BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - State officials sought Tuesday to revive gray wolf hunts in the Northern Rockies, even as they entered talks with wildlife advocates whose lawsuit recently restored the animal's endangered status.

Hunters in Idaho and Montana killed 260 wolves last year in the first managed hunts since the species rebounded from near-extermination in the past century.

This year's hunts were doubtful after a U.S. District Court ruling said portions of the wolf population remained at risk.

On Tuesday, Montana asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to commit by Sept. 10 to the state's plan for "conservation hunts" beginning this fall.

State officials said the hunts were justified because the wolf population had exceeded its "carrying capacity" - the number of wolves that are biologically sustainable.

The tactic is new for Montana officials. In the past, they have stressed the wolf's ability to survive even under extreme pressures, including hunting, poaching and removals by government agencies.

Idaho plans to make a similar request for a hunt. Jim Unsworth of Idaho Fish and Game said the state will point to the legal harvest of other protected species such as salmon and bull trout as a precedent.

It was uncertain how many animals might be harvested if the states prevailed. Wildlife officials were waiting for a federal government response before setting any quotas.

There are an estimated 1,700 wolves in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana - more than five times the federal government's benchmark of 300 wolves for the species to be considered recovered.

"Montana began 2010 with a minimum of 504 wolves, even after a conservative but successful 2009 hunting season," Joe Maurier, director of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wrote in a letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Acting Director Rowan Gould.

Maurier added that public hunting was "the optimum population management tool" for wolves, and asked the federal government to issue a conservation hunt permit to Montana by Nov. 30.

Original plans called for a hunting quota of 186 wolves this fall in Montana. That would have driven down the population to 439 by the end of 2010.