Re: wolves
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: eleaf</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BasraBoy</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Forest12</div><div class="ubbcode-body">There are 1500 estimated wolves in idaho. Those 1500 wolvse kill 30000-40000 deer and elk a year!!!</div></div>
At the risk of sounding like a tree-hugger.....
That's up to 110 animals killed per day. Or one animal per day for around 14 wolves.
Do wolf-packs hunt AND kill every day?
Where'd these figures come from? Someone else says 4-5,000 wolves.
How many elk and deer are taken by human hunters in the US every year?
Better to get your ducks in a row and quote facts...you can be sure the other side of the argument will have them!
What is the issue here? Wolves are stealing your meat or your trophy bucks?
If you are a trophy hunter then why not go and hunt wolves instead (or is that prohibited ??)?
From what I've read the retunr of wolves to Yellowstone in particular have had a knock-on beneficial effect to a number of other species in retruning what is a man-made and artificially managed eco-system to a more genuine approximation of what existed prior to the population spread.
If there is any argument to be had, it is what is the purpose of a National Park, what do the population want it to be and at what point does it become unmanageable when in close proximity to populated and farmed areas.
Sounds like a lot of people just want it to be their own version of the sentimental nirvana in the trashy pic above or a personald hunting range?
If there is a problem with over-predation or over-population of one species than that is a failure of the Park management.
Easy to solve either by trapping and shipping or by issuing game licences annually to allow culling of numbers as they do in Namibia for example.
Then at least those with some deep-seated fear/phobia of wolves can get a chance to exorcise their demons!
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Ahhhh, the sweet smell of reason. Yes, you are correct. The environmental impact has overall been positive because of the wolves return. I'm not opposed to hunting them in moderation (like everything else), but the "they're taking my trophy game" argument doesn't quite sit well.
I've noted on these boards before that unless it directly affects game herds, most hunters really couldn't care less about any other environmental factors. </div></div>
The enviromental impact of the wolf reintroduction has been a disaster!! First they introduced a none native specie into a native population, we had a wolf population but the native wolf is a smaller brush type wolf that runs in way smaller family units similar to coyotes. The wolves that were introduced are the Canadian wolf which is far larger and run huge family packs and breed like rabbits, they take a huge amount of area and game to survive and that is why they do OK in Alaska and Canada. There are also some reports to the head bioligist doing the reloacation that indicate he was warned about a parasite that the Canadan wolf has that is not in the lower 48, it will it was found in elk and moose this year and will be devistating.
We had a very strong population of Moose in out area with a quota in one area of 15, we no longer have a huntable population. In areas I used to see a dozen I haven't seen a moose in three years, they were the first game to get hit by the wolf. There will be no doe tags in Northern MT because of the wolve wiping out the whitetail. I know of one group of Bighorn sheep that no longer exists due to a wolf pack. I don't care about trophy game I need to feed my family and I enjoy hunting.
Last fall I saw 149 sheep killed in one night by a small pack of wolves, they were training pups not one was eaten. In another area a pack of 8 were training pups and they killed 12 cows, agian nothing eaten.
I was talking the the wolf biologist in out area and he said they have no idea how many wolves we have, and the reason is that they only count the wolves that they make visual conformation with so there are many packs that do not have a collared member so they are not counted so the number is way higher than the official number.
They are devestating the Grizzly population also. They are a non-native specie in an enviroment that can not sustain them.
I know people who have had them come into there yards and tear there dogs apart, I have been followed out of the mountains by a pack several times Wolf hunting is very limited, trapping is illeagal and they are hard to trap, poison works well!
Our local economy is driven by beef and sheep, they are hard on the ranchers and our economy. The federal trapper used to kill a few coyotes and now he kill hundreds of wolves a year just on damage complaints.
