Montana and Wyoming have their fair share of wolves. Idaho has a disproportionately high number of wolves with way more than any other state in the country. Over 70 packs now exist in Idaho with no control mechanism in place.
Nevada does not have any recognized wolf packs. They are very seldom sighted with only three sightings in the last two years along the Idaho-Oregon border. Utah has no recognized breeding pairs or packs. There have been occasional sightings and biologists know that wolves are coming in and out of Utah.
Washington has had wolf sightings and wolves picked up on two different remote cameras. They acknowledge having a small population of single animals. No breeding pairs or packs are recognized.
Oregon claims that at least five wolves are known to have reached Oregon since 1999. They recently acknowledged one pair in northeastern Oregon that came from Idaho. Oregon has adopted a wolf management plan that sets a goal of four breeding pairs in eastern Oregon and four pairs in western Oregon.
The present Wyoming plan classifies wolves as predators that could be shot on sight in much of the state. A recently approved wolf management plan commits Wyoming to maintaining at least 15 breeding pairs, or about 100 wolves. Seven breeding pairs would be located outside of the parks and eight pairs would be located within the two parks and the parkway. The wolves outside the parks and the parkway would be managed by the state Game and Fish Department as either trophy game that can be hunted by state-issued permit or as predators that can be killed with little oversight.
The bottom line is that wolves in Idaho need to be under control. Get the onus off of potential wolf hunters in Idaho doing the control effort. Would wolf advocates prefer trapping and poisoning? A wolf needs about 10 pounds of meat a day. With Idaho approaching feeding a 1,000 wolves 365 days a year with an 80 percent elk diet, this big game resource cannot stand the compounding loss.
What happens when the wolves run out of sick, injured, and old elk to eat? There is not an infinite supply of this variety for wolves to feed on.
Wolves actually prefer under 1-year-old calves to eat and when they run out of them, they turn to under 2-year-olds. The older, healthy cows elk can be mean as hell and are not so vulnerable to wolf predation.
If recreational wolf viewing were to become a reality, those interested would have to follow the elk bands where ever they take you, have wolves in captivity, or go to Yellowstone.
Gary Busch
Hailey
