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wolves would end when a total of 220 wolves had been taken by hunters or their short two-month season came to an end. One hundred thirty-four wolves were taken in the Idaho hunt and 72 in Montana. Defenders and their pals went wild with predictions hunters were kill- ing off wolves in wholesale slaughter and would decimate any chance for their survival. But a strange thing was happening throughout these years of reintroduction and building wolf packs. The animals continued expand- ing range, and population numbers. As these packs assumed new territories in the high country of the West and game became more scarce, the wolves moved into easier lands and began tak- ing domestic animals like sheep, cattle, the family dog, llamas, and even goats. In 2009, the confirmed kill by wolves of domestic animals reached 944 in the three-state region, a number up by more than 50 percent from the previous year. On August 5, 2010, the hammer
fell again in federal court when all legal wolf hunting was stopped by Judge Molloy, under another suit by guess who? His decision was long and detailed but its main premise was that while Idaho and Montana had met EPA mandates, Wyoming, which had opposed the reintroduction and hunt- ing restrictions from the start of the program did not. In plain language, the management plan had to apply and be accepted by all three states and not just two. Wyoming big-game officials want
to control wolf numbers as they see fit in the big cattle/sheep state, and not let the federal government dictate how many wolves could be taken, where, and when. The Wyoming Farm Bureau has instituted lawsuits against the USFWS on more than one occasion, trying to prevent them from doing exactly that. Doug Honnold, attorney for
Earth Justice representing the plaintiffs against the wolf hunts, was thrilled with Molloy’s August decision. “For today,” he said, “we are celebrating that the approach we thought was flatly illegal has been rejected. The troubling consequences for the Endangered Spe- cies Act has been averted and the wolf hunts blocked.” This is where this issue on the
legality of hunting wolves stands (as this is written) unless Wyoming gives in to ESP provisions and rules. At this point that does not seem very likely given their past rejections and lawsuits. What will transpire with more lawsuits no one knows, either the Defenders or big game departments trying to control wolf numbers in their respective states. Now comes the other half of the
wolf equation never studied, never seen on the evening news, and never seriously considered when the intro- duction plan was first conceived. What about the wolves themselves? What are they doing now that hunts have been stopped once again? Remember the original 66 animals brought into Yellowstone National Park and Idaho? Today that number has exploded into something between 1,700 and 2,000 free-ranging wolves. The animals have increased faster than anyone thought possible, expanding their range to places no one ever considered practical. Idaho, in 2009, listed 824 wolves in 88 packs
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with 38 breeding pairs. The same year in Montana, big game officials put their numbers at 525 wolves with 101 packs and 37 breeding pairs. The government wolf count in Wyoming, outside Yel- lowstone National Park, is 20 animals in 30 packs with 19 to 21 breeding pairs. It also is worth understanding that these numbers are after 500 wolves had been taken during legal hunting seasons. Does anyone really believe wolves are not multiplying fast while moving west far outside of Yellowstone? These numbers are being added
upon as you read these lines, and there is even more amazing news on how “threatened” some claim the big predators are. In 2009, the Washington Department of Fish and Game’s remote cameras photographed three gray wolf pups in the Diamond Peak area of Pend Oreille County. Obviously these animals migrated in from Idaho. In Oregon, in 2010, the wolf count reached 20 animals in the Wallowa Mountains and Eagle Gap Wilderness, new homes for the gray wolf that made the same trip across state lines. These states’ big game depart- ments say they expect wolves to move out into even more areas in the western and southern portions of their states. Big game departments, sportsmen’s organizations, cattle and sheep ranchers, outfitters and guides, tried to point out these things could happen during the preintroduction phase hearings years earlier, but their concerns were largely shunted aside. The wolves were brought in regardless of the predictions of seri- ous trouble. Does anyone now believe these
wide-ranging wolf packs will not spread into Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and even northern California in the months and years ahead with all the vast National Forest lands, wilderness, and primitive areas? Wolves already have been seen traveling in both Utah and Colorado. Nevada says they do not have any con- firmation that wolves are in the Silver State, but I believe they will have them in their remote, northern mountains. It’s only a matter of time. Wolves are already establishing themselves in Or- egon should have no difficulty dropping down across state lines into the high country and primitive areas in northern California in both the Coast Range and Sierra Nevada mountains. And now for the real sixty-four
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