Montana wolf hunt to end today

Quota of 75 will be reached-

Updated Montana wolf hunt ends today. By Matthew Brown. Associated Press.

It looks to me like wolf hunting has been easier in Montana than Idaho. Although over 100 wolves have now been killed in Idaho, Idaho’s hunt began earlier and goes longer.  Idaho also has about 50% more wolves than Montana.

The AP story above is a new longer version. In it we learn for the first time that Idaho’s Fish and Game Commissioners are thinking of being duplicitous and extending the wolf season in some parts of Idaho’s already overlong season.  From my perspective, one that admittedly lacks information because Idaho Fish and Game has given out very little specific information about the hunt, I don’t think it has been all that terrible. However, changing the rules, such as extending the season, is exactly what critics of the hunt predicted would happen.

Montana wolf hunting season status page.
Idaho wolf hunting status page.

Pocatello: George Wuerthner presentations on “Thrillcraft”. Nov. 16-17

George Wuerthner, ecologist, writer, photographer, will be the featured symposium presenter in Pocatello, Idaho-

This will be of interest to SE Idaho outdoor enthusiasts.

Here is the story on the Nov. 16 presentation from the Idaho State Journal. Public lands v. Private Recreation. By Jimmy Hancock. Idaho State Journal. The headline is misleading because Wutherner clearly had no problem with recreation in general, just what he called “thrillcraft.”

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service retakes helm of Mexican wolf management

Lawsuit settlement results in USFWS reclaiming decision-making authority over Mexican wolves-

Folks are now hopeful that the failing effort to restore the Mexican wolf is out of the hands of a committee that had become captive to local anti-wolf interests.
Deal on Mexican Gray Wolf. Associated Press in the New York Times

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NEWS RELEASE

Endangered Mexican Gray Wolves Get a Boost on Road to Recovery

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service retakes helm of Mexican wolf management

Contacts: Eva Sargent, Defenders of Wildlife, (520) 834-6441
Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club – Grand Canyon (Arizona) Chapter (602) 999-5790
Matt Kenna, Western Environmental Law Center, (970) 385-6941 x 131
Michael Robinson, Center for Biological Diversity (575) 534-0360
Greta Anderson, Western Watersheds Project (520) 623-1878
Kim Crumbo, Grand Canyon Wildlands Council (928) 638-2304

TUCSON, Ariz. (Nov. 13, 2009) — The Mexican gray wolf recovery effort took a pivotal turn in the right direction today as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reclaimed its decision-making authority over management of this highly endangered animal that roams Arizona and New Mexico’s backcountry.

Settling a lawsuit brought by conservation organizations, the Fish and Wildlife Service reasserted its authority over a multiagency management team and scrapped a controversial wolf “control” rule that required permanently removing a wolf from the wild, either lethally or through capture, after killing three livestock in a year. Conservationists had criticized the rigid policy, known as Standard Operating Procedure 13 or SOP 13, for forcing wolves to be killed or sent to captivity regardless of an individual wolf’s genetic importance, dependent pups or the critically low numbers of wolves in the wild.