Bowhunter chased up tree by wolves in GMU 121!

[KFhunter]

I missed your first story
here is the link to save you the typing


http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,124678.msg1648645.html#msg1648645

[idahohuntr]

  Well by the time you get done talking to the feds, I imagine the wolf will be upon you, and you better get out your camera so you can take pictures of the wolf as it attacks so you can prove that it intended bodily harm, or else you will be charged with harming an endangered species.
 
 I think the least the government could do is make it legal for me to defend myself from these predatory carnivores.

If a pet dog, wolf, mountain lion, bear, etc. attacks you...you have every right to defend yourself.  To suggest that you have to call WDFW, USFWS, or take pictures is absolutely absurd.  ESA does not trump your right to protect yourself. 

[pianoman9701]

  Well by the time you get done talking to the feds, I imagine the wolf will be upon you, and you better get out your camera so you can take pictures of the wolf as it attacks so you can prove that it intended bodily harm, or else you will be charged with harming an endangered species.
 
 I think the least the government could do is make it legal for me to defend myself from these predatory carnivores.

If a pet dog, wolf, mountain lion, bear, etc. attacks you...you have every right to defend yourself.  To suggest that you have to call WDFW, USFWS, or take pictures is absolutely absurd.  ESA does not trump your right to protect yourself.

[bearpaw]

  Well by the time you get done talking to the feds, I imagine the wolf will be upon you, and you better get out your camera so you can take pictures of the wolf as it attacks so you can prove that it intended bodily harm, or else you will be charged with harming an endangered species.
 
 I think the least the government could do is make it legal for me to defend myself from these predatory carnivores.

If a pet dog, wolf, mountain lion, bear, etc. attacks you...you have every right to defend yourself.  To suggest that you have to call WDFW, USFWS, or take pictures is absolutely absurd.  ESA does not trump your right to protect yourself.

This certainly has not been made clear to people when and where they can protect themselves and what about personal property like pets, livestock, etc? How many people know what they can do or not do? Most people are under the impression they have more rights when confronted by a rapist or burgler.

[JLS]

  Well by the time you get done talking to the feds, I imagine the wolf will be upon you, and you better get out your camera so you can take pictures of the wolf as it attacks so you can prove that it intended bodily harm, or else you will be charged with harming an endangered species.
 
 I think the least the government could do is make it legal for me to defend myself from these predatory carnivores.

If a pet dog, wolf, mountain lion, bear, etc. attacks you...you have every right to defend yourself.  To suggest that you have to call WDFW, USFWS, or take pictures is absolutely absurd.  ESA does not trump your right to protect yourself.

This certainly has not been made clear to people when and where they can protect themselves and what about personal property like pets, livestock, etc? How many people know what they can do or not do? Most people are under the impression they have more rights when confronted by a rapist or burgler.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/apr2613a/

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020590735_wolfbillxml.html

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/dec/29/2013-outdoors-wolf-issues/

http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2013/04/30/washington-fish-and-wildlife-commission-to-let-some-state-residents-kill-wolves-attacking-livestock-pets-etc/


Several of many articles, I don't know how it could be more clear.

Folks have been shooting ESA listed grizzlies in self defense for many years.

[KFhunter]

To be fair to the woman that all happened fairly recently, and in the Eastern 1/3 of the state - She was not in the Eastern 1/3 of the state.

In her story the wolf appeared to be after her dog, which is very likely since she was right in the middle of a denning site,  but more than that wolves won't tolerate anything in a denning site.



Personally, I don't put much stock in the story even if I'd like it to be true, it's just an internet story at this time.   (I'd like it to be true because that'd be a pack to verify and get closer to fully de-listing)

We have/had pro-wolf people posing as hunters why not anti-wolf people doing the same? 


It's an incredible shame the pack wasn't reported and public action demanding to verify that pack     
This is one area where I would ignore private property owners wishes and turn it into WDFW with GPS coords 
I'd take many pictures and do everything I could to force WDFW to verify that pack, since the gal heard pups. (if the story is true)

[Curly]

Anybody know what happened to the hunter that shot a wolf in this state during last years hunting season?  I think he was deer hunting and claimed self defense and there was an investigation.  I think he self reported himself.  Sorry I don't remember a lot of the details.  I don't remember how that turned out.  Did he get charged or did the investigation find that he was within his rights? 

[bearpaw]

  Well by the time you get done talking to the feds, I imagine the wolf will be upon you, and you better get out your camera so you can take pictures of the wolf as it attacks so you can prove that it intended bodily harm, or else you will be charged with harming an endangered species.
 
 I think the least the government could do is make it legal for me to defend myself from these predatory carnivores.

If a pet dog, wolf, mountain lion, bear, etc. attacks you...you have every right to defend yourself.  To suggest that you have to call WDFW, USFWS, or take pictures is absolutely absurd.  ESA does not trump your right to protect yourself.

This certainly has not been made clear to people when and where they can protect themselves and what about personal property like pets, livestock, etc? How many people know what they can do or not do? Most people are under the impression they have more rights when confronted by a rapist or burgler.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/apr2613a/

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020590735_wolfbillxml.html

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/dec/29/2013-outdoors-wolf-issues/

http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2013/04/30/washington-fish-and-wildlife-commission-to-let-some-state-residents-kill-wolves-attacking-livestock-pets-etc/


Several of many articles, I don't know how it could be more clear.

Folks have been shooting ESA listed grizzlies in self defense for many years.

