wolves in washington

[MountainWalk]

sss? who carries a shovel in their pack while hunting?

[backyard bucks]

2 years ago up on a pack in hunt in the sawtooth we heard them howling up a storm not far from our tent at the base of the hill... we had plenty of snow that year up high and we found plenty of tracks.

just last weekend we were up by south navarre campground up on a snow covered ridge and found where it looked like 4 sets of tracks following the deer down the ridge line and into the timber.
they are here and i'm sure the sightings and the reports will get more and more common.

[Ray]

sss? who carries a shovel in their pack while hunting?

I was thinking the same thing just the other day    I guess maybe people would do it near their home.. Couldn't say I blame some people if they wanted to shoot at wolves pestering near their home though.

[fishunt247]

As was alluded to earlier, I think it is unfortunate that all of the other animals in Washington are managed to controlled numbers while I don't foresee this same thing happening with wolves. Pretty soon, after the wolves thrive, there may not be many game animals to manage. Sad.

[hunt4]

If you do not have a shovel just keep walking

I do not think some of you get it We pay allot of money to be part of the game management tool, and i surely do not see any room for another predator in this state.  The state voted out bear bating ,hound hunting cougars (pretty much).  The population of bears and cougars have sky rocketed and now you add wolf to the mix pretty soon they can faze out us as a game management  tool all together.  Hunting big game the way of the DO DO Bird
You look at the people they appointed to study the Wolf problem in this state, and you ask yourself when you find that list who do you think there looking out for?
Daryl Asmussen of Tonasket, cattle rancher
John Blankenship of Tenino, Wolf Haven International executive director
Duane Cocking of Newman Lake, sportsman
Jeff Dawson of Colville, cattle rancher
Paula J. DelGiudice of Seattle, sportswoman, National Wildlife Federation Western Natural Resource Center director
Gerry Ring Erickson of Shelton, former Defenders of Wildlife Washington state field representative
Jack Field of Ellensburg, Washington Cattlemen’s Association executive vice-president
George Halekas of Deer Park, retired Forest Service biologist
Kim Holt of Snohomish, Wolf Recovery Foundation secretary-treasurer
Derrick Knowles of Spokane, Conservation Northwest outreach coordinator
Colleen McShane of Seattle, consulting ecologist
Ken Oliver of Newport, Pend Oreille County Commissioner
Tommy Petrie, Jr. of Newport, Pend Oreille County Sportsmen’s Club president
John Stuhlmiller of Lacey, Washington Farm Bureau assistant director of government relations
Arthur Swannack of Lamont, Washington Sheep Producers president
Bob Tuck of Selah, consulting biologist, former Washington Fish and Wildlife Commissioner
Greta M. Wiegand of Seattle, retiree, outdoor recreationist
Georg Ziegltrum of Olympia, Washington Forest Protection Association wildlife biologist

[NWTFhunter]

Dont ask...... Dont tell.

They are here.

[270Shooter]

I don't get why all of these  want the wolves brought back, in my opinion they were exterminated for a reason

[hornhunter]

Idaho wolves smoke a pack a day............aat least thats what the Game Warden told us   Ive seen or heard them for three years straight.........Its BS

[MountainWalk]

I have no vendetta against the critters. Critters, including wolves, are like guns, they are not good or bad. But I do believe they should be managed. I don't think tons would get shot, but enough to instill proper man fear, which many I have encountered in ID an MT lack.

Too mad Malloy messed it up. Instead of a hunter saying "I'll take my one tag and kill one wolf and feel like I did something and killed a really cool animal.", these folks will kill if they can, three four or more.

[KillDeer]

My buddy and I were hunting elk during the early archery season around the Swift Creek area this year when we came across huge dog tracks that were clear as day in the dusty road. We were around 5 miles off any main road with vehicle access when we came across it. It was definately not a lion track and way way too big to be a coyote. It was just a single set of tracks that just trotted across the road into the brush. There were no tire tracks from a truck w/ someone letting their dog out. Im kicking myself in the ass for not taking a pic of it, but i swear it was a wolf.

[SHANE(WA)]

There are wolves on Boyer Mt just north of spokane, I saw wolf tracks all over cable and mica peak about 10 years ago in march. There was a wolf hit by a car this past summer in tum tum.

[TeacherMan]

There was one hit on 211 I heard this last summer, that is close to Boyer Mt.

[Yummy and Tasty Animal]

Just look at what wolves did to the elk populations in Yellowstone.  All of the hippy yippy tree huggers were so psyched about it and now half of the elk population is gone.

"Each wolf eats a biomass of at least 25 Elk per year, or 2500 elk per 100 wolves, not including "Sport Killing" or "Surplus Killing Reflex" Recent studies conducted in central Idaho by Horn Knockers Wildlife Institute, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Idaho, Idaho Bureau of Land Management and Idaho Department of Fish and Game, shows some very troubling numbers, 90 percent of all wolf kills are elk, 58 percent were calves, 31 percent were adult cows and 11 percent were bulls with deer comprising of the remainder. In 1997 one of northern Yellowstone's largest migrating elk herds it was estimated at 19,500 they have now been decimated to 9500 -10,000."

http://www.bitterroot.com/grizzly/elkgone.htm

My biology professor confirmed this a few weeks ago while giving one of his lectures.  He said that many people who visit Yellowstone rarely see elk anymore, because the majority has left the park due to the wolves.  The few elk that remain in Yellowstone stay close to the towns because the wolves usually don't venture that close to people, but the wolves will obviously start going closer to the towns to kill elk which will cause major problems between humans and wolves.  I love it when an environmentalist plan gets flushed down the toilet!  Now the environmentalists are going to have to pay hunters (who they hate) to bail them out by killing all or most of the wolves.  This is PRICELESS!!!!  I don't see what it is with environmentalists and top-of-the-food-chain predators.  Do wolves, cougars, and bears turn them on or something?

[GoldTip]

I just saw a lone wolf track in the Huckleberry unit, off of the Springdale-Hunters road this past Saturday.  Have pics of the track in the snow.  I will post it up tomorrow hopefully.

[croix]

We've seen them NE between Northport and Ione (closer to Ione). Pretty dogs, but an ominous presence. Would make a cool mount.  

Friend of mine in Montana says the wolves are out of control and Elk populations are suffering big time. They don't hear nearly as much bugling because the wolves have learned to zero in on that. Many hunters have bugled in wolves instead of elk. One guy who was out training his dogs had to beat off wolves with a stick. Not sure why he didn't have a firearm but he carries one now - EVERY time he is out with his dogs.

We could be facing a similar situation if a management plan isn't figured out.