Update on Idaho wolf packs (east side of the side)
Oct. 26, 2005
I haven't done an update on Idaho wolves for quite a while, largely because there are so many packs now with a summer estimated population of 525 wolves -- more than Wyoming and Montana combined. Idaho's wolf population is still growing, although many think this is the last year. Others think it already has stopped growing and that wolf biologists are just now getting a look at some packs that have existed been escaped detection.
I'll begin with an update on the packs on east side of the state, with the Middle Fork of the Salmon being the approximate East/West Idaho dividing line.The information came for this report came from published data from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Jason Husseman of Idaho Fish and Game (Husseman oversees Eastern Idaho wolves for IDFG), Ed Bangs, and hunters and residents of Stanley, Idaho, and from my knowledge of past events and the geography of the region. Opinions, such as the highest and best use of Copper Basin, are my own.
Southeast Idaho-
There are no confirmed wolf packs in Southeast Idaho, although there have been reports of lone wolves, pairs and more, for years. Several years ago there were clearly two wolves south of Pocatello for a while. One showed up dead, shot by a Pocatello coyote hunter almost on the Idaho-Utah border (near Weston, ID in Cache Valley). He convinced authorities he thought it was a coyote. The fate of the other wolf was never learned. See the earlier story. "Wolf Sightings on the rise in SE Idaho."
Northeast Idaho-
There really isn't a northeast Idaho due to the shape of the state, but there is kind of a pocket of backcountry up against Yellowstone in Idaho near the Montana border. This area, much of it in Island Park, now hosts two wolf packs. One is the Biscuit Basin Pack which fled from the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone last fall due to lack of food. The latest is the Bishop Mountain Pack, which uses the west side of Island Park (and beyond). The number of wolves in these packs are not known, but both have more than two wolves, probably 3-6 adults and they probably have pups.
The Continental Divide near the Montana border-
The Black Canyon Pack-
The long irregular border of Idaho and Montana is on the Continental Divide until it gets to the Lost Trail Pass area (about 2/3 the way up the state). There is one wolf pack confirmed on the Divide. It is the Black Canyon Pack east of Leadore, Idaho, mostly between Bannack Pass and Lemhi Pass, ranging into Montana. The mountain range that bears the Divide is named the Beaverhead Range. Over the Divide in Montana is the Big Hole and other mountain valleys. In recent years the number of wolves there has grown and the Black Canyon Pack, and the exclusively-Montana Battlefield Pack, use the area.The Battlefield Pack has been controlled and controlled, time and time again for its sporadic killing of cattle in the Big Hole Valley, but more wolves keep appearing. It probably has not been one continuous pack and new packs forming in natural wolf country which has very few people, but lots of livestock. About a week ago when another control of the Battlefield Pack was underway, a coyote trapper caught six wolves in one night in his coyote traps. They were number 3 coil-spring Victors, not suitable for wolves, but 3 of the wolves were held and were killed by the government. Two wolves broke the traps loose and took off with traps on their leg. A third got away clean. Since then, the coyote trappers have been warned to secure their traps better to a fixed object.
We have to wonder about the fate of these two wolves with traps on their legs.
The trapped wolves were not part of the 5 remaining members of the Battlefield Pack, which were soon tracked far way, but Black Canyon wolves who had apparently eaten some livestock too. It isn't known how many wolves are in the Black Canyon Pack now. There are no radio collars, but at least 3, and presumably two wolves that might still have traps on their feet. Traps have been pulled as hunting season has started.
The 120 mile long, sky-scraping Lemhi Range is the next mountain range in Idaho to the west of the Beaverhead. Two large and sparsely developed valleys fill the area between the Beaverheads and the Lemhi Range -- the Birch Creek Valley and the Lemhi Valley. The gentle pass between these N/S trending valleys is named Gilmore Summit. There have been reports of lone wolves in the valleys off and on for year (predating the wolf reintroduction). No pack activity has been confirmed, although lately a group of 2 black and maybe one gray wolf has been reported by a number of people in the higher parts of these two valleys and in the lower portions of the Lemhi Range. Note that this all happened in Montana, not Idaho.
