Here is the latest Idaho wolf update from Timm Kaminski, Idaho Gray Wolf Project Leader, Nez Perce Tribal Wolf Recovery Team. I have distilled his report so that it fits into my earlier web page Idaho updates. Please compare this to the update of September 4 . . .  Ralph Maughan.

Wolves B7M and B11F, released north of US Highway 12 on the North Fork of the Clearwater River are still moving southeastward, albeit slowly.  They were shuttled about during the winter and held for months at the Running Creek Pen in the Selway/Bittteroot Wilderness before release far to the north on the N. Fk. Clearwater.  This was to prevent them from moving to the southeastward back to the Big Hole Valley of SW Montana.

The pair is moving along the Bitterroot Mountains.  On August 19 they were on Lolo Peak. By late August they had moved south to Roaring Lion Creek. The were most recently observed at the head of Lost Horse Creek in the Bitterroots. They have also visited Moose Creek, which is farther west in the interior of the Selway/Bitterroot Wilderness.

The Selway Pack was located in late August at Painted Rocks Reservoir, Montana. Next they moved a bit to the southeast into Overwitch Creek. Most recently they were located just south of Salmon Mountain, back in Idaho and in the Frank Church/River of No Return Wilderness.

The Kelly Creek Pack was located in the North Fork of Kelly Creek.  It has also been located recently in nearby Crooked Creek.

The Chamberlain Pack was most recently located as usual, very deep in the Frank Church Wilderness -- this time near Bismarck Mountain. It was thought this pack had no pups in 1997, but the report indicates that in fact no. 16F whelped at least four pups last spring.

The wolf team has determined that wolf B20F may have whelped a litter of pups last spring and are presently trying to ascertain whether this is so. This would be the eighth Idaho wolf pack if pups were born. She is still in the vast interior of the Frank Church, most recently near Chamberlain Mountain.

No name pack, composed of wolves B-28-M, B-30-F and Wolf B-19-M was located on an elk kill in Whitehawk Basin. The trio's territory seems to have pretty much stabilized to the area just to the southwest of the Frank Church Wilderness.

The Landmark Pack was located as usual near on of the tributaries of Elk Creek -- this time the North Fork of Elk Creek. This country is all in or near the southwestern boundary of the Frank Church Wilderness -- beautiful meadowy country with low mountains.

The Stanley Pack with their pups was located in the Prospect Creek, a headwater tributary of Valley Creek. Prospect Creek is about 12 miles due north of the small town of Stanley. It is now known that this pack has six pups, not five as previously reported. Two pups have been captured and radio-collared. They weighed about 40 pounds and were found to be healthy.

The Jureano Mountain Pack, wolves B-25-F and B-32-M and their 6 pups were located in Sierra Gulch.

The Moyer Creek Pack, wolves B-29-M and B-37-F and their pups remained in Moyer Creek. A sixty pound pup from this pack has been successfully trapped and radio-collared. It seems to have grown nicely! Three wolves in this pack now have collars. It is now determined that this pack has five pups, not four.

Wolves B-35-F and Wolf B-18-M were located again in the Warm Springs Creek drainage of  the Frank Church Wilderness. They have been here for over two months now. This is a long and deep tributary of Loon Creek, a major tributary of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

The Loon Creek drainage. © Ralph Maughan

Wolf B12-M was not located. In late August he was located near Black Lake, deep in the northeast central part of the Frank Church.

B22-F and another wolf were again located in Monumental Creek. B31-M was also located again in Monumental Creek.  This is near the western edge of the Frank Church.

Wolf B-36-F was located in Warm Springs Creek in the White Cloud Mountains, not to be confused with the Warm Spring Creek in the Frank Church where wolves 35 and 18 seem to be well established.

Wolf B31-M, who has been involved with the killing of some 28 sheep in two incidents near Warren Summit north of McCall, has not returned to the area. No. 31 has remained in Lake Creek and ranged northward to War Eagle Lookout.  No. 31 is the only Idaho wolf that has killed livestock this year (excluding one of the Sawtooth yearlings that migrated from Yellowstone to the Lemhi Valley and was shot while attacking sheep near Leadore, Idaho).

Wolf B33-M moved northward from the Chamberlain Basin across the Salmon River and out of the Frank Church. He was most recently south of the hamlet of Elk City near Orogrande.

Pup totals-
The total number of pups identified this year is thirty.  There may be more than 32 pups because of the uncertainly about the pup total in the Chamberlain Pack and whether B20F had a litter.  By my reckoning the Chamberlain Pack may be Idaho's largest with 10-12 wolves. Earlier I had thought the Landmark Pack with ten was the largest.