Increasing Idaho's elk numbers is predator management goal
About 285 wolves are harvested annually in Idaho as part of the state’s predator management program — and although the number has increased from zero a decade ago, before wolf management was turned over to the state, it is far below the number of black bear and cougar taken by hunters.
Large carnivore biologist Jim Hayden reviewed the numbers with Idaho Fish and Game commissioners at last week’s commission meeting in Coeur d’Alene.
Figures from Idaho Fish and Game show that the average black bear harvest over the past five years, 2,582, comprises the largest predator harvest by hunters, who also took an average of 577 cougars annually.
Managing predators in an effort to maintain healthy elk herds in a state where hunting adds almost $500 million to the economy, according to Fish and Game, is among the department’s predominant tasks.
Idaho Fish and Game estimates the current statewide population of elk at 107,000. The peak estimate was 125,000 in 1997, but numbers declined significantly in backcountry units in part because of predation. Elk numbers have increased in areas with lower predation and elk appear to be expanding into new areas, resulting in conflicts with agriculture, according to IDFG.
“We appear to be on the right path,” Hayden said. “Our hope is to accelerate increases in the elk herd.”
Hayden, the former regional game manager for the Panhandle, said wolves aren’t the sole predator of elk — and for the most part are not what is keeping elk populations from recovering in the few Idaho units where numbers remain depressed.
“It’s not a wolf issue,” Hayden said. “It’s a bear and a lion and wolf issue, and a habitat issue as well.”
Lions kill the most collared elk (about 2 percent), according to Fish and Game, followed by unknown predators (about 1 percent) and wolves (less than 1 percent). Most of elk calf mortality, which can exceed 50 percent, occurs between birth and mid-winter and predation is the primary source of mortality — mostly by black bears and mountain lions, Hayden said.
After midwinter, surviving elk calves are killed more frequently by wolves. Of calves that survived to midwinter 20 to 33 percent died from predation, mostly by mountain lions (17 percent) followed by wolves (5 percent).
The department’s enhanced harvest seasons for predators — in 17 game management units in northern and central Idaho — include units where the number of cow and bull elk fall below population objectives set by the department. Those units are in the Lolo and Selway, where elk populations are more than 25 percent below population objectives. In Middle Fork and Sawtooth units, populations are between 1 percent to 25 percent below objectives.
The enhanced seasons in the remaining units are a result in part of their healthy predator numbers combined with the remoteness of the units such as 7 and 9 in the Panhandle.
Hunters are keeping predator numbers in many units from expanding, but outlying units that are difficult to reach are likely not affected by lengthened seasons and enhanced bag limits, Hayden said.
“Harvest of wolves appears likely to be depressing wolf populations across substantial portions of the state, particularly when combined with removals for livestock protection,” he said. “Remote areas are difficult to access, and harvest is unlikely to be depressing wolf populations in remote areas.”
IDFG pays The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services to kill wolves in the Lolo Zone, where last winter 10 wolves were removed using helicopters.
“Aerial control actions have been conducted most years,” Hayden said.
The department has documented five packs living in the Lolo Zone, and this year outfitted four wolves with collars.
Any changes to future predator management should probably target lions and bears closer to home, Hayden said.
“The best opportunities to improve calf survival exist in areas of good access that are not remote ... primarily through changes that improve mountain lion and black bear harvest and success,” he said.