July 17, 2011
Roger Phillips: Wolf hunts won’t stop the howling
If 2009 is any guide, plenty of wolves will remain after the shooting stops.
- Idaho Statesman
Copyright: © 2011 Idaho Statesman
If 2009 is any guide, plenty of wolves will remain after the shooting stops.
Let’s all take a deep breath ... now hold it ... and now gently exhale.
Idaho Fish and Game will open its second wolf hunting season next month, so things may get a little crazy. But except for a fresh round of hyperbole, things won’t change much in the woods.
Wolves will continue to howl and roam throughout Idaho. Some folks still will think there are too many, and other folks will argue there aren’t enough.
Fish and Game officials want to reduce the wolf population, but they are coy about how many wolves they want killed. They will say only that they want the population to remain well above the 150 minimum that could trigger federal protection.
A hunting season may put a dent in the population, but an all-out wolf slaughter is highly unlikely.
During the 2009 wolf season, Fish and Game sold about 30,000 wolf tags, but F&G estimated about 20,000 people actually hunted. The rest bought souvenir wolf tags, or they intended to hunt but didn’t.
Hunters quickly learned that wolf hunting isn’t easy, and less than 1 percent of them harvested. They killed 188 wolves, which was short of the statewide harvest limit of 220.
A year later, the wolf population was about the same as before the hunt.
This year, Fish and Game has sold about 3,100 wolf tags. That number likely will multiply as we get closer to fall big game seasons, but the success rate isn’t likely to skyrocket.
Rules are more liberal this year. Hunters can use electronic calls and harvest two wolves, but that’s not likely to mean a big spike in the success rate. The looser rules have been tried to curb bear and mountain lion populations with limited success.
Harvest limits, or the lack thereof, probably won’t have a big affect on the wolf harvest.
In 2009, hunters met the harvest limit in only seven of the 12 wolf hunting zones.
A big harvest is unlikely partly because of the size of our state and a low density of wolves. There are about 1,000 wolves, according to Fish and Game. Some argue that’s a conservative estimate, and there are probably more than that.
Idaho is 83,574 square miles, and roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of the state is suitable wolf habitat. If wolves were spread evenly over that area, it would mean one wolf for every 5,500 to 6,200 square miles.
No wonder many people have never seen a wolf in Idaho. I have, but only because I was flying with a biologist who had a radio receiver tuned in to the wolf’s collar.
Other than that, the closest I’ve come is hearing them howl a few times, and that’s in nearly 15 years of roaming Idaho’s backcountry since wolves were reintroduced.
I know there are lots of folks who have seen wolves, but there’s a difference between getting a glimpse of a wolf and getting one in your sights.
After decades of black bear and mountain lion hunting, their populations remain healthy and self-sustaining. Hunting them has been mostly uncontroversial. Rules for hunting those predators are similar to those for wolves. There is no statewide harvest limit for black bears, and baiting, hound hunting and spring hunts are allowed, but banned for wolf hunters.
Mountain lions have harvest limits for females in 33 of the state’s 100 hunting units, which is about the same number of units with wolf harvest limits.
Wolf and mountain lion seasons are similar in length, but hunters can pursue mountain lions with hounds, which is not allowed for wolf hunters.
Not only has hunting not significantly reduced bear and mountain lion numbers, Fish and Game has in the past loosened rules in an attempt to curb mountain lions where there are too many.
Fish and Game intends to manage wolves in the same manner as mountain lions and bears by cutting them back where they cause trouble, such as around livestock, and letting them roam in most of the backcountry and wilderness areas.
This year’s wolf hunt will probably be anticlimactic, and within a few years, an afterthought.
Even so, some things won’t change. People who oppose wolf hunting still won’t like it, and people who dislike wolves will still complain.
But if you spend time more time in Idaho’s backcountry than you do on barstools or at the water cooler, I doubt you will see any changes.
Roger Phillips: 373-6615
Statesman outdoor writers Pete Zimowsky and Roger Phillips alternate columns on Sunday. Look for Zimo next week.