The Beaverhead Range merges into what is often called the Bitterroot Range of the Beaverheads near Salmon Idaho. In the northerly portion of this range is Gibbonsville and the Hughes Creek area. The Hughes Creek Pack has been around for a couple of years. The number adults is not known, but it is 7 or more. Five pups were seen this year. This could become a large pack.
East Central Idaho-
Once you get into central Idaho there is vast unbroken wolf country.
The Jureano Mountain Pack-
This is a very long-standing central Idaho pack. It has always lived on Salmon River Mountain, which is the general name for the huge expanse of mountainous terrain that rises to the immediate west, SW, and NW of the town of Salmon, Idaho. Nine wolves were counted last winter. They are still around, probably with pups again this year. The lone radio collar on the long-standing alpha male just failed. They stay between Salmon, Idaho on the east and Panther Creek on the west, usually toward the north end of the "mountain," which is bounded by the Salmon River as is begins its dramatic course through the mountains of central Idaho. Pine Creek, Napias Creek, Boulder Creek, Moose Creek, are placed frequently by the pack.
The Moyer Basin Pack-
This is another long-standing pack. It inhabits the central Idaho mountains west of Panther Creek but east of the Middle Fork of the Salmon. This is mostly backcountry. For many years, from time to time it kills livestock. The pack had 9 members at the end of last year. According to the USFWS On October 3, Wildlife Services employee "confirmed that wolves from the Moyer Basin pack had killed a registered angus bull calf on a grazing allotment just inside the Challis National Forest. A postal employee saw five wolves near the carcass and scared them away to ensure there would be enough of a carcass left for WS to examine." It was about a 600 pound calf. The Service report continued "On the 5th, ID WS lethally removed wolf B-97M, by ground shooting during a control action near Challis where a calf was killed on the 3rd. B-97 the suspected Alpha male of the Moyer Basin Pack and was 7 years old. His collar was not functioning but the signals of other pack members B-145, B-240, B-242 and possibly B-243 were in the vicinity. Control action ceased.
However, on Oct. 17 it restarted when the wolves returned to the area where the calf was killed.
Morgan Creek Pack-
This has usually been a large pack, with eleven wolves estimated at the end of last year. This pack is usually not bothered by livestock because it lives inside the Frank Church Wilderness or backcountry areas nearby -- upper Camas Creek and its tributaries. It was first seen by the public several years ago in Morgan Creek (which has a road and some livestock/ag activity) as a large pack. So it has already been around for a while. It has provided a number of dispersers who have helped found other packs (such as the Galena Pack). Currently a Morgan Creek disperser has joined the last uncontrolled (living) adult member of the Copper Basin Pack in Copper Basin.
Its territory is a bit to the southwest of the Moyer Basin Pack.
Twin Peaks Pack-
This pack dates back to the late 1990s. For several years it lived in or near by Frank Church Wilderness. Then in 2000, it came out to feast on the large number of wintering elk and deer in the main Salmon River near Clayton. At that time it got into livestock trouble and was heavily controlled by the government. Many of its members then scattered, but some wolves returned to its wilderness territory (they might have been other wolves). In 2001, Tim Sundles of Carmen, Idaho, just north of Salmon shot the alpha male of the pack, the only wolf with a radio collar. He and his wife were on a horse trip inside the Frank Church. He claimed the wolf was going to attack them.
No evidence was ever provided to prove his claim of an impending wolf attack, outside of the story he and his wife told. He did kill the radio-collared wolf, however. Sundles is currently charged with trying to poison wolves and spreading poison on public lands. Story. Since then pack has wandered free of human tracking. Husseman said he found evidence of wolves and a pup in its territory in 2003 and wolves in 2004, but nothing this year.
The Buffalo Ridge Pack-
Over the years, dating from 2002, this has probably been Idaho's most observable pack, at least during the late spring in Squaw Creek, a long creek that flows into the Salmon River from the north, a few miles upstream of Clayton.
It typically has from 6 to 10 members, and this year seems no different, although it was less observable this year. It used a new and safer den site. Seven adults were seen this year with 6-7 pups. Currently it has moved back toward the Frank Church Wilderness. It ranges in the Squaw Creek, Kinnikinick Creek area and points north.
