Whereafter For Wolves
How the save-the-wolf conspiracy threatens all hunting.

Judd Cooney

Like the guy in the woods who told his partner, "I've got good news and bad news. The good news is, we're making great time, the bad news is, we're lost." The good news about wolves is that they are here to stay. Wolf populations are growing by leaps and bounds, from the hills of North Carolina to the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona, from the agricultural lands of Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin to the mountains of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. The bad news is, we can't do a [beeep] thing about managing their populations using intelligent and effective management tools such as hunting or trapping to control their detrimental impact on game and livestock.

How can anyone manage wolves effectively when groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Friends of Animals, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Defenders of Wildlife, The Sierra Club, and other emotional, nonsensical and politically driven wolf protectionist organizations won't let state and federal biologists do their job? Unfortunately, such organizations have huge war chests of money garnered from little old ladies and other segments of the unsuspecting public who mistakenly believe that they are contributing to the betterment of our world by helping to restore wolves to their former numbers, and in the process restoring the "balance of nature." Money can make a lot of noise, drowning out the voices of reason.

Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan all developed a management plan to deal with their burgeoning wolf populations. Wolf numbers there reached maximum capacity in the wilderness, and expanded into agricultural areas where they are preying on livestock and domestic pets as well as excessively reducing big-game populations. According to David Mech, a leading authority on wolves, eastern timber wolves have long passed the point where they need to be controlled. In fact, by 2005 they reached a point where adequate control might not even be possible.

This population of wolves was estimated to be 1,438 in 1989, 2,520 in 1998 and 3,546 in 2005, increasing at a minimum of 5 percent per year. To bring the population to the required level of USFWS service mandates for perpetuation of the species would require removal of 28 to 50 percent of the current population – an impossible task considering there are so few knowledgeable trappers and hunters available today. According to Mech, unless the states, especially Minnesota, resort to impossible (read that politically incorrect) methods such as poison or substantial financial incentives (bounties?), the wolf population became uncontrollable in 2005.

The eastern timber wolf recovery plan in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan reached the goals set by the USFWS years ago, and were to be de-listed officially from the Endangered Species List this year. However, even with the huge volumes of validated scientific proof of the wolves’ overabundance and devastating impact on game and livestock, several "greenie" groups such as HSUS, The Animal Protection Institute and Help Our Wolves Live, initiated lawsuits to halt the delisting of timber wolves in the three states. The goal of these organizations isn't simply to stop any possibility of wolf hunting, but to stop all forms of hunting. Fighting wolf delisting is just one of the tactics to accomplish their ultimate goal.

Fortunately, groups such as Safari Club International, The National Rifle Association, United States Sportsmen's Alliance, and Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, along with local sportsmen in wolf country, are fighting equally hard to see that the delisting goes through. According to several sources I contacted, it appears that there is a good chance that common sense will prevail. Time will tell.

Canadian wolves imported into Montana, Idaho and Wyoming as part of the Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf Recovery Program (started in 1995) have made an equally spectacular comeback. In so doing so, they’ve also annihilated the Yellowstone elk, deer and moose populations as well as seriously impacting (killing) lesser predators such as coyotes, red foxes and lynx. The USFWS criteria for the wolf recovery program required wolf numbers to reach approximately 300 wolves or 10 breeding pairs in each of the three Rocky Mountain states for three consecutive years. At that point, if the states had acceptable management programs, control of wolf populations would return to state jurisdiction.

The prolific predators met this criterion by the end of 2002 and were scheduled to be de-listed in 2003. The wolves did their part exceedingly well, seriously reducing the populations of a variety of other animals. In 2003, Western wolves were reclassified from “Endangered†to “Threatened,†a less restrictive classification but still under federal control (or lack thereof). The anti’s couldn't stand it, and in spite of overwhelming information that the growing Northern Rocky Mountain wolf population needed to be managed, lawsuits in Federal Court overturned the reclassification. In 2005, wolves in the West were back on the Endangered Species List and untouchable once again. Their numbers continue to soar out of control.

