in the lower 48 states I only know for wolf "seasons" in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. I have heard talk of seasons in Minnesota too, but I have no actual knowledge of that.

Wyoming is the ONLY state that has (mostly) a shoot-on-sight rule and that rule doesn't apply in the "trophy area" but as I said above, most of the state is outside the regulated area.

"In France, we have an estimated population of 430 wolves"

Wow......... I would not be exaggerating to say in Wyoming we have more then that within a radius of 75 miles of my home. I have been hunting, out in the field for 3-4 days and seen 10-45 of them just hunting other game. Not looking for wolves at all, but you just cant go out without seeing some. It's very uncommon for me to go elk hunting and not see some.

I took a friend out for an afternoon elk hunting last year and we were both surprised that we didn't see any wolves that afternoon. It's rare to not see any in the areas I hunt.