The Idaho Fish and Commission has voted to extend wolf hunting and trapping seasons. Commissioners on Thursday adopted nine proposed modifications to wolf hunting and trapping for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, extending wolf hunting opportunity, opening more areas to wolf trapping, and extending trapping seasons, which all take effect immediately. In general, the proposals extend the wolf hunting season across much of the state to an 11-month season running August 1st through June 30th. That season applies to public lands in Units 8 through 14 of the Clearwater Region, as well as all units in the Panhandle Region to the North. The commission also extended the wolf hunting season to year-round on both private and public land in units with chronic wolf depredations on livestock, including Clearwater Units 15 and 18. Fish and Game biologists recently released a new statewide wolf population estimate indicating Idaho’s wolf population remains robust through fluctuations of births and mortality over the year, with an estimated peak of 1,500 wolves last summer after the annual birth cycle, and about 1,000 wolves at the end of the year. The 2019 estimate showed the wolf population remains well above the federal recovery criteria of 150 wolves and 15 breeding pairs statewide. (Idaho Fish and Game)
