Wolves have had a serious impact on the recovery of elk in the Clearwater Basin country of North Central Idaho(Look at T Inmans map). But it was also a perfect storm in the sense because the winter of 95-96 hammered the elk in that area. I personally found dozens of winter killed elk. I'd guess the elk population easily dropped 50% and more like 70%. Habitat and calf survival was poor in this area prior to this die-off, but the elk were hanging on and hunting was decent.
Wolves showed up shortly after 1995 and the elk populations are just a fraction of what they were prior to the big winter kill and wolves showing up. This area had long been known as a "predator pit" due to black bears, cougars, some marginal winter range, and now wolves.
Front range elk units, closer to civilization and agriculture seem to be doing okay for elk. But wolves don't stay long near people or do well with an open season on them in these areas.
As far as killing wolves, hunting ain't going to do much in the above mentioned area, but it helps, trappers do better, but that ain't easy either. The wolf season is virtually open year-round in backcountry areas with multiple tags available. It's big country, heavily timbered, and hard to get to when hunting conditions would be good. Even though many claim wolves are behind every tree, they ain't....
I know a few people who have killed one wolf, but I don't personally know anybody that has killed two. Most wolves are killed incidently while elk hunting.
