Foundation For Wildlife Management: trappers managing wolves

[bearpaw]

North Idaho elk hunters form co-op to pay wolf trappers for kills

LEWISTON, Idaho – The hunters behind the little-known Foundation For Wildlife Management know three things about trapping wolves.

First, it is a much more effective wolf-management tool than hunting.

Wolf hunters have a success rate of less than 1 percent, while trappers enjoy a success rate near 25 percent.

Second, wolf trapping is time consuming and expensive. Traps need to be checked at least once every three days, and that can involve driving hundreds of miles.

“It costs me $48 a day on an average day, and I have to go every 72 hours,” said Jack Hammack of Sandpoint, a founding member of the group that is based in the Idaho Panhandle. “It’s typically between a 10- and a 13-hour day.”

It takes so much time and money to be a serious wolf trapper that group members feared many hunters, even those like themselves who desperately want to see wolf populations thinned, would either not take up trapping or not stick with it. So they formed the foundation, a sort of wolf-trapping cooperative that essentially pays regular-joe trappers to kill wolves.

read more: http://missoulian.com/news/local/north-idaho-elk-hunters-form-co-op-to-pay-wolf/article_6119eff0-7671-11e3-87a2-0019bb2963f4.html

The Foundation For Wildlife Management 'Our Mission'

The Foundation For Wildlife Management 'Our Mission'
Published on Sep 12, 2013 
We are a group of avid outdoorsmen whose goal is to conserve and protect ALL wildlife and to ensure their existence and sustainability for generations to come. Through collaborative efforts with government and private agencies and entities we believe that we can make a permanent impact that will be the model for other groups to utilize in their efforts toward conservation. We appreciate level-headed and constructive input so please share your thoughts and ideas! For more information please visit us online or on Facebook.

Foundation for Wildlife Management Web Page

Join Foundation for Wildlife Management

Foundation for Wildlife Management on Facebook

Idaho Fish & Game Commission Endorsement Letter (below)

[pd]

What a great idea!

I just joined!  $35 to join, and the money goes to successful trappers ($500/dog).

[bearpaw]

What a great idea!

I just joined!  $35 to join, and the money goes to successful trappers ($500/dog).

This sounds like a practivcal approach, I'm looking into who is running the group, I may join too!

http://www.foundationforwildlifemanagement.org/page2.html

[Special T]

 

[buglebrush]

Great organization!  Don't forget they are also targeting packs on the border that impact Washington as well.

[runningboard]

my chiropractor told me of this on Thursday as one of his clients is part of this and said he would bring me a pamphlet next time I see him

[bearpaw]

I did some checking with sportsmen friends in Idaho to find out who started this group and who is running it. I learned that it was started by a bunch of trappers and hunters in the panhandle and now there is another new chapter starting in the clearwater.

It is very expensive running a trapline so they are using the money generated by the org to pay up to $500 expense receipts to trappers for each wolf they catch. This seems like the most direct way possible to put dollars on the ground to eliminate wolves and save elk, moose, deer, sheep, caribou, and other wildlife being ravaged by wolves. This is an organization that is needed, for every wolf they catch dozens of ungulates will be saved.

I just joined and am proud to provide my support. 



http://www.foundationforwildlifemanagement.org/page4.html

Join or Donate 

Which is the choice for you? 

Single Membership is $35/year and once approved entitles you to Harvest Expense Reimbursement, access to the Members Only Forum,  Annual Report and invitation to Member Functions.

Donations can be in any amount and donations of $35 or more will qualify you for all Member entitlements as well. 

Donating is for those who want make a larger difference by contributing more than the minimum or for those who can’t afford the $35 membership but still want to help support the cause in some way.

 It only takes 5 donations of $100  to fund a hunter/trapper  reimbursement for one harvest or it takes 15 memberships.  Your donation over and above the minimum membership will get this organization fully funded sooner,   able to achieve our goals of Management for the whole State and eventually the Northwest. 

Regardless of whether you Join or Donate, every dollar will go toward accomplishing our goal of reducing wolf numbers to an acceptable level that will allow our elk, deer and moose populations to rebound.

[idahohuntr]

Maybe a group like this can help with targeting the more remote areas in the Selway/Lolo/MF zones.  I appreciate that they are mostly focused on a solution as opposed to crying about government conspiracies and other tinfoil hat bs like many people/groups in the wolf arena.

[bearpaw]

Here's more info that I also updated the first post with.


The Foundation For Wildlife Management 'Our Mission'

The Foundation For Wildlife Management 'Our Mission'
Published on Sep 12, 2013 
We are a group of avid outdoorsmen whose goal is to conserve and protect ALL wildlife and to ensure their existence and sustainability for generations to come. Through collaborative efforts with government and private agencies and entities we believe that we can make a permanent impact that will be the model for other groups to utilize in their efforts toward conservation. We appreciate level-headed and constructive input so please share your thoughts and ideas! For more information please visit us online or on Facebook.

Foundation for Wildlife Management Web Page

Join Foundation for Wildlife Management

Foundation for Wildlife Management on Facebook

Idaho Fish & Game Commission Endorsement Letter (below)

[Bob33]

Sounds smart. A private organization fixing another governmental mess.

[jackmaster]

well damn thats a step in the right direction, did they say if the trappers get money for any bear or cats that they catch or is it strictly for wolves?

[bearpaw]

well damn thats a step in the right direction, did they say if the trappers get money for any bear or cats that they catch or is it strictly for wolves?

everything I've read is focused on compensating trappers $500 for each wolf they catch

[HighCountryHunter88]

just tagging

[singleshot12]

Trapping is a step in the right direction. But any time I hear the word management and wolves I kind of laugh. Managing wolves makes the pack healthy. You either eliminate them or let them over populate to the point of disease and starvation. Like in the past eliminating them was the only answer to allow us to have huntable numbers of split hooves.

[wence5]

This is a good idea, that's why it has a snowballs chance of happening in Washington. This is working well in Idaho because there are enough people that hunt and are true conservationist that understand the big picture. Here, being there are more non hunters and liberals that vote with their hearts and not their heads inhabiting the major population areas, I can see a push by wolfaboo's to make sure leg hold trapping is taken off the table. Oregon eliminated leg hold trapping a few years back in large part because of a media push by the anti trapping community and a successful misinformation campaign stating how cruel and inhumane this form of trapping is. The anti trapping community was successful in their misinformation campaign because the majority of voters live in urban areas where the hunting/trapping life style is very low. The rural voters, where they are the ones that have to deal with these pests are out numbered.
Never underestimate the stupidity of the voter, and the urban Washington voters can be easily swayed.
Hope I'm wrong on this one because if we as hunters, outdoorsmen and conservationist don't become vocal and convince the misinformed we will have lost a valuable resource and a tradition we can't replace.