Court Rules On MT/ID Wolf Lawsuit

[FWS]

Judge allows wolf hunt to continue
By :JON DUVAL
Idaho Mountain Express
September 9th, 2009

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy, based in Missoula, Mont., came to a decision this morning, denying a request to return the protections of the federal Endangered Species Act to wolves in the northern Rockies.

This means that the wolf hunt, which began in parts of Idaho on Sept. 1, will continue and will open on Sept. 15 in Montana.

On Monday, Aug. 31, Molloy heard testimony from Earthjustice, a law firm representing numerous conservation groups opposing the hunt, and from U.S. Department of Justice attorney Michael Eitel, defending the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to remove wolves from the endangered species list.

According to a report from the Associated Press, Molloy said that the plans to kill approximately 20 percent of the estimated 1,350 wolves in the two states would not cause long-term harm to the wolf population.

However, Molloy left some hope for environmentalists looking to stop the hunt by saying that the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service not to allow a wolf hunt in Wyoming could possibly violate the Endangered Species Act because the decision was based on political boundaries.

"The [U.S. Fish and Wildlife] Service has distinguished a natural population of wolves based on a political line, not the best available science," Molloy wrote in his decision. "That, by definition, seems arbitrary and capricious."

Matt Skoglund, an advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the conservation groups opposing the delisting of wolves in court, said that while he is disappointed that the hunt will continue, he's optimistic that the lawsuit will be successful based on Molloy's words about a breach in the laws of the Endangered Species Act.

Skoglund said that species can't be delisted on a state-by-state basis, and therefore allowing a hunt in Idaho and Montana, and not in Wyoming, is illegal and could lead to the wolves being listed once again.

In Idaho, hunters will be allowed to kill up to 220 wolves, with limits set in each of 12 zones. In addition, 35 wolves can be killed by the Nez Perce Tribe. Montana set its quota for wolves at 75.

[FWS]

Federal judge says wolf hunts OK in Idaho, Montana

By MATTHEW BROWN (AP)

BILLINGS, Mont. — A federal judge said gray wolf hunts can go on for the first time in decades in the Northern Rockies, just months after the animals were removed from the endangered species list.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy denied a request by environmentalists and animal welfare groups to stop the hunts in Idaho and Montana, saying plans to kill more than 20 percent of the estimated 1,350 wolves in the two states would not cause long-term harm to the species.

The wolf population could sustain a hunting harvest in excess of 30 percent and still bounce back, Molloy said in his written ruling issued late Tuesday.

The ruling left unresolved the broader question of whether wolves should be returned to the endangered list.

However, Molloy said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service appeared to have violated the Endangered Species Act when it carved Wyoming out of its decision to lift protections in May for wolves elsewhere in the region.

That suggests environmentalists could prevail in their ongoing lawsuit seeking to restore protections for the predator.

"The service has distinguished a natural population of wolves based on a political line, not the best available science. That, by definition, seems arbitrary and capricious," Molloy wrote in his 14-page ruling.

Attorney Doug Honnold, who argued the case on behalf of groups opposed to the hunts, offered a mixed reaction to the ruling.

"If they violated the Endangered Species Act, then this population eventually is going have to go back on the (endangered) list," Honnold said.

He also said he was disappointed that the injunction request was denied and "took no comfort" in Molloy's statement that the population could withstand a hunt.

A decision on whether to appeal Molloy's ruling could be made by Thursday.

Fish and Wildlife spokesman Joshua Winchell said the ruling confirmed the region's gray wolves have recovered, at least in terms of sheer numbers. But he acknowledged that it also raised more far-reaching legal issues.

"Obviously, we want to make sure we're doing right by the law, too," Winchell said, adding the agency would consult with the Department of Justice on the issue.

Hunters in Idaho have so far reported taking four wolves since hunting opened there on Sept. 1. That includes a wolf pup that authorities said was shot illegally on Sunday from behind a pickup truck in an area closed to hunting.

The name of the hunter, who was cited for poaching, was not released. Authorities seized his camera and wolf tag along with the pup's hide and skull.

It's illegal in Idaho to hunt from a public road.

Idaho has a quota allowing as many as 220 wolves to be killed. Montana's season is set to begin Sept. 15, with a quota of 75 wolves.

