Big Game Hunting > Wolves

Gray Wolf News "The latest in the Wolf Wars"

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Boss .300 winmag:
Those should make good rugs. And yes I would put them on thre floor where they belong.  :yike:

bearpaw:
Gone hunting wolves
 
Neil LaRubbio Dec 03, 2012 High Country News
 
By the time you read this blog, I will be on my second day of hunting gray wolves in Montana. An old friend of mine in Livingston introduced me to some ranchers in Paradise Valley to write a story of their hunt. We will be trudging through a wilderness of snow on horseback, hoping to “get lucky”, you might say. Luck, I’ve found, is at least 50 percent of hunting anyway -- for wolves, it’s probably closer to 80 percent.
 
That’s not to say wolf hunters this year have been unsuccessful. Looking through wildlife agency websites for Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, hunters have recorded fairly significant kill numbers. All this occurs as wolf reintroduction, “the greatest success of the Endangered Species Act”, enters a new era -- one I'm hoping to explore in my story on the topic. The survival of America’s gray wolves now rests in the hands of state wildlife agencies and sportsmen, who have supplanted environmentalists as their diligent guardians.
 
Some statistics to date:
 
Hunters in Montana have harvested 84 wolves as of Thursday afternoon, out of a population of at least 650 statewide. Different this year compared to the last is that there is no statewide wolf harvest limit. In 2011, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks set a harvest quota of 220 wolves, but even though hunters had a 46-day extension, they only killed 166 wolves by the end of the season in mid-February. Another difference: This 2012 season allows trapping in Montana for the first time since wolves were delisted. From December 15 through February 28, trappers will be able to snatch three pelts apiece.
 
Idaho doesn’t have a state bag limit either, and their season starts earlier and ends later. Last year, with a population estimated around 746 wolves, hunters and trappers killed a combined 349. Trappers are typically more successful than hunters, but there are fewer of them, as Jason Husseman, regional wildlife biologist for Idaho Department of Fish and Game told me.  Roughly 1,000 trappers took the state's mandatory trapper license course this year, compared with over 100,000 hunters that head out into the woods, many of them looking for wolves. So while trapping may be an easier way to kill a wolf, there just aren’t as many people doing it … so far.
 
Wyoming is the state environmental groups worried about the most during the height of the wolf de-listing wars, and was the last state to get approval for a wolf hunt.  Wolf advocates worried the state would kill off their population with lax regulations. Depending on how you look at it, they may have had reason to fret. The state designated wolves “predatory animals” except for within four management units, plus Yellowstone National Park and the Wind River Reservation. As predatory animals, wolves can be killed, year-round, without a license. On the other hand, some say the majority of Wyoming’s wolf population is located in the management units, which all have quotas, and the rest of the state isn’t inhabited by wolves. It’s tough to gauge who’s right at this point. So far 37 wolves have been harvested in the management units; the total quota for the units is 52. Outside the units, 19 wolves have been killed to date.
 
If you’re hankering to kill a wolf and you live outside one of these states, I'd recommend taking your gun to Idaho. They only charge non-residents $31.75 for a wolf tag. Montana's fee is $350 (compared to $19 for locals) and Wyoming charges $180 (residents pay just $18). Either way, you’re going to have a tough time. Wolves aren’t easy to spot. I’m sure I’m finding that out by now.
 
Source:
http://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/gone-hunting-wolves

bearpaw:
Wolf hunt may soon come to an end [Wisconsin]
 
By Sean Kirkby Monday, December 3, 2012 The Badger Herald
 
Wildlife officials have closed half of the state’s wolf hunting zones after hunters and trappers surpassed 100 wolf kills, which could mean Wisconsin’s inaugural organized wolf hunt season may end soon.
 
According to a statement, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources closed a wolf hunt zone Sunday in the northwest part of the state, bordering Lake Superior. The DNR has also closed two of the other six wolf hunt zones in the state.
 
As of Friday, hunters and trappers had killed 101 wolves of the 116 wolf quota, with 57 percent of wolves taken by trappers, according to DNR data. The season continues through the end of February or until hunters and trappers reach the limit.
 
