Are Wolves De-Populating Big Game in Idaho?

 A story in the Pocatello Idaho State Journal stated that Idaho could be losing as much as $24 million annually in hunting related revenue due to wolves killing deer and elk. The report relies heavily on a 1994 environmental impact statement related to the introduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, and then extrapolates those numbers. U.S. Fish and Wildlife wolf expert Ed Bangs takes exception to this viewpoint.

 (Bangs) “There are certainly some herds of elk in Idaho that are affected by wolf predation and they’re lower in part because of wolf predation but by in large elk populations throughout the West are at record highs and that’s why deer populations in many areas are struggling is due to competition with elk but in some instances, predation including that by wolves can affect elk and deer   populations and can affect hunter harvest. If you love wolves people talk to you about wolves restoring the balance of nature and they’re better off because they’re being chased by wolves and they’re more aerobically fit and the people who don’t like wolves are saying we’re going to melt all our guns into a save the whales statue because there’s not going to be anything left to hunt. Neither of those extremes are true. It’s rare that wolves themselves cause a population to decline.”