I'll take wolves over subdivisions. I would love to have managed wolves in WA, but I have no faith that wolves will be managed legally in WA to provide more big game hunting opportunity - regardless of what is written in the wolf management plan. I'd be ecstatic to be wrong.
I do think there is some chance wolf impacts on migratory mule deer won't be as severe as we think in the Methow and east Cascades (valley floor resident deer are probably toast though). Mainly due to habitat reasons, not politics or management. I do think, though, that the Colockum and Yakima elk herds will be POUNDED by wolves. We'll still be allowed to hunt spikes, maybe - but there will be damned little harvest once the wolves populate, as the calves will take a real beating. You can forget about antlerless elk opportunties for anyone in those herds. Likewise, branched bull permits will decline as calf survival drops. Eventually, between wolves and habitat loss, we will lose general license hunting opportunities for deer and elk in eastern WA; the areas where wolves aren't dominating the big game kill, won't be able to take the pressure of unlimited hunter numbers and a declining habitat base.
I think mule deer in the gentler, rolling ponderosa pine hills of the Okanogan Highlands, including much of Ferry and Stevens counties are pretty much toast, over time wolves will drastically reduce them. Whitetails will do better. The only hope for management I see there - DON'T LAUGH, I'M SERIOUS! - is that once delisting occurs, the Colvilles will thump brother wolf pretty effectively on the CIR and the north half when it gets harder to kill mule deer.
I don't think the same can be said for the Yakamas inthe East Cascades; road closures and topography will prevent them from effectively killing wolves; though they'll get some, especially when elk get hard to kill.
