Idaho’s wolf population dropped by roughly 106 animals over the past year, falling to an estimated 1,129 wolves in 2025, according to the latest figures released by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. State officials say the decline is deliberate and reflects years of expanded hunting and trapping policy aimed at significantly reducing the statewide count.

A Managed Decline

Fish and Game presented the population estimate at a July 16 commission meeting. The figure represents a notable drop from the 2024 estimate of 1,235 wolves and is far below the peak of more than 1,650 animals recorded in 2020.

Cory Mosby of Fish and Game made clear the trajectory is by design. “Our wolf population is decreasing statewide, and that is very much an intentional effort by the department,” he said. The agency’s long-term objective, he added, is to bring numbers down considerably further: “In our plan, our objective is to reduce the statewide wolf population to around 500 animals.”

Reaching that target would require cutting the current population by more than half, a process that has been underway through progressively expanded hunting and trapping seasons authorized by both the Idaho Legislature and the Fish and Game Commission over the past five years.

Background: From Extinction to Management

Wolves were hunted and trapped to local extinction across Idaho and the broader U.S. Rocky Mountain region by the 1930s. The federal government began a reintroduction effort in 1995, bringing wolves captured in Canada to Idaho, and extended the program to Yellowstone National Park the following year.

The recovery effort succeeded in reestablishing a self-sustaining population, and in 2011 Idaho wolves were removed from federal Endangered Species Act protections. That delisting immediately opened the door for the state to manage wolves through regulated hunting and trapping seasons, which Fish and Game launched in the years that followed.

As the population grew past 1,650 animals by 2020, pressure from ranching interests and rural communities intensified, leading state lawmakers and Fish and Game commissioners to progressively widen hunting and trapping opportunities. The result has been a consistent downward trend in population estimates over the past several years.

A New Counting Method

Idaho also changed the methodology it uses to estimate wolf numbers in recent years, a shift that affects how the figures should be interpreted. The previous approach, used through 2023, relied on trail camera surveys and produced population estimates anchored to August of each year.

The current method uses genetic material extracted from the teeth of wolves that are killed, and it generates an estimate benchmarked to May of the prior year rather than a real-time count. Officials have noted the methodological change when presenting recent population data, since comparing figures across years requires accounting for the different baseline dates and sampling techniques involved.

What Comes Next

With the population now estimated at just over 1,100 animals, state officials remain more than 600 wolves away from their stated target of roughly 500. Fish and Game’s continued use of expanded seasons will be central to closing that gap, and future commission decisions on season structure and harvest limits will shape how quickly — or slowly — the population moves toward the agency’s objective.

Wolf management in Idaho has long generated competing pressures: livestock producers and hunting advocates generally support aggressive population reduction, while some conservationists and tribal nations have raised concerns about the pace of decline. The debate over where Idaho’s wolf population should ultimately settle is likely to remain a recurring subject before the Fish and Game Commission in the years ahead.

The department’s work on wildlife population management is one of several active policy fronts in state government this summer, as agencies across Idaho continue implementing directives set during the legislative session that adjourned in April.