Northern Rocky Mountain (NRM ) wolves subsist mainly on elk, deer, moose and the occasional bison, but in 2006 wolves killed cattle, sheep, dogs, horses and llamas. From 20 to 30 percent of the wolf packs were involved in livestock predation in 2006. The total number of wolves in late 2006 was estimated at a minimum of 1,300 animals, with 173 packs. Figuring that each wolf eats the equivalent of one four-footed critter a week, or approximately 50 animals per year; it's not hard to see that a drain of 65,000 big game animals is a considerable strain on the resource.

Many elk-viewing areas in Yellowstone National Park are completely devoid of elk and a lot of outfitters outside the park have gone out of business. According to Don Laubach of Gardiner, Mt., who makes his living from the outdoors and has followed every aspect of the wolf recovery fiasco, the prolific wolves decimate the Yellowstone elk population while costing taxpayers millions of dollars in the process. His personal belief is that the anti's and greenies, with their ill-gotten dollars, will continue to keep sensible and effective wolf management tied up in the courts and keep wolves protected through endangered status regardless of how many wolves exist or how detrimental they become.

After all, if the wolves wipe out huntable big game, there won't be hunters to fund the game and fish departments or organizations that fight the anti's every step of the way. Most of the wolf lovers who belong to these organizations don't give a hoot about how many wolves roam the country or how much damage they cause to wildlife or livestock. Their main agenda is to stop hunting.

Keeping the wolves under federal lock and key is a very subtle, devious and ingenious step in that direction. No game – no hunting! Simple, eh?

good grief i think you have posted this in every possible forum enough already

Sometimes I wonder if some posters don,t post things like this just to see who responds ... If he is worried about wolves he ought to go do something about them ......

I still say that we should re-introduce Grizzly Bears into New York State.

Lar45,

Do you post this kind of stuff to discredit all hunters and hunting? The idea of deliberately gut shooting any animal is repugnant to me and I have hunted and trapped for a long while. None of us need the kind of PR that advocacy of gut shooting collared wolves is likely to get us. The area where I am has way more hunters per capita than just about anywhere on earth. It also has plenty of wolves. People trap and hunt and I have never heard anyone suggest gut shooting anything.

I realize that you live in a region that has become pretty tame to the point where the sight of a wolf scares the bejesus out of strong men, but for the sake of hunting, try to act a little braver. Also, think before you write of the fact that what makes good barroom bravado may not play well on the larger stage of the internet.

You are probably right, I shouldn't have posted that on a public forum.
This doesn't have anything to do with hunting. The issue here in Idaho is (what ever government agency/ people/ interest groups...) decided to transplant wolves into the area and didn't bother to ask for public opinion/ permission and just did what they wanted to do. The wolves are spreading and makeing a big impact on big game animals and everything else. There has even been wolves video taped in northern Utah. Mountain lions have also been transplanted to many different places. Where my parents live, they have been hunting and eating house pets(dogs, cats...) in the peoples yards. One of their neighbors had a big tom in a tree next to their driveway just sitting there when the pulled in at night.
My nephew was attacked while he went to get the mail one evening. He wasn't hurt very bad, the F&G officers thought that it was a juvinal and didn't know what to do with him once he had him on the ground. From the tracks in the snow, the F&G officers said the lion was waiting in some bushes by the mail box for a couple of hours just waiting to ambush something.

The F&G did come and put a trap in my parents yard after a lion came and killed most of their cats and wrecked their fish pond and fountain while chasing the cats around. This happened on their back yard patio.

One of their neighbors had a house cat snached right out of a kitchen window while there were cooking dinner.

This isn't man moving into the mountain lions territory. This is fanatical bunny huggers moveing dangerous predators into areas where they had not previously been.

If the solution to these problems requires the doing of unpleasant deeds, then they may need to be done.

Just my .02

Does anyone know where I can get a supply of the bumper sticker that reads: "Canadian Wolves, smoke a pack a day" as I'd like to pass them out to the hunters around here.

Oh, and Grizzlies and Wolves in Central Park is a wonderful idea. And a bunch more in downtown San Diego and around 7th & Flower in LA would help, too. Oh, yeah, a couple packs in the area around the Hollywood Bowl sounds like fun.

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