Fish and Game is seeking public input on proposals to add 91 days to Idaho’s wolf hunting and trapping seasons on public land.

The Fish and Game commission will consider seven extensions to this year’s wolf hunting seasons and two proposed changes to open more areas to wolf trapping and extend trapping seasons. The proposals can be viewed on the IDFG website’s “public comments” page.

Despite an increase over the years in wolf hunting and trapping in Idaho, wolf population estimates still far exceed federal recovery goals of 150 wolves and 15 breeding pairs in Idaho. A recent survey showed more than 1,500 wolves in Idaho.

With current hunting and trapping seasons and agency control actions, wolf predation on livestock and other domestic animals is persistent and is expected to climb if the wolf population increases, IDFG said. Wolf predation also continues to have a negative effect on elk populations in backcountry areas, according to IDFG.

After the public comment period ends Feb. 10, the commission may choose to adopt changes to wolf seasons that include extending the wolf hunting season on public land from Aug. 1 to June 30 in Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 4A, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8A, 9, 10A, 11, 11A, 13, and 14. Wolf hunting season on private land in these units would continue from July 1 to June 30.

In the meantime, the commission voted to increase the number of wolf tags an individual can purchase for the 2020 to 2021 season to a total of 30 including 15 hunting and 15 trapping tags. The change is effective immediately.

Harvest rates for gray wolves are generally very low. In 2019, more than 45,000 wolf tags were sold in Idaho, and hunters harvested 188 wolves, which amounts to a success rate of less than a half percent.

Trappers last year harvested 200 more wolves than hunters. Only five people in Idaho last year harvested more than 10 wolves each, according to data collected by to Fish and Game.

Before this month’s extension, hunters and trappers statewide could harvest five wolves annually for a total of 10, but Panhandle, Clearwater, Upper Snake, and Salmon region hunters and trappers were each allowed an additional five wolves.

— Ralph Bartholdt