Realistic ways we are going to control wolves?

[bobcat]

Coyotes are hunted with no limits, and no closed season.

How well is that working?

[Wenatcheejay]

Sitka, the problem is Washington really does not wish to manage predators. That's my concern. They won't become active until there is a crisis. Game Management is about hunting sustainable game species. Natural Eco System management is like sensible gun control. It does not work.

[Ridgeratt]

Coyotes are hunted with no limits, and no closed season.

How well is that working?

My point exactly!! Once we get them we will never get rid of them!! They will adapt to the surroundings. Just look at the other states that hunt them now. They can't meet the quota's they set now!!

You are going to get them!!! Regardless of the emotion you feel about not having them.

[kentrek]

I've talked to several outfitters recently in the more wolf infested areas, there are almost no elk, many quit offering elk hunts or have reduced down to single digit number of hunters due to a lack of elk. Only half as many outfitters total in idaho as there was 5 years ago in Idaho, in many cases due to wolves.

we ran into more outfitters after wolfs then elk..not sure how much longer they will be in business 

i think the only thing wolf huntng will do is put alot more fear in the wolfs, pushing them into the deep counrty away from people

seems to be alot more animals with in the first 20 miles of "idaho towns" then way way out in the boonies..could explain why hunting has improved for sum


hunters will adapt and so will the animals,the hunting world is not coming to an end cuz of the wolf 


also the only realistic way for wolfs to be gone is for the gov to want them to be gone

[Special T]

It is unlikely that wolves will be eradicated since they NEVER LEFT THE STATE! What we have is an infestation of an invasive species. wolves have been documented here for a LONG time. I have seen them in the skagit valley  THERE IS A PIC of them on here! (not by me) we have been sold a farce and hunting is the only way we are going to do anything about it. IF we can get in front of this issue.... Tribes are NOT accountable to the WDFW so IF we want to do some MGT of wolves it is only gona be  done through the tribes  If you have friends reach out! We hunters have more friends on this issue with the tribes than with the WDFW...

Some say that hunting will NOT solve the problem... Maybe BUT WY has not capitulated like ALL of the tother states and will NOT have the problems that we will have. 

[AspenBud]

Coyotes are hunted with no limits, and no closed season.

How well is that working?

My point exactly!! Once we get them we will never get rid of them!! They will adapt to the surroundings. Just look at the other states that hunt them now. They can't meet the quota's they set now!!

You are going to get them!!! Regardless of the emotion you feel about not having them.

Is it that wolves are that smart? Or have hunters in the areas that aren't meeting their quotas been more successful than anyone realizes?

Comparing coyote hunting and wolf hunting is like comparing apples and oranges. Piles of yotes get shot every year. Wolves apparently not so much, or easily, so far.

[Ridgeratt]

Coyotes are hunted with no limits, and no closed season.

How well is that working?

My point exactly!! Once we get them we will never get rid of them!! They will adapt to the surroundings. Just look at the other states that hunt them now. They can't meet the quota's they set now!!

You are going to get them!!! Regardless of the emotion you feel about not having them.

Is it that wolves are that smart? Or have hunters in the areas that aren't meeting their quotas been more successful than anyone realizes?

Comparing coyote hunting and wolf hunting is like comparing apples and oranges. Piles of yotes get shot every year. Wolves apparently not so much, or easily, so far.

yes but they haven't been eradicated yet either!! Wolves will be even worse than yotes.

[bobcat]

OK, how about comparing it to cougar hunting?

The point is, predators in general are just tough to hunt.

When wolves originally were eradicated from this state, it sure wasn't done by "fair chase" hunting methods.

[Ridgeratt]

no it was the product call 1080 and it had a huge side effect on the wildlife!! It showed no favorites!!

[bobcat]

Yes and I imagine some trapping was done as well. 

[6x6in6]

"We" will not be controlling wolves.
Our beloved WDFW will be controlling wolves.  And until the WDFW can get a grasp on how many packs we truly have, there is no "we" control.
Unfortunately and yet probably, we will be in a situation similar to the coyote (apple) whereas the wolf (orange) may be a year around season by the time the bunnie huggers get thru suing the WDFW to stop wolf hunts.   

