Wildlife and People

Idaho Fish & Game investigate Mullan wolf kill

By TY HAMPTON, Shoshone News Press [here]

SHOSHONE COUNTY - Nearly a week after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ruled to remove gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains from the federal endangered species list, Idaho Fish and Game confirmed that at least five elk carcasses found over the past month in the Mullan area are thought to be wolf kill.

Wallace Fish and Game Conservation Officer Josh Stanley reported that three carcasses were found along a popular snowmobile path up Dead Man’s Gulch with two others near the fish hatchery, all killed by wolves. An additional two elk fatalities are in question.

Stanley said wolf tracks were discovered near the recently found carcasses with similar wounds that indicated death by wolf rather than mountain lion.

“We are just now beginning to see wolves visually in the Mullan area,” Stanley said. “And what we’ve found is just what we can see. There is no telling what has occurred up in the mountains.”

Stanley said ever since the wolves were reintroduced to the region they have met, reproduced, and formed new packs in concentrated areas. He added that a pack has been known to travel between Mullan and St. Regis, Mont.

“That will only last for so long before we have a pack in Mullan,” Stanley said. “I really believe the Coeur d’Alene drainage will have its own pack soon if the trend continues.”

Stanley called the wolf kills a new and growing mortality source for elk in the area, citing winter conditions and the occasional mountain lion for the bulk of local elk fatalities.

Although it takes 30 days after the federal ruling for wolves to be completely delisted from the federal record, Stanley said Fish and Game has already proposed tags be distributed as soon as this fall for wolves to be hunted as big game in Idaho.

Joe Peak, owner of the Enaville Resort, said that wolf sightings in the Cataldo area have become increasingly prevalent in the past few years. Peak cited an instance last year with wolves sighted from the bike trail between the resort and Bull Run.

“They have an expanded range now,” Peak said. “In the winter snowmobile trails have also afforded them the opportunity to travel wider distances.”

Peak added that ever since the wolves were reintroduced into the area the possible wolf delisting has been a topic of much discussion at sportsmen’s breakfast meetings at his restaurant.

“Wolves in the region have changed the way people hunt for elk as well, because you see cows don’t call as much when wolves are in the area,” Peak said. “Wolves are smart animals. They understand a cow calls because they have calves.”

Don Kotschevar, a Mullan resident and avid outdoorsman, reported coming across the three elk carcasses in Dead Man’s Gulch last weekend while snowmobiling.

“The wolves are just slaughtering the elk out here,” Kotschevar said. “There were lots of tracks and I’ll tell you there was a ton of blood on the trail.”

Kotschevar said he has seen at least a dozen dead elk along groomed trails while snowmobiling this winter. He described in graphic detail that the elk he found up the gulch had their hamstrings severed calling it “gut-wrenching” and calling wolves “Devil animals.”

The outdoorsman claimed that wolves’ killing methods include tearing the hamstring tendons before tearing out the fetus and possibly the liver, leaving a majority of the meat on the carcass.

“When a cougar kills it snaps the elk’s neck and salvages the carcass for days on end. In fact, all other predators other than wolves use the meat,” Kotschevar said. “The reality is this harsh winter had an effect on the elk, but a lot of fatalities came from wolves.”

Dave Spicer, panhandle region wildlife biologist for Fish and Game, said the St. Joe Mountains have seen relatively less wolf activity lately, with few reports and no sightings in the St. Maries area. Spicer said two deer kills being investigated in the St. Joe appear to be wolf kill.

Spicer added that wolf howlings have recently been reported in the Cataldo area.

“It’s a year-round thing with wolves, and anywhere they inhabit they’re preying on deer and elk,” Spicer said.

The biologist said the Idaho Fish and Game Commission will review its current Wolf Management Plan for action when they meet March 5-6 in Boise. Additional meetings for public comment may be held statewide this spring before big game decisions are made for a potential fall hunt in May.

Although the federal wolf delisting was posted on the federal register yesterday after last week’s filing by U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the rule will take 30 days to take effect on March 28. Expected legal action may delay the effective date of the final ruling, according to Idaho Fish and Game.