Unit 113 Woodland Caribou ( Wolf Kills )

[CAMPMEAT]

I believe the Woodland Caribou were brought up in the Okanogan wolf meeting, and a smug bio said that some of them would be eaten.  WDFW promote wolves above all wildlife.

Backed by greenie monies, of course.

[oldleclercrd]

Those caribou seem to be out of the reach of wolves during the winter don't you think? I know they winter as high as they can in the DEEP DEEP snow feeding on moss in the trees. Would the wolves even bother them in the winter?

[nwwanderer]

Wolves move far and wide, whatever is easy/available.  Caribou would be on the list.
Oh, not so much greenie money, they are great at collecting not so good at sharing.  It is your money, legally collected, not always legally dispersed.

[Dan-o]

You used to hear of sightings, but I haven't heard of a caribou sighting in NE Wa in what.......   7-8 years now?

Anybody actually seen one or have a credible reference of a sighting in the last 7-8 years?

[huntnnw]

buddy of mine picked up last years shed off a big bull woodland bou while elk hunting this year up there

[sled]

As far as I know Campmeat, there are no more woodlands there.   I haven't seen them in a couple years and ALL of the signs are down and the wolf signs are up.

  Did You Ever Get Any Pics Of Them In WA?  Love To See Some If You Did.

[huntnnw]

I just read a lawsuit last week filed in Boise suing ID not protecting more habitat for the woodland caribou

[WAcoyotehunter]

The wolf/woodland caribou issue is a concern.  I do not know of any confirmed kills, but there are (to my knowledge) not any collared caribou out there right now, so no one would know anyway.  I think everyone knows (biologists especially) that the additive predation from wolves is a bad deal for the already struggling caribou.

The caribou are holding on, but not doing well at all.  There were 4 of them up at the WA/ID border in winter 2012, but none located last year. 

[Huntin Hounds]

Here is the 2011 census by IDFG. https://collaboration.idfg.idaho.gov/WildlifeTechnicalReports/2011%20South%20Selkirk%20Woodland%20Caribou%20Census.pdf

It basically says all the caribou spend their time on the bc side of the border. These animals spend the majority of their life in the high alpine areas where the snow is the deepest allowing them to get to their main winter food source,  arboreal lichens. In my opinion unless the states of Idaho and Washington bring in more animals and start building new herds here, we will never have anything more than a token population. When you only have a few calves per year it doesn't take much predation to keep the population down.

[KFhunter]

They spend a lot of time on the salmo-creston pass licking fertilizer off the roadway,  haven't actually heard of any road kills so I shouldn't say they get run over 

Mountain Caribou

[Boss .300 winmag]

How does fertilizer get on the road? Nice video

[MLBowhunting]

Nice video

[bearpaw]

In my opinion there are far too many predators for this band of caribou to grow, possibly too many predators for them to even survive without population augmentation soon. Cougar, bear, coyotes, a tribe in Canada, poachers, and now wolves are hunting for anything they can find in the woods.

During the wolf plan process I specifically pointed out the potential impacts of wolves on the caribou to the WDFW and to the commission, they did not seem to give it much consideration. 

The only answer being offered by anyone is to reduce human activity, I can't see how that mitigates the predation that is likely occurring. Unless the herd is augmented with outside animals I expect these caribou to go extinct in a few years whether they make more wilderness or not. The only way this herd can grow is to reduce most of the predation, currently no biologist and no agency including WDFW seems to be interested in doing that to save the last caribou herd in the lower 48.

Everyone seems too wrapped up in their cuddly wolves and other predators to care about caribou. 

Nice to see that calf in the video. 

[WAcoyotehunter]

 The only way this herd can grow is to reduce most of the predation, currently no biologist and no agency including WDFW seems to be interested in doing that to save the last caribou herd in the lower 48.

Everyone seems too wrapped up in their cuddly wolves and other predators to care about caribou. 

You sure about that Dale??  I don't think that's the case at all.  Predation is an issue that has been discussed quite a lot. 

Snowmobile disruption and vehicle strikes are both serious problems too.  The herd needs help- it's a shame that hunters have turned their back on this species.  Originally, the sportsman groups were champions of caribou recovery, now it seems the groups are jaded.  It appears that the wolf recovery drama has made hunters begin to equate wilderness and species conservation with "anti hunting".

It's sad really- this species is likely to be extirpated and hunters (the ONE group that used to support species recovery) is going to standby and watch it happen because they are too afraid to take a difficult postition on wilderness, access issues (there are issues), predator management, and to think outside the box on highway stike protection.

Boss- the salt/fertilizer is used as de-icer in Canada

[KFhunter]

you can't snowmobile where the caribou are, it's been shut down for 5 years or so - both on BC and US side.

I used to snowmobile in that general area, never came across any caribou as they tend to stick to the trees and snowmobiles like the higher more open areas.  regardless it's shut off.
Huge areas of snowmobile areas gone, areas that the caribou never use.  Some of it has recently come back because it was proven through a snowmobiler funded study that proved caribou don't use those areas.

The lodges, snowmobile rentals, motels, restraunts and guides are suffering economic loss due to these caribou and the over reaction to shut down vast swathes of land on the premise that snowmobile trials will make it easier for wolves to enter caribou habitat.  Yep, the trails make it easier for the wolves to access the higher forest country where the caribou live 

for road strikes that's all in BC as their aren't any high speed roads in the US side of caribou habitat areas.




The more I digest your post the more irritated I get at the blatant ignorance of it.