Realistic ways we are going to control wolves?

[cougarbart]

i guess our wonderful game dept will be our savior and do what they must!lol

[Humptulips]

Bring trapping back, bring snaring back year around hunting and trapping season and a thousand dollar bounty. Yea, that'll happen. I think it would control them though. Now all you have to do is convince Seattle.

Seriously though, this is how hunting will end. Predators will manage excess game populations. It's already happening. We're just caught in the whirlpool now circling the drain.

[Mudman]

Yes poison will be the only way.  This has already been dealt with 75years ago.  It was the only effective method of eradication.  Poison some bait go for a walk and presto its done.  No fingerprints.  Im not saying go do it but its what worked in the past.

[denali]

The way I  see it playing out, no trapping except USDA,WDFW,USFWS. Period.  We will start with a trophy draw system, at the same time they are handing out landowner kill permits left and right.  At some point the system will become unsustainable and we will be like Wyoming, if it leaves the NP it's fair game,,,,  weather it is written in law or not 

[AspenBud]

so all deer and elk hunting will be done by 2020, except in wheat counties?

No, they're not going to kill ALL the deer and elk. Look at Idaho and Montana, they're still hunting deer and elk in those states, along with the wolves. But of course, they have a lot more habitat, whereas we have fragmented habitat with little to no winter range in certain areas. I'm wondering how well the elk will do around the feeding stations once the wolves get established in those areas. I could definitely see this state going to permit only hunting for deer and elk, if wolves become abundant.

My gut feeling is you're right. Or at the very least you're looking at more cyclical years of hunting where some years the big game population is tiny thanks to too many wolves and in other years it "booms" after enough wolves have starved and died.

That assumes they don't have the ability to kill every last deer and elk of course and also assumes that "boom" years will be far less productive than has been historically the case.

Small game hunters might benefit from the lack of coyotes however.

The scarier thought to me is that western Washington timber companies really don't like deer. They eat the tops off saplings and cause all sorts of havoc on their tree farms. What happens when wolves enter those areas? The public hasn't always been wise in how they treat private timber land thanks to dumping etc. But if enough deer are killed by wolves in those areas, will that cause those companies to close down their lands and make hunters unwelcome since they could be viewed as "not needed?" It kind of keeps me awake at night.

[bobcat]

One thing I'm not sure of is how effectively wolves can hunt in the brushy terrain we have here in western Washington. Sure they will get all the elk with hoof rot, but after that, how long will the wolves last? Or will they even be able to establish themselves over here at all? Will it only be in the high country? How will they do in the lowlands around Puget Sound?

[Mudman]

If you talk to the old timers they will tell ya we had many wolves around here.  They did very well here on wetside.  Of course these were Timber wolves not Greys I beleive.  Wolves will bring nothing but heartache for us and animals.

[cougarbart]

bobcat,  not so sure about the brush, but i think the steep really helps the wolf! I have seen 8 or 10 wolf kills in the last few years and almost all of them have been in a creek, or a in the bottom of a cut, where the prey finally tried to make a last stand using a bank as protection!

[splitshot]

have hunters buy a permit and have some income  other than paying farmers for animals the wolves eat.  they need to be controlled just like cougars, bears and coyotes.  mike w

[Humptulips]

have hunters buy a permit and have some income  other than paying farmers for animals the wolves eat.  they need to be controlled just like cougars, bears and coyotes.  mike w

One would infer from your post that cougars, bears and coyotes are being controlled.
I think not!

[Special T]

There are 2 Groups of people you had better get behind. Washington cattlemens assoc and the indian tribes. Many here have been upset at how certain tribes hunt lots of animals... Well  the Yaks and Colville arn't interested in giving up thier animals and are not beholden to the bunny huggers in this state. So if you want to know... Help the The colville manage wolves on the N half and the yaks in the Ceded area... And the Yaks have HUGE ceded area, where there are already wolves. 

[Mudman]

Thats some good advice, never thought about it that way.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

There is no way to control them by hunting. 

But Bobcat, I hear hunters all the time saying that controlling game populations is one of the main reasons we need hunting. Are you gonna tell me hunters can control deer and elk numbers, but they can't control wolves? Don't worry tho, wolves will help us out. They are one of the biggest killers of wolves.

[bobcat]

Sitka,  I'm just basing that on reports from other states like Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. I don't believe they've had much luck controlling wolf numbers by hunting. Have you heard different?

[Curly]

I think what you mean is there is no way to eliminate them by hunting.  The numbers can be somewhat controlled by hunting.  Which is exactly why hunting should be opened up sooner than later...........so that we can start to control the population.