Press Release from Idaho Department of Fish and Game

By Virgil Moore, Director, Idaho Fish and Game

It's important for state agencies to understand and respect differing points of view. But when a few advocacy groups try to grab headlines by skewing Idaho Fish and Game scientific wolf monitoring data in ways that simply aren't true, it's also important to set the record straight.

Here are the facts:

• Idaho has more than 100 documented wolf packs and over 600 wolves. Idaho's wolf population far exceeds federal recovery levels of 10 breeding pairs and 100 wolves.


• After meeting federal recovery levels in 2002, Idaho's wolf population grew largely unchecked for the remainder of the decade, resulting in increased conflicts with other big game populations and livestock.


• After 4 harvest seasons since the 2011 delisting, livestock depredations have declined. Wolf predation continues to have unacceptable impacts to some elk populations, but there are signs elk populations are responding positively to wolf management.


• Wolves in Idaho continue to be prolific and resilient. Idaho will keep managing wolves to have a sustainable, delisted population and to reduce conflicts with people, livestock, and other big game populations.

Despite these facts, a few advocacy groups chose to take the breeding pair metric out of context to make claims that Idaho wolves are "teetering on the brink of endangered status once again." That's hogwash. And it's the kind of polarizing misinformation that undermines responsible wildlife conservation and management in Idaho.

Confirming a pack meets U.S. Fish and Wildlife's narrow definition of a "breeding pair" is costly and labor-intensive. With vast reductions in federal funding to the state and Nez Perce Tribe for wolf monitoring, Fish and Game has focused our effort on demonstrating Idaho has at least 15 "breeding pairs" to comply with federal recovery requirements. Idaho closely surveyed 30 packs and confirmed that 22 of them met the breeding pair standard at the end of 2014. Because Idaho has shown it is well above federal recovery levels, we may rely on less intensive monitoring for the other 70 + packs as we complete our final 2014 population estimates. One can assume these 70+ packs include some additional breeding pairs. We will publish our annual monitoring report in March.

As trained scientists, Idaho Fish and Game stands by our data and our wildlife management plans. We manage wolves to ensure we keep state management authority and address conflicts with people, livestock, and other big game populations.

I hope people who truly care about wildlife conservation ignore the exaggerations and misinformation and help Fish and Game focus on the real issues affecting Idaho's wildlife.

steve liebenthal
steve.liebenthal@idfg.idaho.gov
(208) 334-3746

My Snowshoe, Wolf Hunt, Fishing Trip

Winter view of the river

As my family can attest, I have never been one who likes to be tied down and set in a routine for very long.  It is not that I am ADD or ADHD, but rather that I seem to have an obsession for the outdoors.  My wife (bless her heart) has at times made a comment or two which sounds something like, "You need to go fishing or something so you're not so grouchy".  She knows me and loves me (who knows why) and I am glad to be married to a woman who is patient enough to deal with my obsession.

Sooo... The other day I was a little stir crazy at work and a bit overwhelmed with the demands of my job, schooling, and other responsibilities.  My employer actually told me that I needed to take time off because they were concerned with the amount of overtime I was working.  Hearing this from my employer on a Wednesday was probably the best/worst thing for me to hear that early into the week.  I decided to focus on my schooling and family responsibilities on Thursday and then attempt to take a day for myself on Friday. 

When Friday rolled around, my day was wide open and the options were limitless.  I knew that whatever I decided to do, I needed to get outside and away from civilization.  I contemplated hiking around with snowshoes seeing how lost I could get with the given time I had.  I then thought about how I wanted to get out and go fishing.  I then thought about how the wolf hunting season in Idaho was only open for a few more days and that I would probably regret it if I didn't give it one last shot.  Sooo... my decision was.... All of the above!

Eberlestock X2 Pack all loaded up!

 I decided that I would drive up to the mountains, snowshoe along the frozen river looking for a wolf or other predators, and when I got to open water I would pull out my fishing pole just because I could.  Good thing I got the Eberlestock X2 Pack for Christmas, or this trip couldn't have happened.  I packed all of my normal hunting gear, winter survival gear, extra clothes, my rifle, fishing pole, and tackle box all on my pack for this trip.

