Wolf Season Ends

The end of Idaho’s wolf hunting season has come and gone and you might be very surprised about the facts, figures and outcome. Let me give you a clue. It was no slaughter as animal activists had predicted it would be. I’m David Sparks and I’ll be right back with the story. Idaho’s first regulated wolf season has closed statewide with hunters having taken 185 wolves. The harvest limit was 220. Idaho Fish and Game set wolf harvest limits for each of 12 management zones and sold 31,393 wolf tags for this season – 30,612 resident and 781 nonresident tags.

Fish and Game Director Cal Groen said “The season has succeeded in halting the growth of Idaho’s wolf population. It showed that Fish and Game is capable of monitoring and managing a well-regulated wolf hunt.” The hunt also showed that fears of wholesale slaughter of wolves were unfounded. Hunters exhibited good compliance with the rules and with check-in and call-in requirements.

 Harvested wolves ranged in size from 54 to 127 pounds –Of the wolves taken, 58 percent were male, and 15 percent were juveniles less than one year old. Fish and Game made a compelling argument that this was an excellent way to manage the population.

 About 86 percent of the wolves harvested were taken by resident hunters. Twelve of the wolves checked in were wearing radio collars.