COEUR d'ALENE - The wolf trapping season opens Friday, Nov. 15, in wolf management zones in the northern and eastern parts of the state.

The trapping seasons runs through March 31 in the Panhandle zone, except in parts of units 2 and 3, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Jim Hayden, the department's Panhandle region wildlife manager, said Tuesday that early counts of wolves and packs suggest the harvest for trapping and hunting will be similar to last winter, possibly down a bit.

"We're right in the middle of figuring out" what the "minimum population estimate" is for the Panhandle, Hayden said. "The key word is minimum. We recognize there will be more."

The peak of the hunting and trapping season is mid to late winter. There's a minor peak in October when hunters spot the animals while out hunting for deer and elk.

Biologists generate minimum population estimates using transmitters implanted in pups, radio collars on older animals, remote trail cameras, and harvest data. They also use DNA collected from scat at rendezvous sites.

"It's a marriage of a lot of different (counting) methods really," he said.

The most recent number Fish and Game generated for the five northern counties was in excess of 200.

"That number changes every day," Hayden said.

Trapping season also runs through March 31 in the Palouse/Hells Canyon Zone units 13 and 18 on private lands only. It's closed in units 8, 8A, 11 and 11A, and in the Dworshak-Elk City zone, except Unit 10A, which opens Feb. 1.

In the McCall-Weiser Zone, trapping runs through March 15 in units 19A and 25 and on private land only in unit 22. Units 23, 24, 31, 32 and 32A are closed.

All other zones are closed to trapping.

Trappers must complete a required wolf trapping class before they can buy wolf trapping tags.

Licensed trappers may buy up to five wolf trapping tags per trapping season for use in those zones with an open wolf trapping season.

In addition, up to five wolf hunting tags may be purchased per calendar year for hunting.

Unused wolf hunting tags may be used to tag trapped wolves in wolf zones with an open trapping and hunting season.

Trappers should note that bag limits are not the same for all the wolf zones.

Only three wolf trapping tags may be used in the McCall-Weiser, Salmon and Island Park zones.

Wolf tags cost $11.50 for resident hunters, and $31.75 for nonresidents.

While trapping has been part of the landscape in Idaho, Fish and Game reminds hound hunters, hunters with bird dogs, and people with pets that trappers have an increased interest to be in the woods because of the wolf trapping season.

People with pets should know how to release a pet that is caught in a foothold trap or neck snare.

Trapping regulations prohibit traps from the center and within 5 feet of the center line of all maintained designated public trails and from the surface and right of way of all maintained designated public roads.

Ground traps are prohibited within 300 feet of any designated public campground, picnic area or trailhead.