The wolf hunt in the Southern Mountains zone, which includes the Wood River Valley, closed on Saturday after the limit of 10 wolves was reached.
It was the fifth of 12 zones in the state to reach its limit, with the remaining seven zones scheduled to close March 31 if their limits aren't reached before then.
The Southern Mountains zone extends east across the Pioneer, White Knob, Lost River, Lemhi and Beaverhead mountain ranges to the Montana border. Wolf hunting season began in the zone Oct. 1.
Other zones already closed include the Palouse-Hells Canyon, Dworshak-Elk City, McCall-Weiser and Upper Snake.
The Middle Fork zone, in central Idaho, is also close to reaching the set limit, with 15 of 17 wolves killed to date.
As of Tuesday, 140 wolves had been killed throughout the state, out of the season's limit of 220.
Regan Berkley, Idaho Department of Fish and Game Magic Valley regional biologist, said that of the 10 wolves killed in the Southern Mountains zone, two were likely members of the Phantom Hill pack. That pack, whose home range stretches from around Trail Creek north to Alturas Lake, became well known to the public last winter when it traveled near residential neighborhoods in Sun Valley and Greenhorn Gulch.
Both locally killed wolves were shot in October, leaving an estimated eight or nine members remaining in the pack.
Berkley said that it's possible that a third pack member was killed, but is unlikely since it was gray, different than the black wolves spotted in the pack, and was shot in the Warm Springs area, south of the pack's home range.
"We didn't know what to expect [for hunting in this zone] because it's the first season, but wolves were harvested in five of the zone's 15 game management units, so the hunting was somewhat spread out, which was something we were looking for," Berkley said. "Nothing about the hunt stands out to me as really surprising."
Berkley said the fact that the limit in the zone was not reached quickly, but was reached before the end of the season, is a sign that the hunt went as planned.
"It was neither super easy nor impossible to harvest wolves," she said.
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
