GREEN RIVER - Resident sportsman Mark Lutz is a self-described "avid hunter" who usually bags deer, elk and antelope in wildlife-rich southwest Wyoming each fall.

He's ready to add gray wolf to that list in a few years.

"Personally, I wouldn't mind harvesting a wolf … just to do it once," Lutz said Monday night during a Wyoming Game and Fish Department meeting. "Get a really nice-colored one, maybe. Do it as kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing, like with bison."

Lutz was one of a handful of hunters and sportsmen in blue-collar Sweetwater County listening to a rule change proposal presentation by the department that would make the gray wolf a trophy game animal in parts of northwest Wyoming. The session was the first of a series planned across the state this week.

Game and Fish officials said the rule change is the next step in removing wolves from the federal endangered species list and turning management of the animal over to the state.

Once the animal is delisted, wolves in northwest Wyoming living outside of the national parks will be designated trophy game animals and will be hunted and managed similar to the way bears and mountain lions are managed.

Wolves outside of the northwest portion of Wyoming will be classified as predators and could be killed by anyone at any time, like coyotes.

Wyoming's wolf management plan was approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Dec. 15. Acceptance of the plan broke a deadlock between the state and the federal government that threatened to leave Wyoming out of the process of removing wolves from protection granted under the Endangered Species Act.

Both Montana and Idaho have federally approved plans in place.

If gray wolves are removed from the endangered species list on Feb. 28 as planned, Wyoming most likely will take over state management of the predator at the end of March, barring legal challenges, said Bill Rudd, assistant chief of the Game and Fish Department's wildlife division.

Under Wyoming's management plan, the state agreed to maintain at least 15 breeding pairs of wolves, or about 100 animals.

Seven breeding pairs would be located primarily outside of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway. Another eight pairs would be located within the two parks and the parkway.

Not inexpensive

As part of the state's management plan, the Game and Fish Commission must change the current wolf designation under state regulations to include the change to trophy game status in the northwest part of the state. Wolves are currently designated as a predator under Wyoming law.

The commission must also approve a second regulation that would allow landowners to be compensated for damage caused by wolves in the same manner that landowners are now compensated for damage caused by bears and mountain lions.

Rudd said the department expects to come forward with hunting and trapping season regulation recommendations for the wolf in the spring or early summer.

He said hunting seasons will be contingent upon the state maintaining the seven breeding pairs outside of the parks.

Rudd said the agency expects to spend around $2.1 million managing the wolf the first two years after delisting.

"It's not going to be an inexpensive program," he said. "We're building from zero … It's a learning curve for us to get up to speed on management."

Lutz worried about using angler and hunter dollars to pay for the management programs, however. He urged the agency to solicit financial aid from wolf advocacy groups and other organizations to help fund wolf management.

"It seems to me you're taking more money out of the money you're getting to do more now," he said. "And you don't have enough money to do what you're doing now."

State Rep. Allen Jaggi, R-Lyman, said while legislators in southwest Wyoming will support increased funding for wolf management, other lawmakers may not.

"Some (lawmakers) may balk at funding … The money is a little tighter this session, and this will be a big item," he said.

Agriculture groups such as the Wyoming Stock Growers Association have generally expressed their support for the plan. But environmental organizations including the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance have criticized the proposed rules, particularly the chapter that designates wolves in the northwest as trophy game animals and loosens restrictions on killing the animal.

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