‘Reprehensible’: Idaho hunter killed weeks-old wolf pups and reaped rewards, records show

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — For the past few years in Idaho, hunters, trappers and government officials have killed wolves in a variety of ways. One hunter hit a wolf with a snowmobile before shooting and killing it. Dozens of wolves had broken teeth, possibly from chewing the traps they were caught in.

But one particular state report struck wolf advocates as a red flag: Three pups born in the spring were killed weeks later, likely before they had left their den.

Since 2021, trapping, hunting, government control actions, vehicles and natural causes have killed more than 1,400 wolves in Idaho. The Idaho Statesman obtained Big Game Mortality reports for each wolf through a public records request and reviewed them to learn more about wolf deaths in Idaho.

The reports are a routine part of documenting the deaths of predators like wolves, mountain lions and black bears. They showed where and when a wolf was killed and what weapon and method of take was used. Other categories include information on weight, coat color and age.

The reports are vital for researchers and wildlife managers to keep track of data about when, where, how and sometimes why a wolf was killed.

Many of the deaths seem typical for a state that has relaxed most hunting and trapping limits for the controversial species, including virtually eliminating any off-season. But wolf advocates — including former U.S. Fish and Wildlife wolf trapper Carter Niemeyer — said the records show a side of wolf killing that, while legal, is “reprehensible.”

The three pups were shot and killed with a rifle in the Idaho Panhandle on April 25, the same month pups are usually born, according to Fish and Game information online. Wolf pups usually spend six to eight weeks in a den before they’re weaned.

Fish and Game wolf biologist Katie Oelrich confirmed to the Statesman that the pups killed “would likely be less than one month old.”

Niemeyer, who helped reintroduce wolves in Idaho in the 1990s, said in a phone interview that wolves have been “reduced to vermin” in the state, prompting hunting and trapping that violates the ethics he abided by personally and professionally for decades.

“Those pups are innocent,” he said. “I don’t see absolutely any justification for killing pups in a den.”

Pups’ deaths raise concerns

Niemeyer said hunting wolf pups or any young animal is extremely unusual.

Hunting and trapping regulations frequently provide parameters that prevent killing extremely young animals. Hunter-ed, a hunting education company that Idaho and many other states partner with for safety and education courses, states on its website that hunting helps promote conservation, and seasons are set to avoid nesting and mating seasons.

Idaho hunting and trapping seasons for big game species like deer, elk and pronghorn don’t overlap closely with birthing seasons.

Idaho Fish and Game rules for predators, including black bears and mountain lions, note that females with young are protected. Mountain lions with spotted coats — markings seen on young animals typically under about six months old — are also protected. There is no such protection for wolf pups or wolves with young, wolf hunting and trapping rules show.

Most other states that allow wolf hunting and trapping or have allowed it in the recent past, including Montana, Wisconsin and Minnesota, end hunting and trapping seasons before the wolf birthing season. Only Wyoming has similar laws to Idaho’s.

Most hunters and trappers also abide by “fair chase” ethics. The Boone and Crockett Club, a nonprofit founded by Theodore Roosevelt that promotes conservation and tracks hunting records, says fair chase prevents hunters from having an unfair advantage over game animals. That means animals should have “reasonable chance of escape.”

But Niemeyer said pups as young as the ones killed in April may not have even opened their eyes and likely had no chance of escape. He said Idaho’s plans to greatly reduce the wolf population has spurred some people to violate hunting and trapping norms, and the promise of reimbursement for killing wolves adds more incentive.

Records submitted to the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board, a group that oversees lethal wolf control actions to reduce livestock kills, showed that the hunter who killed the wolves received $750 each for two of the three wolves. The funds were paid by the Foundation for Wildlife Management, a nonprofit that received grants from the Wolf Depredation Control Board to reimburse hunters and trappers.

The Foundation for Wildlife Management did not respond to a request seeking clarification on why the hunter was reimbursed for two of the three pups. An archived version of the organization’s website from August 2024 said that reimbursement for the first wolf a person kills will be funded entirely by the nonprofit. That language is no longer on the foundation website.

Reports shed light on hunting, trapping deaths

Fish and Game requires hunters and trappers to bring the hide and skull of a wolf to a check station within 10 days of harvest. Employees then pull a tooth from the skull, which the agency uses to estimate age and collect DNA to create population estimates.

Several reports noted that a tooth couldn’t be pulled, sometimes because a carcass was frozen or, in numerous cases, because teeth were broken. A number of mortality reports include comments speculating that wolves killed in traps had broken teeth or were missing most of their teeth because they chewed on the trap.

Garrick Dutcher, former research and program director at Sun Valley-based Living with Wolves, said the condition of trapped wolves’ teeth — some of which were described as “shattered” — raises questions about the overall ethics of trapping.

“I think that demonstrates that these are animals in a desperate situation trying to free themselves,” he said. “Those visceral realities are something that the public might (hear and) begin to question the morality of trapping a little more.”

