Oregon Public Broadcasting

Idaho's wolf population could be cut roughly in half this fall if hunters are as successful as state officials hope they’ll be.

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission has now set the rules and quotas for the first wolf hunt since gray wolves were taken off the endangered species list earlier this year.

Fish and Game Director Cal Groen says the wolf population in Idaho has grown to five times the federal management standards.  He says the department will manage wolves responsibly.

Cal Groen: “This is extremely important to our economy, to our hunters, to our other wildlife species and to outfitter industry.”

Groen says wolves are killing off deer and elk populations in some areas of the state.  But regulating Idaho’s wolf population through hunting may be delayed.

This week, a federal judge in Montana is expected to rule on a request filed by environmental groups to block state wolf management plans in Idaho and Montana.

If Idaho's plan to hunt wolves goes forward, about 430 tags would be released to hunters. And hunts would begin in the backcountry in mid-September. The rest of the state's season would open up October first and finish at the end of December.