by Todd Adams

The wolf responsible for killing two calves on the same Clayton-area private ranch in the last two months was shot and killed by a federal agent February 21. A local motorist hit and killed another wolf on Highway 75 the next day.

Rick Williamson, wolf management specialist for the federal Wildlife Services (WS) agency, was driving by a calving pasture February 21 when he saw a lone gray wolf in the pasture with some cows, according to an email written by and sent to The Challis Messenger by Mark Collinge, state director of WS.

By the time Williamson turned off the highway and reached the pasture, the wolf was no longer visible. He drove up in the direction he assumed the wolf had gone, got out and started howling. “The wolf came right in and he shot it,” according to Collinge.

The wolf was a gray female wolf of about 90 pounds, and fit the description of the lone wolf the rancher had seen twice before in or near his calving pasture. This was the same calving pasture where Williamson on February 15 had confirmed a wolf killed a second calf. The first calf had been killed on January 10.

Wildlife Services has removed trapping equipment from the private property and the control action is over unless additional depredations occur, Collinge wrote.

Wolf managers are uncertain whether the wolf shot by Williamson is part of the Buffalo Ridge Pack, although the wolf was in the pack’s home range.

Man hits wolf Don Lanier of Challis hit and killed a second wolf on Highway 75 just down the Salmon River from Lower Stanley.

Lanier told The Messenger he was driving downriver on February 22 when a wolf jumped out from the right or river side of the highway in front of his Chevy Tahoe. Lanier had no time to swerve or hit the brakes.

Lanier had been going about 50 miles per hour, and he figures the wolf was killed instantly. He backed up to check on the animal, which was lying in the middle of the highway.

Lanier noticed an elk was standing in the middle of the Salmon River – perhaps one the wolf pack had been chasing before the accident. Lanier returned to Lower Stanley and notified Idaho Fish and Game Officer Gary Gadwa.

Gadwa took the wolf carcass and put it in a freezer, said Lanier. When Gadwa returned to the scene after dark, the elk was still standing in the river, said Lanier, but it finally crossed over to the bank opposite the highway. Gadwa howled and heard wolves answer on that hillside, Lanier said.

“I just couldn’t get over how big it was,” Lanier said of the wolf, which was a gray female weighing about 150 pounds.

“It just dwarfed this German police dog I’ve got,” Lanier said, adding the wolf had a huge head and teeth. “They’re a lot bigger than I thought they were.”

Lanier, a native of Custer County, said he’s seen wolves in Alaska, but never in Idaho.

Lanier said he’s told the story more than a few times. “Everybody’s been asking about it,” he said.

Rubber bullets The day Williamson shot the wolf, he had been in the Clayton area to give locals some rubber bullets and training to scare wolves away from elk that the predators have been killing.

“Some individuals had expressed concerns about the wolves being too close to their homes, and a number of the locals were wanting the wolves moved or chased away,” Collinge wrote.

http://www.challismessenger.com/newspgs/0303wolves.html

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