A 2023 mortality report raised questions about another wolf’s death. It was killed by a rifle on public land in Game Unit 50 near Arco. The employee noted that the wolf had unhealed wounds on its back from buckshot — shotgun ammunition that contains numerous pellets — and had been run over by a snow machine, or snowmobile.

To Dutcher, the report echoed an April incident in Wyoming that sparked international outrage. A man ran over a wolf with a snow machine, duct-taped the animal’s mouth and brought it to a local bar before he shot and killed it. The incident spurred uproar to outlaw the practice, though Wyoming legislators later said they would draft a law clarifying it’s OK to run over wildlife so long as the animal is killed soon after.

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Fish and Game spokesperson Roger Phillips told the Statesman the person who checked the wolf in told the conservation officer he hit the wolf with a snow machine and killed it with a rifle. It wasn’t clear whether the man intentionally hit the wolf.

It’s legal in Idaho to pursue wolves from all-terrain vehicles or snow machines — a departure from typical big game rules. It’s otherwise illegal to use a motor vehicle “to molest, stir up, rally, or drive game animals in any manner,” according to the state law.

Phillips said other aspects of the Wyoming incident — that the hunter transported the wolf while it was still alive and didn’t immediately kill it after injuring it — would break Idaho law. It’s illegal to capture, possess or transport a live wolf in Idaho, and hunters are required to make a reasonable effort to retrieve and immediately dispatch any animal they wound. Like in Wyoming, violating those laws is a misdemeanor.

Dutcher said the Idaho wolf death makes him skeptical of claims by Wyoming wildlife officials that the infamous incident was an isolated event. Idaho Fish and Game roadkill reports showed at least one other incident when a wolf was hit by a snowmobile in recent years.

Dutcher also said the general lack of comments on the mortality reports makes him wonder whether similar situations are going unreported.

Remarks on mortality reports were few and far between; three-quarters of reports didn’t contain additional details or comments from Fish and Game employees. Many of the notes that were included clarified details on government agencies’ killings and noted whether they were from aerial gunning or contract kills. Some notes simply said there were no additional remarks.

Dutcher said expanded hunting and trapping rules and the department’s stance on reducing wolf numbers by nearly two-thirds may send the message that killing wolves by any means is acceptable.

“When you allow for policies that don’t show value for wildlife, then you have a population of people that won’t hold value for wildlife,” Dutcher said.

Wolf deaths consistent regardless of season, Fish and Game says

The Statesman’s analysis of wolf mortality reports found that, while Idaho has relaxed laws on wolf hunting and trapping, there hasn’t been a significant increase in the number of wolves killed in recent years. Hunting and trapping make up the vast majority of wolf deaths.

From July 1, 2021, to mid-December 2024, Fish and Game reports show 1,439 wolves killed. The majority of those were taken by trappers and hunters, who together accounted for 87% of the deaths. Killings by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Idaho Fish and Game were about 9% of deaths, and livestock depredation kills, roadkill, illegal kills and natural deaths made up the rest.

About half of the wolves were killed using firearms, with rifles used in most of those cases. Shotguns were used 33 times, handguns 82 times and muzzleloaders three times. Hunters used bows to kill wolves 16 times.

Oelrich told the Idaho Statesman in an interview that wolf mortality has remained consistent in Idaho since the 2011-2012 harvest season after the species was removed from endangered species protections. Since then, an average of 431 wolves have died each year, including deaths from hunting, trapping, agency removals and other causes.

Oelrich said there has been a gradual increase in annual harvest as the wolf population has grown, but noted harvest numbers in recent years have mirrored those from the early 2010s.

The Idaho Legislature in 2021 greatly expanded wolf hunting and trapping opportunities around the state. Lawmakers eliminated limits on how many wolves a person can kill and expanded the trapping season on private land to run yearlong in an unusual legislative foray into wildlife management.

The previous year, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission approved expanded wolf hunting seasons across the state.

Oelrich said data shows those expanded methods haven’t had much impact on wolf deaths. Since they were implemented, fewer than 10 animals each year have been killed under circumstances made possible by the expanded methods.

The reports noted a handful of illegal kills in recent years, including a March incident that is still under investigation. According to the reports, three wolves were shot and killed with a handgun near Island Park.

Other details from the reports include mention a wolf that appeared to have been killed by other wolves, and one that had puncture wounds to its skull from a “large canine or feline.”

The mortality reports document Idaho wolves’ deaths, but they also offer glimpses into their lives, with commentary on unique attributes — like a three-legged female wolf and an elderly wolf missing a back foot.

Dutcher said while the mortality reports can offer some answers about wolves, for him, they raise more questions. What’s happening to the hundreds of wolves whose deaths are logged without any details? And why are wolves being pursued in ways that might otherwise violate the ethics of hunting and trapping?

“What are we as a society if we’re allowing for this kind of treatment of animals to happen here in Idaho?” he said.