek to
significantly reduce the population now estimated to number more than
1,000 animals in the state.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials announced
the plan Friday, while Montana aims to sign off on its own wolf-hunting
plan next week.
Idaho's no-quota, general season in about
three-quarters of its wolf country will please those who believe wolves
have multiplied beyond acceptable levels but anger wildlife advocates
who fear the state will manage wolves irresponsibly.
Fish and Game Director Virgil Moore declined to name a target for
kills for the seven-month season that begins at the end of August,
saying only that Idaho will manage wolves so that their population
remains above 150 animals and 15 breeding pairs, the point where Idaho
could attract federal scrutiny for a possible re-listing under the
Endangered Species Act.
"We don't expect to see a harvest that will put us
into that critical area," Moore told reporters Friday in Boise. "The
department has the ability to close the season at any time" if hunters
are killing too many wolves.
Moore was optimistic that just having a wolf hunt —
the previous hunt was scuttled by a federal court ruling that left the
animals temporarily protected by the Endangered Species Act — will help
relieve frustration among some Idaho outdoors enthusiasts that hungry
wolves have tipped the balance and are leaving too few big game animals
for human hunters.
There will also be a 10-week trapping season from
December to mid-February. New this year as well, hunters can shoot two
wolves, from a limit of one in 2009.
Idaho Fish and Game Commission members still must
sign off on the plan at their July 27-28 meeting in Salmon. And Moore
left open the possibility that public comment could still result in
changes to the plan.
For instance, there's a proposed 60-wolf quota in the
Sawtooth hunting zone just northeast of Boise, largely because it's
near a significant population of hunters who enjoyed above-average
success during the last wolf hunt starting in 2009. But Moore conceded
that public outcry in favor of adopting no quotas in that region could
sway commissioners to adopt a more lenient limit.
Suzanne Stone, Northern Rocky Mountains
representative of the Defenders of Wildlife in Boise, said she fears
commissioners in Salmon will open the floodgates to even more wolf
killing.
"I think it's going to get worse when it goes to the
commission," said Stone. "The problem is, there is no goal for
maintaining a population above 150. What are the criteria for closing
the season if you have no population goal above 150? It's incredibly
vague."
Unlike Idaho, Montana is still planning a statewide quota, with its
State Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioners meeting July 14 to adopt a
quota of 220 wolves to be killed.
In the 2009 hunt, more than 30,000 people bought Idaho wolf tags, but killed only 188 wolves.
This year, only 3,100 people have purchased the $11.75 permit.
With hunters unlikely to kill as many wolves as the
department hopes, Idaho will also rely on federal wolf hunters and
airborne gunners to kill wolves blamed for killing too many livestock or
big game like elk. The hunting public is still forbidden from using
planes to shoot wolves.
"Wolf control actions will take place in and out of the hunting season," Moore promised.
There will be five Idaho hunting zones with limits on
wolf kills, focusing on hundreds of miles of the state's rugged border
with Montana. That's to help ensure there are corridors where Idaho
wolves can breed with Montana packs, with the aim of ensuring the
genetic interchange necessary for the survival of a healthy species.
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