Continued:
http://badgerherald.com/news/2012/12/03/wolf_hunt_may_soon_c.php

bearpaw:
Reader's view: Wolf hunt shows lack of respect for wilderness
 
December 03, 2012 Duluth News Tribune by Cathy Miller
 
What’s going on? A killing frenzy? This wolf hunt is beyond disgusting and opened a door exposing abuse of power by politicians.
 
Wolves were removed from the endangered-species list in January and already are being trapped and shot. A four-month season is ongoing in Wisconsin, day and night, with trapping, electronic calling devices and bait. Possibly dogs, too, if the Dane County judge approves it Dec. 20.
 
Why? The bill authorizing the hunt reportedly was co-written by the Bear Hunter Association, Hunters’ Rights Group and Safari International. Gov. Scott Walker was elected with support from these groups. This seems like payback.
 
Continued:
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/251509/group/Opinion/

denali:
Wolf activity continues in Wedge pack area

By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press

Wolves are still active in northeast Washington even after state wildlife managers killed seven of the predators earlier this year.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife reported wolf tracks observed Nov. 10 in the Wedge Pack area. The area is in northern Stevens County and is bordered by Canada and the Columbia and Kettle rivers.

Steve Pozzanghera, regional director of the department in Spokane, said data indicate two wolves are in the area, although where they’re coming from is unknown.

“We’ve had questions of ‘Does that mean these are remaining members of the Wedge pack that were not killed?’ and ‘Does that mean these are new dispersers into the area?’” Pozzanghera said. “The short answer is we don’t know.”

Len McIrvin, owner of the Diamond M Ranch in Laurier, Wash., where the Wedge pack attacked livestock last summer, said he saw fresh wolf tracks shortly after the state sharpshooter killed the pack members. He has continued to lose calves, he said, although no kills could be documented as wolf-caused in the rough country.

“The ones we found through the summer, I think was just kind of the Lord willing we found them,” he said, noting he’s observed mothers return with their udders drying up, indicating the loss of a calves.

McIrvin estimated he’s lost 40 calves, or 20 percent of the cattle in the area. He’s in the process of finishing fall roundup, and will soon have an exact total.

“It’s an opportunity for us to try again, and do better,” said Mitch Friedman, executive director of Conservation Northwest. “I don’t know that life often allows for quick re-dos of failures, and here we get a chance to do that.”

There’s half a year before ranchers can turn out calves onto public lands, Friedman said, and the tools are already available to help them, requiring earnest effort. Those options include turning out larger calves later, complete removal of carcasses as quickly as possible, wire and flagery at calving areas and range riders.

“Not every guy with a hat and horse is a range rider,” he said. “A range rider is trained and stays with that herd, keeps them bunched up 24-7.” Cow weights were above-average and not a single calf was lost in the Smackout Pack range rider pilot program this summer, Friedman said.

He expects his group to turn to the state Legislature next as it focuses on the Wedge pack killing and what policies should be for grazing on public land.

Jack Field, executive vice president of the Washington Cattlemen’s Association, has also heard reports of wolf sightings east of Enumclaw, Wash.

Field wants to ensure the department has tools to protect the ungulate population so that wolves don’t turn to livestock for their prey.

He expects Sen. Kevin Ranker, a Democrat from Orcas Island, Wash., and chair of the state senate’s Energy, Natural Resources and Marine Waters committee, will hold a fact-finding hearing and update in January. Ranker has expressed concern over killing the Wedge pack wolves.

Field said the biggest challenge is funding for the state’s wolf management plan.

“This cannot be something that’s funded out of the wildlife account off the backs of hundreds of sportsmen,” he said. “The entire population needs to share in the economic burden that species management and recovery brings.”

The department hopes to communicate with any rancher moving onto an allotment where wolves are present that tools are available such as range riders and use of radio collars to monitor wolf locations.

Turning out cattle in early June, at the same time there is a wild food source in the form of ungulates like deer, elk and moose reduces pressure on livestock, Pozzanghera said.

The agency has cost-share opportunities for operators, Pozzanghera said.

McIrvin said his ranch is using range riders and he and department workers have been working to provide an increased human presence.

Wolves preyed on cattle on his private property and state and federal lands he leases.

“I have never heard anything that would be helpful to stop losses other than what they did, take out the pack,” McIrvin said. “I don’t know what the next step would be until we go broke.”

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