State puts up wolf signs to warn hunters

TWISP — Hunters in the Methow Valley this year will be greeted by new signs warning that federally protected wolves may be in the area and should not be killed.

The signs show the differences between coyotes — open to hunting throughout the year — and gray wolves, an endangered species in Washington.

The signs are in reaction to the state’s first confirmed pack of wolves near Twisp. This summer, howling surveys indicated multiple wolves were living in the foothills southeast of Twisp. In July, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife captured and released a male and female wolf after fitting them with radio collars. A DNA test determined they are purebred wolves. Adults and at least six pups were captured on film.

Last week, an aerial survey located them in the Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness area, said Madonna Leurs, state Department of Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman.

The signs will go up before Saturday, when as many as 145,000 hunters across the state could take to the hills and fields for the opening of general deer season and water foul season, Leurs said.

Big game hunters can also hunt for coyotes without getting an additional permit, she said, so the state wants to be sure hunters are well informed of the differences between the two canine species

The most obvious, she noted, is the wolf’s size. A wolf weighs from 80 to 120 pounds, compared with a coyote, which is 20 to 50 pounds. In addition, coyotes have longer ears and a narrow snout compared to the rest of its head.

Signs are also going up in Pend Oreille County in the northeast corner of the state, where there have been numerous individual sightings of wolves, and where a pack is believed to live just across the border in Idaho, she said.

“This is no different, really, than the effort that we and other agencies have taken in the past with another look-alike species — that’s black bears and grizzly bears,” she said.

The signs also provide hunters and others with a phone number to call to report a suspected wolf sighting, she said.

K.C. Mehaffey: 997-2512

mehaffey@wenworld.com