The fears that Idaho wolf hunters would run into the woods and decimate the Idaho wolf population are proven unfounded.

Those fears have come true almost as much as the fears that wolves would decimate the elk population.

After a week of wolf season only four wolves have been reported killed. The fourth was reported shot in the Sawtooth Zone Sept. 8.

If U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy is waiting and watching the success of Idaho hunters to decide whether to shut down wolf season, then we might have a long wait. He must decide that the proposed wolf seasons in Idaho and Montana present a irrevocable threat to the wolf population.

Montana opens its season September 15. Several legal observers suggest Molloy would want to act before that date, which also is the day Idaho’s season expands into the Selway and Middle Fork zones.

Most hunters won’t really enter the woods until they go deer and elk hunting and that’s when I expect the wolf kill to rise. But one of the great fears was that so many wolves might be killed within the 24-hour reporting period, that Idaho might allow hunters to go over it 220 limit.

So far that doesn’t appear to be the case.

The other element of Molloy’s decision is whether wolf advocates have a good chance of prevailing in their overall case demanding that wolves be returned to federal management under the Endangered Species Act. Their strongest argument is their assertion that the federal government can’t delist wolves in a designated population in one state and not in another that holds part of the same population.

The federal government did not delist wolves in Wyoming because its managers did not think the state’s wolf protections were adequate. But it had previously said it didn't think it could delist in on state and list in another where it has a distinct population.

Molloy seemed skeptical in court of the federal government’s argument that it had changed its opinion.

"How am I supposed to make judgment as to which of their positions to give deference to?" he asked, the Associated Press reported.

Wolf advocates also say that the current population is not big enough to ensure that long term genetic health of the population. Their attorney told the judge they believe 2,000 to 5,000 wolves may be necessary.

The region now has at least 1,600 wolves and may well have 2,000 despite the fact that Yellowstone’s population, the most protected in the region, dropped 27 percent.

But the deference issue and the genetic issue don’t have to be decided immediately. Ultimately, Molloy has to make his decision on the injunction on whether killing 300 wolves presents a long term threat to the population.

But if the first week is any indication, hunters may not kill that many anyway.

A wolf track near Idaho City. Rocky Barker\rbarker@idahostatesman.com