‘Reprehensible’: Idaho hunter killed weeks-old wolf pups and reaped rewards, records show
A file photo shows a wolf at Yellowstone National Park nursing pups outside their den. Records from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game showed three pups likely around a month old were shot and killed by a hunter, who then collected reimbursement funds for at least two of them. Doug Smith National Park Service
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."
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.