Wolf caught snatching a chicken near Colville

[bearpaw]

There are at least three wolves living between Colville and Arden near Rocky Lake a few miles from town. This is a relatively highly populated area by rural eastern WA standards.

One resident has seen three wolves together (one black) on their farm in this area and reported it but were told by WDFW that they saw coyotes. Please keep in mind this ranching family are lifelong county residents and have seen coyotes their entire lives on a regular basis.

Last week another neighboring small rancher (who has heard wolves on occasion for the last year) had livestock that was acting funny all night and the house cat kept trying to get in the house, in the morning they saw a wolf in the back yard. This resident has lived in Idaho and had horses attacked by wolves in central Idaho, they know what wolves look and sound like and know they will come into your residence when they are hungry. They called WDFW and an agent came and told them it was a coyote even though they did not see the animal being reported nor could they find the tracks, or so they said. That agent did set up a trail cam in the back yard.

There is a piece of state land right behind both of these ranches, oddly enough two days after the last wolf sighting I sent two hunters over to check their shotgun on a target at the state land, this happened to be right behind both ranches that have seen the wolves. Oddly enough the same warden and his sergeant happened to be there and checked the hunters out. If this was only coyote sightings why were they both right behind both of these ranches?

That's right, they know they are wolves, but they are going to keep telling local people we are seeing coyotes! This is exactly what makes everyone so darn mad about this wolf issue. If WDFW would at least be honest and understanding, tell the people they will try to monitor the situation and will do what they can to prevent problems. Instead people get these phony lies! I know this is exactly what people are being told because I tried to report a wolf attack on German Shepherd dogs and the WDFW called me back and told me it was 5 coyotes trying to attack the German Shepherds. 

Two days ago at a rural residence only about 1 mile away from the other ranchers the lady looks out her window and watches a wolf snatch one of her chickens and trot away. She told my wife about it at the rodeo yesterday. My wife asked her if she was sure it was a wolf and not a coyote YES, then she asked if the lady reported it, NOPE! My wife tried to convince her that she needed to report it or we will never get wolves delisted. But we doubt it gets reported.

Faith is so low in WDFW that many people have quit reporting most wildlife incidents. Mostly I am hearing that people are just going to take of things themselves because WDFW is a waste of time. In fact the one rancher told WDFW that if the wolf comes back to their yard it's getting shot. Maybe that's why WDFW is spending time right there in that area.

People have no faith in the WDFW reaction anymore! I hope it's better in other areas of Washington! 

Rant Over....

[idahohuntr]

What is the motivation for WDFW to tell people lies about seeing wolves?  And please don't give me some wolfbait contrived conspiracy here...Seriously, what do they have to gain?  I am not saying a few good ranchers are not seeing wolves, but all of my interaction with wdfw staff has been them saying that wolves can be absolutely anywhere and everywhere in WA and the population is growing.  The wolf bios also preach about getting any wolf sightings or activity into them that you can, especially if it includes pictures of the animal or tracks etc. so they can focus their trapping efforts.  This seems inconsistent with what you are posting   

 

[huntnnw]

This same crap has been happening south of spokane for years! people seeing wolves and WDFW telling them its coyotes.

[bearpaw]

What is the motivation for WDFW to tell people lies about seeing wolves?  And please don't give me some wolfbait contrived conspiracy here...Seriously, what do they have to gain?  I am not saying a few good ranchers are not seeing wolves, but all of my interaction with wdfw staff has been them saying that wolves can be absolutely anywhere and everywhere in WA and the population is growing.  The wolf bios also preach about getting any wolf sightings or activity into them that you can, especially if it includes pictures of the animal or tracks etc. so they can focus their trapping efforts.  This seems inconsistent with what you are posting 

You seem to act like you represent WDFW wolf division! I'm just presenting the information, you tell me?

[bearpaw]

This same crap has been happening south of spokane for years! people seeing wolves and WDFW telling them its coyotes.

People in the methow say the same thing, this is what makes everyone even more fed up with wolves.

[Wilderness Addict]

My neighbors just had a sheep killed by a wolf. I asked if they reported it, "nope". They were less then 50 yards from it and were confident it was a wolf. People just don't feel reporting it will help.

[idahohuntr]

What is the motivation for WDFW to tell people lies about seeing wolves?  And please don't give me some wolfbait contrived conspiracy here...Seriously, what do they have to gain?  I am not saying a few good ranchers are not seeing wolves, but all of my interaction with wdfw staff has been them saying that wolves can be absolutely anywhere and everywhere in WA and the population is growing.  The wolf bios also preach about getting any wolf sightings or activity into them that you can, especially if it includes pictures of the animal or tracks etc. so they can focus their trapping efforts.  This seems inconsistent with what you are posting 

You seem to act like you represent WDFW wolf division! I'm just presenting the information, you tell me?

