Click here to subscribe today or Login.
BOISE, Idaho — The first public wolf hunt in decades in the lower 48 states is off to a slow start.
Hunters in Idaho could begin shooting wolves just before sunrise Tuesday in seven hunting districts in the central and northern mountains.
By midday, however, state officials were still waiting for the first wolf kill report and an estimate of how many hunters were tracking the predators.
“Anybody that went up there at first light this morning is probably still out in the woods,” said Ed Mitchell, spokesman for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
State rules require hunters to notify the department within 24 hours of a wolf kill and present the skull and pelt to wardens within five days.
So far, Idaho has sold more than 10,700 wolf permits, mostly to hunters who will head to the backcountry next month when elk and deer season begins. Montana’s wolf hunt is scheduled to begin Sept. 15. Hunters there snatched up more than 2,600 tags on Monday, the first day of sales.
The hunt began as U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy considered a request for an injunction by environmental and animal protection groups opposed to the killing in Idaho and Montana.
The wolves were removed from the endangered species list in those states just four months ago.