A female member of the Phantom Hill wolf pack was killed Monday, the first wolf to be shot in the Wood River Valley since hunting opened in the region on Thursday, Oct. 1.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game Senior Conservation Officer Lee Garwood confirmed that the kill occurred in the Eagle Creek drainage, north of Ketchum. He said the wolf, which had been collared for tracking purposes, was about 2 years old. Garwood said a second wolf may have been close to the female when it was shot.
"There's at least nine or 10 wolves remaining in the Phantom Hill pack," he said. "It's difficult to say exactly, as we didn't see them in a group the last time we flew over the area."
The wolf was the second killed in the state's Southern Mountains wolf zone, which includes the Wood River Valley and extends east across the Pioneer, White Knob, Lost River, Lemhi and Beaverhead mountain ranges to the Montana border. Ten wolves can be killed in that zone.
Idaho Fish and Game spokesman Ed Mitchell said the first wolf killed in the zone was shot in Unit 51, northeast of Mackay, which is over Trail Creek Summit northeast of Sun Valley. Mitchell said he did not believe that that wolf was part of the Phantom Hill pack due to the distance from the pack's usual territory in the Wood River Valley.
The Phantom Hill pack became well known to the public last winter when it traveled near residential neighborhoods.
To date, 28 wolves have been killed in Idaho this season, with a high of seven taken in the Sawtooth Zone, north of the Wood River Valley. The state quota is 220, plus another 35 that can be killed by the Nez Perce Tribe.
In Montana, where wolf hunting opened Sept. 15, 11 wolves have been killed. The state's quota has been set at 77.
Mitchell said the recent spike in the number of wolves killed, which jumped from 15 for all of September to almost double that in the span of a week, was due to the fact that two-thirds of the 12 zones opened last Thursday.
Mitchell said he expected the numbers to jump again once other big-game hunts open. He said that although the dates vary among hunting zones across the state, deer season opens in most areas Oct. 10 and elk season on Oct. 15.
"The only surprise would be if we don't see a spike when these hunters get into the field," Mitchell said.
Wolf advocate and Stanley resident Lynne Stone decried the Phantom Hill pack shooting, saying few older wolves are left in that pack, especially after the alpha male was killed by a car in June. Stone said the pack could have trouble if it's mostly made up of pups and yearlings.
"It's sad because it was the pack we were using for education," she said.
Stone said she saw another wolf near Eagle Creek on Monday and shot in the air to scare it farther away from state Highway 75.
The wolf hunt in Idaho started earlier this year after the federal government removed the state's wolves from the federal endangered species list.
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
A member of the Phantom Hill wolf pack pauses for a rest in the central Wood River Valley last winter.
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