Went to Seattle Wolf Meeting Today

[UrbanTrapper]

I just got back from the Seattle meeting.  The meeting had to be moved across the street from the garden Room to a hangar to accommodate the crowd of around 200 mostly aging hipsters that showed up.  I was pleasantly surprised by the presentation except it made no mention of the damage lower 48 wolves have done to ungulates and focused on livestock depredation.  Mike Jimenez was good; he didn't sugar coat anything.  Carter Niemeyer sounded professional but he couldn't resist playing to the pro-wolf crowd (he basically took credit for reintroducing wolves, smirking after applause, "On behalf of the wolves, I thank you.").  He again said, "We don't have a wolf problem, we have a people problem ... the people are unwilling to move, pack up and leave, that's the problem." Donny M. did pretty well but he was trying to stay out of trouble; but he admitted their were 11 wolf packs in the state now (8 confirmed and three suspected) but his slide listed 13. The intent of the meeting was obviously to reassure the pro-wolf crowd that the wolves are already recovered, are here to stay, and that they should support control measures that now have to be taken (such as destroying the Wedge Pack), and to encourage the pro-wolf crowd to be tolerant of ranchers and other people that actually live in the rural areas and are stewards of the land.  But the Seattle pro-wolf crowd was having none of it.  Their questions showed that most of the people at the meeting are what I call Lifestyle Hypocrites; they demand all day long that everyone must be tolerant and support THEIR lifestyle but they refuse to be tolerant of the lifestyles of others.  BOTTOM LINE: The Seattle crowd doesn't care how far above recovery the wolf population gets; they will do everything they can to prevent the hunting/trapping of wolves in this State.  The Seattle crowd sees ungulate population surplus as wolf food and doesn't care if hunters get to hunt.  Finally the Seattle crowd doesn't really think ranchers should be allowed to graze livestock on public land or that if they are they should be required to use only nonlethal (expensive and ineffective?) measures to protect their stock.  It left me wondering, "Are all these people vegetarians?  How much are they willing to pay for a pound of beef? 

[TheNoob]

Thank you for going and giving us an up to date on this. Also I have heard people say that there have been sitings in the MT. ST. Helens area, not sure if they are there. Just wondering?

[Annette]

Yes, thank you for going to the meeting. I didn't even know there was going to be one but I was on Jury duty anyhow. I'm sick of Seattle dicktating to the rest the state!

[madmack76]

couldn't agree more annette

[UrbanTrapper]

Yeah, it occurs to me that wolves are pretty good agents to enable the extreme Left to force social change in the areas they do not live in/dominate politically (and they work 24/7 for free!).  If the Left wants to force ranchers, outfitters and people who like to hunt, off the land in an area like the Rocky Mountains (Yellowstone to Yukon) they can get their crowd of pro-wolf people in cities to pass State laws that will make it happen.  After Federal depredation compensation dries up, they can use wolves, 'nonlethal control measure' requirements, phaseout of public land grazing etc. to raise the cost of ranching so that ranchers can't make a profit and sell their land to Lefty environmental groups or back to the Government.

[paytonma]

what are the 3 new "confirmed" packs?

[CAMPMEAT]

I don't think westsiders should have a vote on eastern Washington wolf problems, especially Seattle hippie, treehugger, maggots.

[denali]

what are the 3 new "confirmed" packs?

strawberry,ni'icn and huckleberry I believe ?

[NWBREW]

I don't think westsiders should have a vote on eastern Washington wolf problems, especially Seattle hippie, treehugger, maggots.

I don't think you should lump all westsiders together as not having a vote.



Trapper,  Thank you for going and posting about the meeting.

[CementFinisher]

  

[grundy53]

I don't think westsiders should have a vote on eastern Washington wolf problems, especially Seattle hippie, treehugger, maggots.

would you include yourself in that statement? Since you're from the Westside???

[turkeyfeather]

what are the 3 new "confirmed" packs?

strawberry,ni'icn and huckleberry I believe ?

I thought the Huckleberry pack has been around a while. Are they really just confirming it? I saw tracks and was talking to a USFS person about them three years ago.

[denali]

what are the 3 new "confirmed" packs?

strawberry,ni'icn and huckleberry I believe ?

I thought the Huckleberry pack has been around a while. Are they really just confirming it? I saw tracks and was talking to a USFS person about them three years ago.

I agree that is why I put the question mark. I they where recently confirmed as breeding is my guess.

[wags]

There might be a silver lining with this wolf thing. I don't see any way they will be able to control wolves on the west side of the mountains without using steel traps. They can't use the excuse that they are cruel since they used Newhouse 114's with teeth to catch the wolves that they originally relocated to Idaho and Wyoming. The research shows that traps with teeth actually cause less damage than traps without teeth. The punctures caused by the teeth promote blood flow which is a good thing. Donny M. showed a picture of them setting a long spring to catch one of the Wedge pack wolves in order to collar it. He said in his presentation that it was padded; it sure didn't look like it. If it wasn't, I wonder how they could have legally used it??? I realize that antis are most likely reading this post too. I really don't think we have anything to hide. We need to take a page from Mike Jimenez's book and call it like it is.

[turkeyfeather]

what are the 3 new "confirmed" packs?

strawberry,ni'icn and huckleberry I believe ?

I thought the Huckleberry pack has been around a while. Are they really just confirming it? I saw tracks and was talking to a USFS person about them three years ago.

I agree that is why I put the question mark. I they where recently confirmed as breeding is my guess.

That could be.