Wolf Tags Slowly Selling

The number of hunters who hope to shoot a wolf in Idaho this fall is climbing. In the last week, Idaho hunters bought 1,102 hunting tags. It may sound like a big number, but the Idaho Department of Fish and Game says it is smaller than people may think. In 2009, the first year of the wolf hunt, Fish and Game sold over 5,000 tags in one day.  By the end of that season they had sold more than 30,000 tags. The Obama administration just removed wolves from the endangered species list last week. So far, Fish and Game says hunters are buying wolf tags in a trickle. Most of the people who have bought tags this year are buying other hunting licenses and decide to get a wolf tag while they are shopping. Fish and Game has not set the rules for the wolf hunt just yet, such as when the season will start and how many wolves can be killed. The first meeting to set those rules is next Thursday in Lewiston. The process could take a few months. For the 2009 wolf hunt, the statewide limit was set at 220 wolves.  Hunters killed 188 of them.