Wolves once roamed North America but by the 1930s had been largely exterminated outside Alaska and Canada. An estimated 1,650 of the animals now live in the Northern Rockies — the result of a contentious $30 million reintroduction program that began in 1995.

The population is now five times the original recovery goal set in the 1990s.

Hunt opponents say those gains could quickly be reversed without federal protections. But as wolf numbers have grown, so have attacks on domestic livestock, ratcheting up the pressure to keep the population in check.

Last month, a small pack of wolves in southwestern Montana killed 120 sheep in a single incident — one of the largest such attacks to date.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Tom Palmer said his agency will proceed with the hunt in that state and "show everyone that Montana can manage wolves just like it has managed other wildlife."

Jim Unsworth with Idaho Fish and Game said the hunt there has gone smoothly.

"Everything is working just like we planned, which shouldn't be a surprise since we've done this for years with other critters," Unsworth said.

Molloy sided with environmentalists in a similar case that arose last year, after the federal government's first attempt to declare wolves recovered. In that case, the environmentalists successfully argued that a Wyoming law allowing wolves to be shot on sight across most of the state would put the population in peril again.

As a result, the government kept about 300 wolves in Wyoming on the endangered list when it ended that protection in Montana and Idaho this spring. courts.

[FWS]

The ruling can be read here,

Wolf Lawsuit

[trappincoyotes39]

may have to get a tag now? I know a guy by victor,ID that has seen quite a few.

[FWS]

may have to get a tag now

Have at it.

2009 Idaho Wolf Hunting Seasons and Rules

No electronic calls

No use of dogs to attract or pursue

Non resident tag is $186 and $154.75 for a nonresident hunting license.

Montana only wants $350 for a non resident wolf tag and a the prerequisite $10 MT Conservation License.

MT Wolf Regulations

MT even provides a handy online Wolf Hunting Guide



This is interesting, from the MT FW&P page on How to Hunt Wolves

Notes

* It's legal to harvest a radio-collared wolf but the collar must be returned to FWP. Please don't cut the collar belting.
* Some wolves, notably east of the Continental Divide in southwestern Montana, suffer from mange—a parasitic infestation caused by mites that results in the loss of fur. Hunters should avoid skinning a mangy wolf. Tag the animal and report the kill to FWP. Upon inspection of the carcass, you may be issued another wolf license.


So if you shoot a mangy one they'll give you another tag.

[FWS]

Not a bad article considering the source,

Wolves Aren’t Making It Easy for Idaho Hunters
Paul Hosefros for The New York Times
September 10, 2009




Marv Hagedorn, an Idaho state representative and hunter, hunting for wolves in the Boise Mountains with his son, John, ahead.

BOISE NATIONAL FOREST, Idaho — Hunting and killing are not the same thing. Even as Idaho has sold more than 14,000 wolf-hunting permits, the first 10 days of the first legal wolf hunt here in decades have yielded only three reported legal kills.

Such modest early results might seem surprising in a state that has tried for years to persuade the federal government to let it reduce the wolf population through hunting.

Idahoans, among the nation’s most passionate hunters, are learning that the wolf’s small numbers — about 850 were counted in the state at the end of last year — make it at once more vulnerable and more elusive.

“It’s clear it’s not going to be easy,” said Jon Rachael, the wildlife manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

The consensus among hunters and game officials is that wolf hunting will get better as the weather gets colder and snow falls, revealing wolves against white. The season runs through December. Most people believe their best chance of killing a wolf will come when they are pursuing something else, like deer or elk. Far more hunters are expected to be in the woods at that point.

“That’s the way hunting works,” J. D. Hagedorn, who participated in the first day of hunting on Sept. 1, said as a black bear ambled across the foothills of the Sawtooth Mountains that morning. “The thing you’re hunting for is the thing you don’t see.”

Once shot on sight for preying on sheep and cattle, gray wolves were largely eradicated from the Northern Rockies by the 1930s. They were listed as an endangered species in 1974. In 1995, they were reintroduced into the region by federal wildlife officials.

The program was such a success that the wolf population in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming — about 1,650 at the end of 2008 — is now five times the goal set for reintroduction. Ranchers and hunters complain once more that the animals are killing livestock as well as big game that hunters track, particularly elk.

