i live in the North Idaho Panhandle. I rifle hunted (B tag) for elk this year. I did not see elk in the mountains where I normally do that time of year. Just a few cows, very few calves and zero bulls.
I did see wolf tracks nearly every outing and heard some howling at night. Last Sunday I drove a 20 mile remote mountain road after a fresh snow and saw 2 sets of wolf tracks and zero moose, elk and deer tracks.
I have never seen a wolf in wild but haven't really gone looking for them. There a few wolves killed each year incidentely hunting deer and elk but the vast majority of folks up here trap them. If you want to learn how to trap and meet people that do checkout f4wm.org. they will pay/reimburse you for expenses for every wolf you take.
Used to come to this area 10-20 years ago to deer and elk hunt. I am not sure why anyone would come here now. If you decide to come out and try to hunt a wolf please be prepared. You will likely need a mountain snowmobile and know how to use it. The public lands in this region are densly forested. There are not many places you can set up a long range rifle and do some calling. I would focus on recent logging cuts. They are open and deer and elk like to feed in them. They are not marked on maps so you may just have to drive and ask around.
If you want some un-biased background on the wolf situation checkout the book " The Real Wolf" by Lyons and Graves
Good Hunting!