Idaho: Year-round wolf hunting on private land approved

http://www.rgj.com/viewart/20140323/NEWS/303230055/Idaho-Year-round-wolf-hunting-private-land-approved

Mar. 23, 2014 8:58 AM
In this 1987 photo released by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, a wolf stands in the snow near Ishpeming, Mich.

In this 1987 photo released by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, a wolf stands in the snow near Ishpeming, Mich.  /  AP/Michigan DNR, Dave Kenyon

LEWISTON, IDAHO

    — Wolf-hunting season will be open 365 days a year on private property in northern Idaho’s Clearwater Region.

The Lewiston Tribune reports that the Fish and Game Commission made the rule change in the last week as part of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s 2014 Big Game Hunting Rules Package.

The commission also moved up the opening of wolf-trapping season in the Lolo and Selway zones.

The commission in 2012 approved year-round wolf hunting on private land in the Panhandle Region. Adding the Clearwater Region means wolf hunting on most private land from the Canadian border to the Salmon River is legal in Idaho.

Dave Cadwallader, supervisor of the department’s Clearwater Region at Lewiston, said the change likely won’t greatly increase the number of wolves killed in the region. He said it’s mainly to give private landowners the ability to kill wolves to protect property.

“It gives them an opportunity to help themselves if that is what they need,” he said. “In the end, I don’t think you are going to see an active hunting effort.”

He said the change in the Panhandle Region hasn’t resulted in a large increase in wolves being killed.

The season for hunting wolves on public land varies, but it typically runs from late August to March or June.

The start of wolf-trapping season also changed, moving from Nov. 15 to Oct. 10 in various Idaho hunting units. Cadwallader said the change is intended to kill more wolves in areas where elk herds aren’t doing well.

“A lot of trappers have told us some of the areas we are trying to focus on are extremely difficult to get to in November when the season opens up,” Cadwallader said. “This just facilitates some of that.”

But starting the trapping season earlier could put more pets at risks as people are still recreating in the area. Cadwallader said the agency is working to make the non-trapping public more aware their pets might come across traps. The department is working with trappers to reduce and prevent conflicts with pets, he added.

Another change is that wolf trappers will be able to use road-kill and other salvaged wildlife as bait for wolf traps.

4 thoughts on “Idaho: Year-round wolf hunting on private land approved

  1. Is there anything more disgusting than this place. The international community is watching on a grand scale and these people are scum!

  2. It is an epically sad state of affairs…they are inept and without heart and soul. Just kill, kill ,kill.
    I guess they just don’t know that the wolves save their land and make it healthy and whole. Just more ignorance we need to educate them when they are young…the humans not the wolves.
    The wolves know how to mate for life, be self sustaining and keep harmony in their environment. They are perfect at being wolves and restoring the land where humans have destroyed the land I love them and send it to them everyday.

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