I parked next to the "Y" in the road (bottom left) on the picture above and walked through the trees along the river until I reached the power-line crossing a few miles up river.  I followed a few tracks of a fox, but ever got a glimps of him.  I walked until I found open water, but even then the ice was to far out from the bank to allow me to fish so I had to walk a lot further than I had planned if I was going to accomplish all of my tasks I had set out to accomplish.

Snowshoe tracks long the river

Once I finally got to a spot I could fish, I sat down, threw out my fishing pole, and cooked me a nice warm Mountain House meal to fill me up.  It wasn't long before I started catching fish.  I ended up catching 4 fish in less than half an hour, two of which I decided to bring home for dinner.  I packed everything back up, including the two fish, and hiked back out!

In the end, I accomplished the most important task I sought out to do which was relax and get away from all the busyness of the world.  I hiked over 4 miles through 3+ feet of snow, saw views that some people will never see in their lifetime, tried out my new hunting pack, and caught my wife and I a healthy dinner.  The feelings I get while doing any one of these activities is one that I could explain in words, but it would not do it justice unless you yourself had experienced it.  The only thing I wish I would have done differently would be to follow the moto of the Eberlestock pack and, "go in light come out heavy"... I must have gotten it backwards and decided to pack everything I could to test out the load capacity of my new pack!

Famous Wolf?

Recently I read an article about a "Famous Wolf" which had been shot just outside of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.  This wolf is apparently very well known and almost a celebrity to outdoor photographers and some wildlife enthusiasts.  I do not want to be insensitive to those who make a living photographing Yellowstone's wildlife, yet I do wish to voice my own opinions about this situation.

As the article states, "According to National Park Service estimates, there are more than 1,700 wolves living in the Rocky Mountain region—most in Idaho".  There is no doubt that the wolf number in this area is not suffering tremendously as some may assume.  According to another article I recently read, the state of Idaho is only roughly 100,000 elk.  There is a lot of debate on how many elk are necessary to sustain a pack of wolves every year, and to be honest I do not think that there is one single correct answer to that question.  However, I do know that the reason Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and other states have began to allow wolves to be hunted is for wildlife management.  The law of nature works by a supply and demand principle and when the the supply is lower than the demand, wolves will be looking for other ways to get their necessities for food. 

In the area I live in Idaho, I am fairly close to the border of Yellowstone National park.  My whole life growing up hunting, I was always aware of the boarder to the park and the hunting restrictions in those areas.  Yellowstone is not a zoo, and the animals are wild, thus they roam freely entering and exiting the park as they wish.  I can't tell you how many times we have been close to the boarder of the park and the elk know where they are safe, and where they have pressure from hunters and/or hikers.  These animals are quite intelligent and know when they are safe.  Since this incident with the "famous wolf" being legally taken just outside of the park, Wyoming has now restricted hunting beyond the park boundaries to include a safe zone just outside of the park ON PUBLIC LAND.  I do not feel that this will protect these animals any more than they already are, nor do I feel that this is right to restrict the hunters more than they already are concerning the size of the park compared to their hunting area.

The Park boundary in the State of Wyoming

If the agencies in charge of managing the number of wild life in these areas feel that it is not only okay but also necessary to allow hunting of the wolves, I do not feel that there needs to be any more restrictions than those imposed by that management agency.  The sad part about this situation is that if the hunter had taken any other wolf in this pack, there would not be as big of a push to restrict the wolf hunting in these areas.  Just because this wolf is viewed as "famous" there is an issue.

I do not expect everyone to see a problem with this like I do, but I do feel that I needed to at least voice my opinion on the matter.  These wolves are multiplying quite rapidly and there are management strategies in place to keep them controlled and healthy.  I don't know many people who would rather see a wolf starve to death over one taken legally by a hunter.  If those outside of these areas wish to see wolves wander freely, I suggest a reintroduction of wolves in Central Park and other areas where wolves once roamed. 


Here is the other article mentioning how Montana has restricted hunting near the boarder of the park.