KFH, Bearpaw, Ridgerat and anyone else, as hunters why do you want more wolves in this state? This is completely illogical to me.
I think you are misunderstanding some comments. I can't speak for the others but I don't think any one of us wants more wolves in WA, I am suggesting that the wolves already existing in WA be spread across all three wolf zones rather than wolves being left unmanaged in NE WA for an undetermined amount of time. If the wolf plan was changed whereby management in the NE wasn't determined by how soon wolves move into all the other zones I wouldn't have this concern at all. But the plan is written so that management in the NE is dependent on wolves being established in all three wolf zones. The only chance we have for management in the NE is for at least 3 BP's to be raising pups in each of the three wolf zones for 3 consecutive years.
Quote from: bearpaw on Today at 04:10:08 PM
I would add that there is a sort of prevailing attitude in western WA that the wolves in the NE are not really a significant problem, if that is really true then it shouldn't be a problem with those folks to move some of the wolves to W WA?
I know not all people in W WA share that prevailing attitude and I appreciate those who understand our situation in the NE.
In order to reach thier 15 BP according to the management goal it is going to increase numbers whether they are in one area or the entire state, this doesn't compute to you? Its simple to me and I don't get how others are not seeing this? If it took 1000 to reach 12 it is going to take another 500 minimum to reach 15 that = MORE WOLVES!
I'm finding it a hard pill to swallow that in your position you would advocate 1) for anymore and 2) to wish that the entire state should suffer the same consequence that the NE has.
Personally I hope they never reach their goal and furthermore had they chose the west side in the first place I wouldn't wish the destruction on my worst neighbor. Those who make the comments that they should plant them on the west side don't understand that we will never be able to control the numbers because it is even more dense than the NE. So the answer to this problem is to ruin the whole state? are we so self centered that we want everyone to suffer because our area has suffered? And how is this the fault of Westsider's? West side hunters didn't decide where to put them in the first place hell I've heard more west side opposition to wolves not being anywhere in the state period so how does this comment even make any sense??? I have never heard a westsider say "Yeah plant them in the East" But I've heard plenty of Eastsiders say "plant them on the west"
In 2008 WDFW confirmed the first wolf pack in WA. M_ray do you know how many years people had been reporting wolves to WDFW before they finally had to confirm a pack? I know as early as 2003 wolves in Black pine basin were reported to WDFW. 2005-8, wolves from Bridge Creek to Gold Cr were being reported to WDFW. In fact I know a guy who actually gave a WDFW biologist wolf scat and hair, the biologist laughed it off saying he would put it with his sasquatch info..
It took several years before WDFW were finally forced to confirm a wolf pack, and that one wolf pack is the only one they will confirm, every wolf in the Okanogan is part of the Lookout pack.
The west side already has wolves, and like the east side, WDFW will not confirm a wolf pack until they are forced to do so. So while you are telling us how you don't want any wolves, WDFW are laughing their arse off.
If some bps were collared and relocated from the east side to the west side at least there would be documentation of these soon to be wolf packs with pups, as it is WDFW are just going to play the waiting game until they have to come out and confirm the "first wolf pack" in 70 years on the W-side, you folks are going to go through the same lying crap that the east side is going through.
A Wildlife commission that stacked the wolf working group with pro-wolfers and gave us the crappy wolf plan.
WDFW refusing to confirm wolf packs and breeding pairs unless forced to do so, do to livestock predation by wolves.
WDFW's condescending attitude at wolf meetings. Refusal to answer questions.
The public comment period when drafting our current wolf plan.
Refusal of cattlemen money to fund a WDFW trapper and bio ride along.
CNW sitting on the Commission.
WDFW repeatedly denying wolf depredation.
WDFW denying wolf even exist in an area.
WDFW forcing their own field officers to phone Olympia for permission to say "yes, a wolf killed this calf"
WDFW pulling authorization from local LE to determine wolf depredation.
WDFW's acceptance of monies from NGO's who support the wolf agenda but disallow monies from pro-management NGO's.
Maybe you trust that WDFW are honest and would confirm wolf packs on the W-side.
At any rate I don't think there is anyone that would wish these wolves on any part of WA. Some of us have gotten to witness their destruction of wildlife and WDFW BS lies when it come to confirming wolf killed livestock. What we would like to see is some honesty from WDFW.
Wolf pack could be coming to the area, but no one knows when
YAKIMA, Wash. — While the population of resident wolves in Washington state has been growing, with four new packs established over the past year, wildlife experts know the next logical place for a new pack could well be in the forested Cascade foothills west of Yakima.
But it isn’t there yet, say state wildlife experts.
“We’re continuing to keep our eyes on the area south of I-90 and west of Yakima,” said Scott Becker, wolf biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “It’s the next area that’s probably going to be populated by wolves at some point in the future.
“But we can’t predict when that’s going to be.”
One would think it’s already happening based on the frequency of anecdotal reports, rumors and sightings of animals that may be wolves — but probably aren’t.
