# Wolf Hunt...



## phorisc (Feb 2, 2011)

I hear Idaho is doing a wolf hunt next season...a friend from there says Idaho and Montana both are gonna do wolf hunts. Here is your chance to get a wolf


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

It'll be interesting to see what happens. USFWS has come into a tentative agreement with Idaho and Montana, but it hasn't cleared the courts. As both governors came out publicly saying that the States of Idaho and Montana would not assist in prosecution or any kind of wolf protection enforcement, and pretty much put out an all out call to kill them on-site, then the wolf protection groups are saying "whoops - maybe we took that one too far." Anyway, any discussions now don't mean a thing as they do not address the reasons Judge Malloy shot down the state management and hunting to begin with - that is, separation and management by state, instead of by the whole Rocky Mountain population. And USFWS and the State of Wyoming have still not come to terms with things like Idaho and Montana did. 

The up side is that for the last hunts, both Idaho and Montana sold tags over the counter without a draw. Kills had to be reported within 24 hours, and when the quota was met, the season was closed. In Montana, they set a low quota 75 - as a first hunt and met it and closed the season. Idaho went all out with a very high quota - 220 - and extended the season an extra three months and never met it. Many of the Idaho units met harvest quota, but people found the wolves much harder to hunt and kill than was anticipated. It'll be interested to see how this shakes out.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

GaryFish said:


> Anyway, any discussions now don't mean a thing as they do not address the reasons Judge Malloy shot down the state management and hunting to begin with - that is, separation and management by state, instead of by the whole Rocky Mountain population. And USFWS and the State of Wyoming have still not come to terms with things like Idaho and Montana did.


So, what would happen when the WY Gov made the same statement?


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Wyoming- Gov did. And that is the problem - he did several years ago, and that is why USFWS never approved Wyoming's Wolf Management Plan - as it called for eradication. So control of wolves was never turned over to the State of Wyoming. Idaho and Montana both had plans that USFWS approved of, which allowed Idaho and Montana to do their own thing for a year. Then the pro-wolf group challenged them in court, saying that the wolf population could not be managed by individual state populations, but needed to be viewed as a whole. Judge Malloy in Missoula agreeed with that, and ordered Idaho and Montana to stop with their controlling actions, giving all control back to the USFWS. 

In response to that, Governor Schweitzer in Montana and Governor Otter in Idaho sent letters to Interior Secretary Salazar saying that they would not participate, support, or in any way be part of wolf enforcement any more. Telling the feds you'll get no help from us. Last I read, Idaho and Montana were working with Wyoming, to help them get a doable wolf management plan that is similar, so that the States can have control and management in all three states. As that was the judicial order - kind an all or nothing kind of thing. On top of it, proposed legislation was showing up in DC to declare wolf management free from the Endangered Species Act, which would allow the States to totally eradicate the wolf and not be in fear of violating the ESA. And the legislation was actually gaining traction. So now the pro-wolf groups are realizing they pushed a bit too far and are now back peddling a little bit. Because if such legislation were to pass, then wolves will go away for good. Its interesting to see how it is all getting played.


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## flyfisher117 (Jun 29, 2009)

Hopefully but its to early to know for sure.


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