Oregon Public Broadcasting

For Northwest hunters this is a big weekend. Washington wildlife officials estimate up to 170,000 hunters will be going after deer and waterfowl. But wildlife officials don’t want those hunters to shoot wolves.

That’s why they are putting up signs in Pend Oreille County and Okanogan County in northeastern Washington. A new pack of wolves was discovered there earlier this year.

Madonna Luers is with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. She says coyotes are fair game, but wolves are not -- and the signs will clarify which is which.

Madonna Luers: "There are a lot of differences. The coyote is of course a much smaller animal. But we just want to take every step we can to help hunters be sure of identification if they are going to be hunting coyotes out there."

Luers says the state will add more signs as wolves expand their territory. She says the signs will mostly appear at trailheads.

Online:

Learn more about wolves - Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

New gray wolf sign