Yankee Fork (of the Salmon) Pack-
One reason folks think the Buffalo Ridge Pack moved a bit this year was that a group of new wolves were seen just to the west of Squaw Creek. This summer, Husseman collared a subadult wolf from a pack in the Yankee Fork drainage, and while doing so heard multiple pups and adults howling. The pack size has not yet been determined, but this could well be the new pack that showed up for a month or so just west of Squaw Creek.
The Copper Basin Pack-
This is the second pack to form in Copper Basin, a fine mountain valley that could rival the Lamar if the cows were removed. The first pack, the Wildhorse Pack, eventually disintegrated after the alpha female was killed by an elk.
The new Copper Basin Pack appeared suddenly last fall with 9 members, including two pups. This pack got into more livestock trouble than the old Wildhorse Pack, and late this summer all but three members of the pack were shot by Wildlife Services. Saved was an adult female to care for the two pups. Since then she has been joined by a disperser from the Morgan Creek Pack about 25 miles to the north. There might be a few other wolves still wandering around in the area.
This is wonderful elk, antelope, deer and moose country, and I hope one it will one day be cattle free and one of America's finest wildlife spectacles and hunting areas. I believe all cattle were supposed to be removed for the year by Oct. 22. At any rate, wolves will keep coming back to this fine valley and the surrounding White Knob and Pioneer Mountains.
Pack in the North Fork of the Big Lost River/East Pass Creek-
This might be a new pack, maybe even two packs, or it could be the old Castle Peak Pack which was lost to trackers when famous B2M, the alpha male died in a fight with an elk 2 winters ago. At any rate, campers, hikers, hunters, grazers and more have seen these wolves from Herd Lake to Hunter Creek Summit and East Pass Creek. It appears there are 7-8 adult wolves.
This summer this wolf pack or one nearby killed 22 ewes, 3 bucks and a livestock guarding dog. I understand the sheep were owned by the Lava Lake Livestock Company, a very progressive outfit. They didn't want the wolves shot, and before long they moved their sheep out of the area.Owl Creek Pack-
There is a wolf pack the ranges along the Salmon River Breaks from about Owl Creek to Horse Creek. This is near the end of the Salmon River road where the first wolves were released in January 1995. Husseman has not yet investigated this new pack. The streams are tributaries of the Salmon River that flow in from the north. They lie mostly outside the Frank Church Wilderness.
Hoodoo Pack-
This is one of the most interesting stories. It is a new pack that ranges from the heights of the Big Horn Crags, some of Idaho's most famous wilderness mountains, to the nearby depths of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. The pack was founded by wolf R239M, who was born to the Washakie Pack hundreds of miles away, southeast of Yellowstone Park in Wyoming! He was once a black wolf, but is now the gray color old black wolves turn. He migrated to Idaho over a year ago, and was first located as a lone wolf in the McCall area of western Idaho. This is not the first wolf to come from Wyoming to central Idaho, but it must be the most traveled. A wolf from central Idaho also, several years ago, migrated to Wyoming and founded the Greybull Pack near Meeteetse. See earlier story "Wolf from Wyoming starts a pack in Idaho's fabled Big Horn Crags."
Galena Pack-
This pack is the only wolf pack to regularly use the Sawtooth Valley and Stanley Basin, some of the most scenic mountain valleys in the West. Last spring before pups were born, 7 members of the pack were seen.
The Galena Pack also uses the White Cloud Mountains where a big forest fire in September burned a lot of elk habitat. The fire burned very hot in places causing the soil to become hydrophobic (repelling rain). The results may be flooding. The habits of wolf packs will change along with those of elk and deer as the burn regenerates, although for now the general pattern of the pack's movements seem to be similar as before the fire.
This summer they killed a few sheep in Pole Creek. Sheep/wolf conflicts in this area are endemic ever since wolves came into the Sawtooth Valley. In the past the Idaho federal district court has issued injunctions on federal killing of wolves in SNRA because its enabling legislation says wildlife has priority over livestock. Many hours of volunteers staying with sheepherders have been logged and many hours stringing fladry as well.
Soldier Mountain Pack-
I have considered this a west central Idaho Pack due to the location of the Soldier Mountains, but recently some or all of the pack has been visiting the margins of the Sawtooth Valley around Alturas Lake (just across the Sawtooth Valley from Pole Creek).
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Copyright © 2005 Ralph Maughan
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