What was virtually a year round Wolf hunting management plan in Idaho was made offical last week with the 2011-12 ten month season now expanded to a full 12 months.........it is possible to hunt wolves year-round by starting on private land in the Panhandle Zone in July and then hunting anywhere in the state starting Aug. 1, moving to the Lolo and Selway zones on April 1 and back to the Panhandle on July 1......Already roughly 40 to 54% of Idaho 's Wolves have been destroyed(379 out of 700----note that Idaho Fish and Game claims there were 1000 animals prior to the 2011-12 hunting season)............With this new 12 month plan, the population willl be in a freefall and unsustainable.............Killing off 1/3 or more of these pack animals is a travesty and goes against all proven science regarding wolf sustainability when pressed so rigorously via the human gun and trap.................As an astute and insightful Wolf advocate put it yesterday: " A large portion of northern Idaho is composed of private owned timber company lands".... "What if the timber companies have to choose between allowing wolf hunters to kill wolves on their lands(OR) face negative publicity for being participants in a vindictive act of killing wolves throughout the summer?"......."In Montana, I know that some corporate ranches that had to choose between wolf control in response to wolf predation on livestock and their corporation's reputation, they chose an alternative other than killing wolves"...." Worth a try."

Wolf season is always open in Idaho

Eric BarkerThe Lewiston Tribune

                                                                         

In a move that is sure to please many hunters and anger wolf advocates, Idaho approved new wolf hunting regulations that allow the canine predators to be hunted 365 days a yeartIt is not a wide open, general hunt. But if one travels around the state, there will always be a place to pursue Canis lupus

Idaho Gray Wolf

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Idaho had allowed 10 months of wolf hunting during the 2011-2012 season, with the hunt open from Aug. 1 to March 31 in most of the state and Aug. 1 to June 30 in the Lolo and Selway zones.

That means the 2011-2012 wolf hunting season came to a close at sunset on Saturday. But under the new regulations, the 2012-2013 season opened Sunday morning.


Idaho Fish & Game is "off the reservation" on its wolf mgnt policy

Here's a rundown: Wolf hunting opens in the Panhandle Zone, on private land only, July 1. The rest of the zone and the rest of the state will open to wolf hunting on Aug. 1 and all but the Lolo and Selway zones will close on March 31. The Lolo and Selway zones will again be open through June.
Hunters can take up to 5 wolves per calandar year but most zones have a cap of 2 wolves per hunter, per year. The Middle Fork Zone, Dworshak-Elk City, Palouse-Hells Canyon, Lolo, Selway and Panhandle zones allow hunters to kill 5 wolves per calendar year.

So it is possible to hunt wolves year-round by starting on private land in the Panhandle Zone in July and then hunting anywhere in the state starting Aug. 1, moving to the Lolo and Selway zones on April 1 and back to the Panhandle on July 1.


Idaho Gray Wolf

Of course, if a hypothetical hunter were to does this, he or she would also have to balance when and where the wolves were taken to stay within the 5-per-calander-year bag limit and the more restricted bag limits in zones mostly south of the Salmon River.

The 2012-2013 trapping season will open Nov. 15 and run through March 31 in parts of the Panhandle and McCall-Weiser zones and all of the Lolo, Selway, Dworshak-Elk City and Middle Fork zones. Trappers are allowed to kill 5 wolves per season, not per calendar year.

Anyone with a conscience is concerned for the future of Idaho Wolves

In the hunting season that started last August and ended Saturday, Idaho hunters took 255 wolves. Trappers killed another 124 wolves in the season that opened Nov. 15 and ran through March. That is a total of 379 wolves out of an estimated minimum population of between 700 and 1,000. However, Idaho Fish and Game officials believe the population exceeds 1,000 animals.

The new hunting and trapping rules are available at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/docs/rules/bgWolf.pdf