Free: Contests & Raffles.
Well there gets to be more paid for jobs, funded by the feds for the wolf recovery. that money goes bye bye once we reach our recovery goals. also hsus, dow, and others donate money.
Right to hunt legislation wouldnt even get to a vote in this state......itd be DOA.
WDFW held a wolf meeting in Colville last night that was attended by 300+ people. WDFW detailed their compensation program, discussed cattleman's contracts, and how ranchers need to handle predation on cattle.
I'd love to see a class action law suit, us against the state, if thats even possible.........we could show our love and understanding by suing them to shreds.......
Anyone else feel like doing a little covert trapping and transporting? maybe we need to assist WDFW and get a pack started on the extreme west side of the mountains. Just need 4 traps and a covered pickup
Maybe instead of 10 points, they should offer 24/7/365 wolf permits.................................
WDFW held a wolf meeting in Colville last night that was attended by 300+ people. WDFW detailed their compensation program, discussed cattleman's contracts, and how ranchers need to handle predation on cattle. WDFW thought they were going to break the meeting into small groups, Len McIrvin stood up and said "No, this group wants to stay together as one group!" after loud applause faded WDFW continued explaining how the evening would be handled. Len McIrvin spoke up again and said "Maybe you didn't understand were staying together as one group so everyone can hear what each other has to say!" Once they started calling on people to ask questions McIrvin explained that the WDFW did not remove the whole wedge pack, within 2 days there were more wolves near their cattle. Another thing McIrvin stated later in the evening is that he and his family were threatened by WDFW that if any wolf was found dead they would be fully investigated and their firearms taken from their homes and ballistic tests done.County commissioners were present and two of them spoke out. Mike Blankenship, Ferry County Commissioner, said they need to go back to Olympia and explain to the director that wolves are out of control. Steve Parker, Stevens County Commissioner, wanted to know who was involved in the threat to McIrvins of a full investigation and confiscation of firearms. WDFW personnel at the meeting said they didn't know, Steve Parker said he wanted a reply from WDFW on who threatened the McIrvins, he made it clear he expected a reply.Many people spoke about subjects such as Joel Kretz's legislation to move wolves to western WA, why wolves were illegally introduced, laws that were violated, wolf tapeworms, agenda 21, a young girl nearly broke into tears explaining that she has goats and sheep and her parents are not allowed to protect them, an old lady said she is afraid to walk outside her home because of all the wolf sightings near her home. Hunters and landowners talked about how deer are disappearing in many areas, places where it was normal to see 100 to 200 deer in alfalfa fields and now only 20 to 30 deer remain.I told them I was insulted that they were telling us they are surprised at how fast wolves have multiplied after knowing and seeing what happened in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, I spoke about how residents in Idaho were taking care of the problem in Idaho and that WDFW was going to force people in NE WA to do the same. I spoke of restaurant and motel owners in Idaho who were forced out of business, how Idaho F&G has lost millions in funding which means small communities have lost far more in their economies with many businesses shutting down. I explained how important hunting is to our local economy and that local people depend on wildlife to feed their families. I noted that I always reported poachers in the past but I would never report a wolf poacher, I mentioned that Bill White used to live in Colville, he's a good man and that what they did to him and his family was not right, it cost the White's over $100,000, they destroyed his life and his children's lives over two wolves.I asked why their was only 2 or 3 or 2 1/2 trappers as they had explained it in our state which has thousands of square miles territory and that there should be 15 to 25 trappers to adequately find and collar all the wolf packs. I explained how sightings indicate we have in excess of 100 wolves just in NE WA with at least 15 packs.A rancher drove up from Lincoln County who has wolves on his ranch and wanted to know why WDFW wasn't trying to help in his county. He said he doesn't have time to babysit a pack of wolves. There were many other questions and comments made by local residents, too many to remember or list. The meeting was very heated at times and no doubt the WDFW got a good taste of local dissatisfaction.