“There’s lots of reports that come in west of Yakima, and a lot of them may turn out to be coyotes or, as in the case earlier this year, a Cascade fox or those types of things,” Becker said. “We haven’t been able to confirm anything. We’ve conducted surveys and there’s thousands of cameras out there as well, and we’ve got nothing solid.
“That doesn’t mean there’s nothing there.”
One thing that is there — and may be slowing wolf expansion into this part of the state — is an already plentiful population of cougars. The big cats, drawn to the same sort of ungulate prey that attracts wolves, have long been well-established on the Central Washington landscape, and are apparently willing to defend their territory against the region’s newest predator — or eat it.
Earlier this month, a cougar killed and partially devoured a radio-collared wolf north of Ellensburg, a year after another collared Washington wolf had been killed by a cougar. This month’s victim was a young male, almost 3 years old, that was believed to be dispersed from the Teanaway pack.
“A lone wolf doesn’t stand a chance against a lion,” Becker said. “A lion’s a pure predator. If you have a pack of wolves, that’s a different story — in that case, I think the lion’s going to run away. But (against) a single wolf, or even two, a lion would be able to hold its own in just about any situation.
“And (cougars killing wolves) may happen more than we know, because those two (fatalities) just happened to be wolves that had radio collars on. Whether that’s happened to uncollared wolves, we don’t know.”
The Teanaway Pack, based in the Teanaway area of western Kittitas County, north and northeast of Cle Elum, is one of 13 packs in the state, based on the WDFW’s annual survey released 10 days ago. While that number counts four new packs, though, the state has only verified five successful breeding pairs and the total number of individual wolves in the survey, 52, constitutes an increase of just one wolf over the previous year’s count.
Three of the four new packs were formed by wolves that split off from the Smackout Pack in northeast Washington, according to WDFW state carnivore specialist Donny Martorello. The fourth new pack, though, the Wenatchee pack, might already be gone or might actually consist of Teanaway pack wolves that are on what biologists are calling “a walkabout.”
Since this time in 2013, when there were multiple photos and sightings of two wolves traveling together — the minimum requirements for a pack, according the state wolf management plan plan — the only evidence of the wolves was two trail-cam photographs captured over this past winter by a landowner in the Pitcher Canyon area southeast of Wenatchee.
“That was the only evidence we’ve had of that pack,” said Dave Volsen, a Wenatchee-based WDFW wildlife biologist. “When they appeared (in early 2013), they met all the requirements to be called a pack, and they’re still what we refer to as the Wenatchee pack in that area.
“But in reality, packs sometimes persist or do not persist. Conditions can change and their range can change, based on changes in the prey base and things like that.”
It’s been relatively easy for state officials to keep apprised of wolf activities in the northeast part of the state, with its relatively high density of wolves and livestock. But of the state’s 20 reported attacks on pets and livestock by wolves last year, WDFW officials determined that wolves were actually only involved in four of those attacks, resulting in one calf being killed and three dogs injured.
Those numbers constituted a significant drop from depredation in 2012, when Washington wolves killed at least seven calves and one sheep and injured another six calves and two sheep. Most of those attacks were attributed to the Wedge Pack, and the WDFW killed seven pack members that year. Two wolves from the Wedge, though, were still traveling as a pack in the same area in 2013.
A 2-year-old female from another northeast Washington pack, the Smackout pack in Stevens County, was shot and killed early last month. The WDFW, with support from three non-profit organizations, is offering a reard of up to $22,500 to find the person or persons responsible for its death.
But while wolves in that part of the state remain at the center of an emotional maelstrom, Central Washington’s wolves have “been fairly well-behaved,” without a single 2013 lifestock or wolf report involving the Teanaway pack.
That hasn’t stopped reports from coming in that wolves are, well, everywhere.
“Those reports are constant,” said Yakima-based WDFW biologist Jeff Bernatowicz. “Even along the I-5 corridor over by Seattle, they’re constant. Everywhere in the state you get reports of wolves. People see things.
“And, really, wolves aren’t very reclusive. They’re actually pretty bold. They like to run roads, and they howl. If there’s a pack, you’re going to know it. And it’s not going to be one report here and there, it’s going to be numerous reports.”
As for the occasional report of a set of wolf tracks — or what appears to be wolf tracks — Bernatowicz said that doesn’t mean there’s a pack anywhere around.
“That could be a single wolf traveling through or on a walkabout from another pack,” he said. “One set of wolf tracks, that’s not a pack. And that wolf, if it is a wolf, the next day could be many miles away.”
And the removal of wolves from the state’s endangered species list could be years away. The management plan calls for documenting 15 successful breeding pairs for three consecutive years spread among three designated wolf-recovery regions, or 18 successful breeding pairs in one year for the whole state.
And five breeding pairs, the current official count, is a far cry from that.
http://www.yakimaherald.com/sports/outdoorandrecreation/2023875-8/wolf-pack-could-be-coming-to-the-area