I just purchased the latest issue of outdoor Life while buying groceries. Jim Zumbo wrote an unbiased article telling it like it is. He confirms the devastation the wolves are causing. Outdoor life is the first publication to tell it like it is. KUDO'S to them and Jim Zumbo! I signed up for a subscription as a way of saying thanks.

[ 12-08-2003, 07:32: Message edited by: kudu56 ]

Thank you Outdoor Life and Jim Zumbo!! More truth and less wolves would be nice.

Wolves have infested my mule deer hole this year. I stayed in camp 20 days and could hear them regularly in the cuts near by. They also were comming through camp at night and I was getting worried about my dog being left in camp while I was out hunting.

No sightings though.

Another thing don't take into account with the wolf problem is that the wolves in Canada and Alaska are hunted which keeps them on the fringes of the big game areas.
Here in Idaho/Montana they aren't so they have no fear of man.
They are sitting in center of the winter ranges devastating the herds. We have been lucky and not had a really hard winter since the wolves which will really concentrate the herds for the slaughter in the limited wintering areas left to the big game.
Also incidences of wolves harrassing hunters and their livestock are increasing as the populations grow. Incidents of the wolves killing domestic livestock are increasing as well, as well as documentation of their sportkilling of animals without feeding on them.
Any wild predator is dangerous if they have no fear of man and I am afraid it will take someone to get killed by the wolves before we are able to take any action to control them.

Two years ago, while elk hunting in the White mountains of Arizona, I was talking to a rancher who was looking for a missing cow. I'd seen the animal earlier in the day and told him where. he didn't locate it. That night, while in camp, my wife and I heard some of the most horrible sounds and some animal was being killed, most likely eaten alive. The next morning we went towards where trhe sounds had come from maybe 300 yards up a hill from our camp, and we found what was left of the missing cow. The tracks around what was left, left absolutely no doubt is was the reintroduced Mexican Grey Wolves in that area.
Later on in that hunt, while I was working back to my vehicle, in the gathering darkness, I saw shapes of animals paralleling me on the road as I walked. I stopped, they stopped, I walked they followed. Checking them out with my binoculars, I saw that they were wolves. I also have absolutely no doubt they were possibly thinking about having me for dinner.
I know there have been no reports of wolves killing people in North America, but then again, they did eat up all the evidence, right?
Maybe we should feed the eco-freaks to the wolves. maybe that will make them happy. (The freaks, that is.)
Paul B.

I think the time is drawing near to delist the wolf in the lower 48 and allow at least limited hunting of them, and depredation shooting. Do I believe wolves should be eliminated? -no. Should the population be controlled? -yes.

The treehuggers who fight so hard to stop hunting of these "majestic" animals don't realize that there is no "natural balance" between predators and prey. The predator population increases until it so damages the prey population that the predators starve. I've been noticing it this year with grouse and rabbit populations here in PA; there are lots of foxes and quite a few coyotes, but almost no grouse, and fewer rabbits than usual.

Unfortunately, even this cycle will not occur in the American west with wolves, because domestic livestock provides an almost limitless food source.

The wolf is expanding his range throughout the West. This past summer here in Central MT we had several incidents of wolves killing livestock. The general "tone" of the average Montana is to wipe em out. I know very few people, other than the occasional uninformed Liberal or Treehugger who wanted the wolves. They were forced down our throats while the general populace who has to put up with them objected.

On an amusing note though......we have many,many deer, elk, bears,etc hit by vehicles each year. This past summer several wolves were found dead on the roadway, the apparent victim of a wolf vs vehicle accident. I often wondered just how hard one has to swerve to properly hit one?

This isn't the end of this debate. First REALLY hard winter and they will decimate the elk herds. As I have predicted in the past, in a year or two the famed Gardiner hunt will be a thing of the past. The herrd over there is getting decimated to the point that the annual hunt is no longer needed. Maybe then some eyes will open. The big problem though is the populace of the Western states like MT,WY,ID, are so small a population base compared to the rest of the USA that the liberals and tree huggers who WANT the wolf outnumber us.

FN in MT

The Michigan Dept of Natural Resources in their infinite wisdom have reintroduced the Wolf in the Upper Pennisula. Several Bear hunters have lost dogs to Wolves this year. The DNR spent thousands of dollars on Moose reintroduction several years ago and now they are supporting the Wolf. The general thoughts in th U.P. is Shoot, Shovel, Shut Up.

Went elk hunting this year with my 2 sons. we had drawn tags for unit 43 in ID. We never seen a single elk, saw wolve tracks though. Talked to several groups of hunters with the same experiences as us. What a damn way to screw up the elk in this state!

[ 12-09-2003, 00:37: Message edited by: Don44 ]

My biggest fear is when the packs find the wintering Big Horn sheep here in Wy. On the south fork where they winter on hay fields and sage brush flats they have no protection what so ever. Eventually the sheep will be pushed up on to the rocky bluffs and have nothing to eat in the winter causing more loss due to stress and starvation.

One reason elk are not being seen in some ares is they are gone, moved out and away to safer areas. They change their habits.

And as for Brent, you like the wolves, come get some! Let them loose in the wilds of Iowa and see how many whitetail you have left.

[ 12-09-2003, 03:03: Message edited by: kudu56 ]

On an amusing note though......we have many,many deer, elk, bears,etc hit by vehicles each year. This past summer several wolves were found dead on the roadway, the apparent victim of a wolf vs vehicle accident. I often wondered just how hard one has to swerve to properly hit one?

Frank, thanks for the laugh.

[ 12-09-2003, 03:28: Message edited by: Ol Bull ]

WHO HAS HEARD OF THE THREE "S's?"

You know;

shoot 'em, shovel 'em and shut up

I'm getting to the point that if I see any wolves, I might just shoot them on sight! I haven't made up my mind yet.

One of the purposes of the leftest, liberal, watermelon treehuggers has been to screw up hunting, and part of this can be accomplished by reintroducing to wolf (northern grey species, mexican variety, and red southern variety) in a virtual vaccuum.

"Watermelon" = Green on the outside like a bunch of warm and fuzzy PETA a$$holes, while red on the inside like a bunch of ELF/ALF, socialist eco-terrorists (earth liberation front/animal liberation front types, who recently claimed credit for firebombing some cra dealerships in Kailfornia).

I've have also heard of wolves from Idaho moving as far south into NW Utah, two sightings last I heard. I had heard about wolves being reintroduced, clandestinely even, into the southwest of Arizona and New Mexico, and if I had had had wolves stalking me on my way back to my camp or vehicle, I damn sure would've been send ing lead and copper their way.

The a$$holes who have reintroduced the wolf to the wilds of America, have essentially declared war on what until recent times has been a good and independent way of life. I'm from the West, along with my heritage (I'm a native Utahn, my father a lifelong resident of Wyoming, and my mother and her realtives are from Colorado). I'm goddamn tired of the "wolf issue" and enjoy hearing about the times they depredate and get killed. I wish more wolves would be killed, in every way possible.

Too bad the A$$holes who lobbied for the wolf reintroductions and those who actively took part in establishing these packs, can't "enjoy" the results of the "three S's," too.

The reintroduction of the wolf to the United States is a cancer that's only going to get worse.