GREEN RIVER -- Like a lot of Wyoming hunters, Dale Patterson of Rock Springs is planning ahead for his trip to the Cody area this fall to hunt for bighorn sheep.

He might just pick up a wolf license as well.

"Looks like it right now," Patterson said about maybe trying to bag a wolf later this year in what is expected to be Wyoming's first-ever wolf hunting season.

Patterson was one of just three Sweetwater County sportsmen on hand Monday night at the first of several meetings to discuss the state's proposed gray wolf hunting regulations.

The new regulations provide for hunt areas, season dates and harvest quotas for gray wolf hunts.

The rule-making for the wolf hunt could all be for naught, however, cautioned Wyoming Game and Fish Wildlife Division Assistant Chief Bill Rudd.

The fate of gray wolves in the northern Rockies now rests in the hands of a federal judge after a coalition of advocacy groups asked U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy last week for an injunction to block the planned hunts in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

All three states plan a public wolf hunt this fall to harvest portions of the region's 1,500 wolves. Conservation groups contended in court, however, that a wolf hunt will lead to the reinstatement of federal protections for wolves under the Endangered Species Act.

The injunction, if granted, would effectively suspend any sport hunting of wolves in Wyoming next fall until the case is ultimately decided, Rudd said.

"We expect the judge's ruling at any time ... and it will certainly dictate the next step in our process," he said.

"He can decide for the state, and we stay on track with what we're doing ... or he could give back management to the (U.S.) Fish and Wildlife Service, in which case the hunting season will be stayed," said Rudd.

Under Wyoming's management plan, wolves in northwest Wyoming living outside of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks have been designated as trophy game animals, to be managed and hunted similar to the way bears and mountain lions are managed.

Wolves living outside of the northwest portion of Wyoming are classified as predators and can be killed by anyone, at any time, by any means, much like the coyote.

Hunters would be able to kill up to 25 wolves in northwest Wyoming under the planned wolf hunt. The proposal still needs final approval from the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission when they meet in July.

Wyoming's proposed hunt would allow the taking of about 8 percent of the state's wolf population. Agency biologists said Wyoming's wolf population is growing by some 25 percent

per year.

According to the department's 2007 population estimates, there are 171 wolves inside the parks and 188 wolves outside, for a total of 359 wolves in Wyoming.

Four hunt areas

The department's proposed wolf hunt seasons divides northwest Wyoming into four hunting areas. The areas lay outside of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

Gray wolves occupying the trophy game area of northwest would be hunted under the quota season, in which each of the four hunt areas would have a quota on the number of wolves that could be harvested. When the quota limit is reached, the hunting season would close.

Wyoming wildlife officials took a different approach to the hunt than neighboring Idaho. Idaho's plan sets a population objective for wolves at 518 animals for the state.

Wyoming's plan is more conservative and sets no population target for wolves in the state. Rudd said the agency does aim to keep 15 breeding pairs of wolves, or about 150 wolves, in the trophy game areas outside of the park.

Under the season proposal, hunters would be required to report wolf kills to the department within 24 hours. Wolves can be hunted with legal firearms and archery equipment. Hunters will be allowed to take one wolf per calendar year.

Patterson questioned the 24-hour reporting deadline for a legal wolf kill and said it would be hard for hunters "on foot" deep in the backcountry to report their harvest.

"Twenty-four hours is close to impossible when you're back in a long ways on foot ... and my experience with phone service in places like the Wind River [mountains] hasn't been good," he said. "Most of the time, you pack that [cell] phone in for no reason."

The Game and Fish is proposing a $18 resident wolf license and $180 for a nonresident hunting license. The hunts are generally set for Oct. 1 through Nov. 30.

Southwest Wyoming Bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.