BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Gray wolves were back in the cross hairs of hunters on Tuesday, just months after they were removed from the federal endangered species list and eight decades since being hunted to extinction across the Northern Rockies.
Hunters in Idaho began stalking gray wolves in a handful of districts in the central and northern mountains. Shortly after dawn, an Idaho real estate agent became the first to report a kill.
Robert Millage of the lumber town of Kamiah bagged an adult female from 25 yards away in the mountains near the Lochsa River, state officials said.
It remained unclear, however, just how much longer hunters would have to thin the wolf population in Idaho and Montana, which is scheduled to open its season in two weeks.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Montana was expected to rule soon on a request by environmental groups to stop the hunts in both states.
An estimated 1,650 of the animals now live in the Northern Rockies thanks to a controversial reintroduction program that started in 1995.
Idaho set a quota of 220 wolves for this hunting season as part of its plan for managing the wolf population. The quota is 75 in Montana.
The wolves were removed from the endangered species list in those states just four months ago. The environmental groups fear there aren't enough state protections in place to maintain their comeback.
The creatures were once abundant across North America, but by the 1930s had been largely exterminated outside Alaska and Canada.