[Stalker]

Wolves: The love hates relationship. They carry such a mystic about the wild and raw outdoors. In my opinion no true outdoors person could envision a true “wilderness” experience without thoughts of Wolves. Now this is strictly “my” opinion / thoughts on this issue but here in WA I believe we are fighting a losing battle. I say this for the following: every piece of state “reaching” legislation is decided out of the Seattle beltway and we all know how that works for the rest of the state. Right or wrong it seems to be the historical norm for WA..  So with this I agree with others on here that WA will become a very limited draw type hunting system in the not too distant future. It has been my position, right or wrong, that these animals needed to be hunted from day one here. Why? Because WA does not have the open range that other western states have to support these animals and will encounter a greater number of unwelcome encounters as well as a greater impact on the ungulate population due again to the higher human population / less transitional wild areas.
I have nothing against wolves and understand their position in natures balancing act. My issue with wolf management in Western States is with the so called experts and human manipulation of this issue. There are various agendas at work behind the scenes that the average American is not privy to / nor willing to do the required research to become informed of so when the issue gets to the public forum they are spoon fed emotional points meant to elicit a specific response / vote and I do not believe this best serves the greater populace of our country / western states.  I would further submit that the native communities allowing hunting / harvesting of these animals on their lands will provide the “Wolf Supporting” community with a defense to use against the rest of the State against opening wolf hunting / management due to possible lack of records keeping. I say this because we as hunters / fishing persons normally argue that the tribes do not maintain / report accurate harvest numbers; so I believe this will be used as an argument to work against the sportsman in statewide harvest numbers / records. After all how can we say that the numbers provided in harvesting wolves is accurate and then say we have questions about other reported / unreported harvests???   

Hunters have spent “Hundreds of Millions to Billions” in the true conservation of animals in North America over the past century + and our voices have been shut out of this issue and unfortunately I do not see us gaining in this area; unfortunate. Again this is one person’s opinion / thoughts.

[Jingles]

Well until they are delisted and we are allowed to legally hunt them I'm gonna start carrying  some of those cheap Nylon dog collars.  Ever see a wolf wearing a nylon dog collar?

[elkfins]

My thoughts on this subject FWIW.
While hunting alone will not necessarily control the wolf population, it will be a great first step in managing the wolves and thier behavior. 

I am hearing and reading many accounts of wolf encounters where the people are stating that the wolves acted as if they had little or no fear of the humans.  And at this point, why should they?  For the most part, the wolves in our state haven't been shot at or had members of thier pack killed by a human.  Once we can kill them, the remaining wolves in the area will learn to become fearful of humans and hopefully, they will modify thier habits to avoid humans as much as possible.

Consider this theory (I'm not saying this is what occurred... just a potential theory).  Locals in the Methow were accused of killing off the pack of wolves there.  I have yet to see any proof that the pack was indeed wiped out but there are plenty of rumors and accusations. Perhaps some locals killed a few of the wolves (there seems to be some evidence of this)... Shortly thereafter, we have a pack in the Teanaway not far south, there are sightings in Skagit valley, not far west and continue to be sightings in the Methow but not in the numbers before the pack was "killed off".  Maybe it's possible that the shooting of a few wolves, habituated the remaining wolves to fear the humans in that area and the pack dispersed or just moved on in an attempt to avoid contact with those humans that were targeting them.

I'm willing to bet that if the McIrvins ranch hands were able to shoot wolves on site if they were anywhere near the ranging cattle (as opposed to having to catch them in the act), there would be less cattle lost to wolves and the WDFW wouldn't have had to spend thousands of dollars killing off the Wedge pack.

There is more to managing predators and game than just killing a certain percentage of the population.  Habituating the remaining population needs to be a key goal in the control of the species.  Canines are smart animals... they will learn the lessons we teach them.  The key is to teach them the lessons we want them to learn.  The ability to hunt and kill them is a key tool to accomplish this goal.