Thanks for helping me make my point, I had completely forgotten about this new rule this last spring for the eastern 1/3 of WA. Many people still have no idea about this rule and exactly where it applies and where it doesn't! What about the rest of the state? 

[Curly]

I found the article I mentioned above. Link

“We are assuming it was a lone female on a road trip,” Christensen said. “We have dispersing females just like we’ve had dispersing males. There were no signs of other members” of a pack, he said.

It will be up to federal investigators to determine if criminal charges related to killing an endangered species are warranted, said Christensen

Sorry if it is a thread jack.  But I think this thread is kind of all over the place anyway.  This relates to the thread in my mind anyway.  

Were charges filed?  Any follow-up articles on the incident? 

[Axle]

I had a neighbor years back who told me he shot a wolf in Wisconsin in self defense when he was young. Him and his younger sister were walking around their small ranch when the wolf went after them. Back then, he always carried a 22LR or shotgun so he could get small game for food or for use in self defense (they were used to dealing with wolves). Killing the wolf (a Timber wolf) was normal and somewhat common to them. That was in the '30s.
The unlawfully-introduced Canadian is larger and with that size, they are less fearful. So how do they learn to fear humans?.........


Wolf packs must learn to fear man
3/16/06

Let’s get one thing clear. Wolves and man don’t mix. Nor do wolves mix with other types of wildlife.

Wherever they roam, wolves are at the top of the food chain. When they encounter elk, they see a buffet. When they see a herd of cattle, they see a smorgasbord and when they see a flock of sheep, they see dessert.

Much is said about managing habitat for the benefit of the wolves, but that’s beside the point, which is the need to manage wolves so they stay away from people and livestock.

A recent Idaho Fish and Game Commission proposal to kill up to 43 of the 58 wolves that have been dining on elk in the Lolo Pass region of eastern Idaho has been criticized by environmentalists, who say habitat is the issue, not the wolves’ eating habits.

“The scientific community at large is very critical of the state’s proposal because it is clearly the loss of habitat, not predators, that is responsible for the decline in the elk population in the Lolo area,” Suzanne Stone of the Defenders of Wildlife told the Associated Press.

Yes, habitat is an issue in that area, where the forest is rebounding from wildfire, but the trees aren’t responsible for 32 percent of the dead elk that have been found there since 2002. Wolves are.

Managing wolves needs to be the top priority of game managers in any state where they appear. Whether it’s Idaho, where wolves were reintroduced in 1995 and whose wolf population has burgeoned since, or Montana, which is adjacent to Yellowstone National Park, managing wolves so they don’t decimate livestock — and other wildlife — is a critical factor.

Take Alaska, for example. At 570,374 square miles, the 49th state is nearly four times larger than Montana and almost seven times larger than Idaho. Yet Alaska game managers struggle to keep the wolves from wiping out the moose and caribou in the state’s interior.

This winter, state managers hope to kill 400 wolves in an effort to preserve other wildlife, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner newspaper. To do that, they use aerial wolf hunts.

If the killer instinct of wolves is an issue in Alaska with its wide-open spaces, it certainly will always be an issue in Idaho and Montana, which have wolves, and other states like Oregon and Washington, where they will soon take hold.

Here’s another factor to consider about managing wolves. Many are not afraid of people. Hunters in the Madison Valley of Montana near Yellowstone, where wolves were reintroduced a decade ago, reported a wolf stalking them.

“It was approaching us with the wind right in its face — we were standing around the (pack) animals, but he was focused on us,” Jack Atcheson Jr., a hunting guide, told the Associated Press.

Wolves killed rancher Barb Durham’s herding dog two year ago and she blames the lack of proper federal management for the way the predators have moved in.

“They have no fear and that’s been our contention all along,” she said. “We don’t hate wolves; we just want them to be a natural, wild predator and to be afraid of humans.”

In Alaska, managers hunt, trap and harass wolves not to be inhumane but to teach them to stay away from humans and livestock.

That wasn’t done under federal wolf management in Montana and ranchers there are paying for it.

“If you look at where wolves are setting up, it’s not in the backcountry. It’s in the valley bottoms and foothills where people live and raise livestock and where ungulates spend the winter,” said Carolyn Sime, wolf coordinator for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Since Montana has taken over wolf management from the federal government, people are now allowed to fire a rifle shot over a wolf’s head if the animal is approaching. The idea is to scare the animal so when it sees a human it heads back to the wilderness. If a wolf is attacking livestock, ranchers can shoot them without a special permit.

“If wolves have uncomfortable experiences that would be a good thing,” Sime said. “By harassing them now we may prevent problems later.”

That’s a voice of experience wildlife managers in Idaho and elsewhere would be wise to heed.

http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/wolve … 031606.htm

[bearpaw]

Since Montana has taken over wolf management from the federal government, people are now allowed to fire a rifle shot over a wolf’s head if the animal is approaching. The idea is to scare the animal so when it sees a human it heads back to the wilderness. If a wolf is attacking livestock, ranchers can shoot them without a special permit.

“If wolves have uncomfortable experiences that would be a good thing,” Sime said. “By harassing them now we may prevent problems later.”

That’s a voice of experience wildlife managers in Idaho and elsewhere would be wise to heed.

WDFW, WA legislators, and wildlife commissioners need to read this! 

[buckfvr]

And understand it and acknowledge it...........theres the hard part.   

[bearpaw]

And understand it and acknowledge it...........theres the hard part.   

  x2