You bring up an excellent issue not addressed before.

I am not promoting the illegal shooting of wolves. I myself would not illegally shoot one for just the reasons you cite. The punishements for doing so are ridiculous in the extreme. Being convicted of shooting a wolf is a personal catastrophe as has been demonstrated a few times by those who have done so and gotten caught. It is not worth it.

The punishment does not match the crime {rather, the virtue...} in this situation.

Just a year ago or so the law was changed to allow the killing of wolves in defense of life and livestock, but a fellow better be bleeding from an artery if he wants to go that route.

On one hand, I wish our own state politicians had taken a stronger stance against the Federal government when the introductions started back in '96. On the other hand, Wyoming did take a firmer stance and it can be said to have lengthened the delisting process { and thus prevented hunting of wolves} since the "recovery" area includes Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. For some time, the wolf management plan of one state impacted all.

Making an attempt to be somewhat optimistic, I feel the only possible solution under current oppression is for the state to manage wolves. Their draft plan seeks to grant the wolf Big Game animal status just like Black Bear and Mountain Lion. IF&G admits it will take time and there will be mistakes along the way, but they are confident they can establish a plan to successfully manage wolves at Federally imposed quota limits. I hope so.

Wolf "recovery" is expensive and it costs hunting opportunity. But if the IF&G plan serves no purpose other than to get the Federal government off the backs of Idahoans, it will accomplish at least one good thing. I do believe the state draft plan just might preserve the most hunting opportunity possible in the face of a blatant attack against our culture that wolf introduction and recovery represents. Federal management as it is now is nothing short of a disaster. and yes, you out-of-state hunters will hurt for it all just like us. "Your" elk will feel the crunch and that will translate into less opportunity for you.

Oh, yes, there are many other troublesome elements to this whole sordid story, too, just one of them being the granting of authority to Indian Tribes to manage wolves. This promises to open another whole can of worms. As I have stated a million times, the whole program is an unmitigated disaster.

I do appreciate the back-and-forth. The issue is very complicated and very troublesome, but I do understand that many people and some hunters support wolf introduction.