After years of studies and lawsuits, wolves were removed from federal protection in Idaho and Montana in May. Environmentalists sought an injunction to prevent the hunt, but Judge Donald W. Molloy of Federal District Court in Montana refused to stop it and ruled Tuesday that the animals could withstand a controlled hunt of up to 30 percent of the population. The hunts, the judge said, can continue while the environmentalists pursue their challenge.

Judge Molloy did not, however, provide an instruction manual for finding a wolf.

Mr. Rachael, the state wildlife manager, said he thought it was unlikely that hunters would reach the quota of 220 wolves that Idaho game officials have said could be killed this season. He recalled talking to hunters who recently called looking for advice after spending a couple of days in futile pursuit: “You know,” the hunters confessed, “we don’t know how to hunt wolves.”

Neither did J. D. Hagedorn or his father, Marv, a Republican state representative. They did enjoy trying, though.

First light lined the Sawtooth Mountains as Marv Hagedorn, a 9 millimeter strapped to his thigh, a rifle ready, howled with hope into the foothills.

Nothing howled back.

He spotted an elk at ease on a ridge. A grouse ruffled. The sun rose. Canis lupus, if he was out there, kept quiet. He leaned toward his son, a 24-year-old Iraq war veteran, and whisper-giggled, “I don’t hear anything, but I don’t know if my howl’s worth anything.”

He added, “This has never been done.”

They worked through the heat of the day. They kept their eyes on the few elk they saw, thinking wolves might be nearby tracking their prey. In full camouflage, they tried to stay quiet and hidden, avoiding silhouetting themselves on ridgelines, keeping their scent out of the wind. Just before sunset, they scaled the steep ravine walls surrounding the Roaring River, hoping to see wolves that have killed sheep in the area.

And they explained that just being able to hunt — if not actually harvest, to use game officials’ phrase — was a success unto itself. The elder Mr. Hagedorn, a retired information warfare officer for the Navy who is serving his second term representing suburban Boise, said, “This is a new beginning.”

He is among many people who say the long, bitter fight over the wolf has really been a fight over the West and how to live in it. He said earlier settlers “came and ravaged everything,” from forests to fish, even wolves. Yet in an effort to restore balance, he said, the federal government took too much control away from states like Idaho.

“The federal government has come in and added this predator and thrown it all out of whack,” he said.

Mr. Hagedorn said part of his political message has been to tell people that elk and cattle and sheep are not all that have suffered from the wolf. Hunting stores, outfitters and guides, even hotels and restaurants have been hurt by a belief that wolves have made hunting less worthwhile.

J. D. Hagedorn, a sophomore at Boise State University, said he was more torn than his father and grandfather on some political and environmental issues. He said he had taken some classes on environmental topics.

“I understand the importance of a predator in an ecosystem,” he said, cradling a rifle at dusk.

But wolves must be managed, he said, “and I’m not going to lie, it’s a great hunt.”

[trappincoyotes39]

No electronic calls? I didn't relize that one. Makes zero sense to me as we can use them on Mt Lions and we have tight restrictions on them, to take away electronic calls then they can keep their tags. I will pass until they change that regulation.

[FWS]

No electronic calls?

Looking at the MT regulations I don't see a prohibition against the use of electronic calls, might be, but it's not listed as in their wolf regs that I can see.

Gotta do it the old fashioned way in ID.

But even then a guy could get pretty good with a howler and various calls with the resources available. There's a lot available on wolf vocalizations.

Keep the neighbors entertained as you practice at night in the living room.

[trappincoyotes39]

grizzly and distress sounds NO thanks, I will wait until they come to reasonable methods of take! They have a quota so what differance does it make if filled in 3 weeks or 2 months time?

My method would be young wolf howls and deer in distress or elk claves both are favorites of the Grizz and I'm not in the mood to have to kick another grizz's butt getting to old for that LOL.

[FWS]

I found the prohibition for electronic calls in MT's regs too, so looks like you're out of luck.

MT 2009 Wolf Regulations

Recorded Animal Sounds- It is unlawful to use any recorded or electrically amplified bird or animal cals or sounds OR recorded or electrically amplified imitations of bird or animal calls or sounds to assist in hunting, taking, killing or capturing wildlife, except predatory animals and those birds not protected by state or federal law. MCA 87-3-108

I will wait until they come to reasonable methods of take!

Maybe they'll adjust the regs in the future.