Go find a thread on here about game wardens or point systems and then report back to me about how good I am at sticking up for WDFW 

Seriously though, every GMAC meeting I've been to we discuss wolves and every darn time there is nothing but discussion about how wolves are absolutely everywhere, they have a tough time collaring them, and please send information about wolf location/information to help our trappers.  They freely admit that they only have absolute minimum counts on wolves, that confirmed packs are also minimum numbers etc.  It just does not fit the description you've provided and I can't think of good motivation for anyone to be lying really...Ranchers are not going to waste time making up stories about wolves and wdfw would love to confirm more wolves/packs to meet de-listing criteria. 

[bobcat]

I think it's simply a miscommunication problem. I very much doubt that the WDFW employees are telling people they are absolutely, 100% not seeing wolves. I think they question these people when they make a report. They most likely ask the people if it may have been a coyote and in talking to that person they probably try to get an idea if he or she knows the difference between a wolf and a coyote. The person then turns this around and says "the WDFW told me it was not a wolf that I saw!" When all they really did was question the validity of the report and try to determine if the witness is credible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KFhunter]

What is the motivation for WDFW to tell people lies about seeing wolves?  And please don't give me some wolfbait contrived conspiracy here...Seriously, what do they have to gain?  I am not saying a few good ranchers are not seeing wolves, but all of my interaction with wdfw staff has been them saying that wolves can be absolutely anywhere and everywhere in WA and the population is growing.  The wolf bios also preach about getting any wolf sightings or activity into them that you can, especially if it includes pictures of the animal or tracks etc. so they can focus their trapping efforts.  This seems inconsistent with what you are posting 

You seem to act like you represent WDFW wolf division! I'm just presenting the information, you tell me?

Gotta be an internal policy,  part of the tolerance portion of the wolf plan *or*  just the bigwigs in Olympia saying that all non-verified sightings are coyotes/domestics/hybrids until proven otherwise.

Were these the local wardens Bearpaw?  disappointed if the local guys are doing this.."Olympia say's is a coyote, so I have to tell you you'r seeing Coyotes..but....." 

[idahohuntr]

I think bobcat may be right on the mark here...its the olympia guys I hear saying "wolves are everywhere and please send us information when you see one".

[bearpaw]

What is the motivation for WDFW to tell people lies about seeing wolves?  And please don't give me some wolfbait contrived conspiracy here...Seriously, what do they have to gain?  I am not saying a few good ranchers are not seeing wolves, but all of my interaction with wdfw staff has been them saying that wolves can be absolutely anywhere and everywhere in WA and the population is growing.  The wolf bios also preach about getting any wolf sightings or activity into them that you can, especially if it includes pictures of the animal or tracks etc. so they can focus their trapping efforts.  This seems inconsistent with what you are posting 

You seem to act like you represent WDFW wolf division! I'm just presenting the information, you tell me?

Go find a thread on here about game wardens or point systems and then report back to me about how good I am at sticking up for WDFW 

Seriously though, every GMAC meeting I've been to we discuss wolves and every darn time there is nothing but discussion about how wolves are absolutely everywhere, they have a tough time collaring them, and please send information about wolf location/information to help our trappers.  They freely admit that they only have absolute minimum counts on wolves, that confirmed packs are also minimum numbers etc.  It just does not fit the description you've provided and I can't think of good motivation for anyone to be lying really...Ranchers are not going to waste time making up stories about wolves and wdfw would love to confirm more wolves/packs to meet de-listing criteria. 

Here is a fact, please feel free to review the job description WDFW had posted for their wolf trappers:

I have nothing against college grads, I have a daughter attending college. But if you will please remember that was the primary qualification for their new hire wolf trappers. Most any knowledgeable trapper (who can catch wolves) will probably tell you that they should have hired experienced trappers as the first priority qualification if they wanted to catch wolves. 

A couple years ago my neighbor who's kenneled german shepherd dogs were being attacked in his backyard had to fire shots to scare away 5 wolves that were attacking his dogs. I wanted to be sure this was reported, he told me OK to report it.

The region 1 manager Steve Pozzanghera called me from Spokane to tell me my neighbor did not see wolves attacking his german shepherds. Pozzanghera  told me in a not so pleasant manner they were coyotes from his office desk in Spokane. That is how WDFW seems to handle wolf sightings and everyone knows it.

Maybe that will give you something new to bring up at your next GMAC meeting. I know from experience exactly why people are saying what they do about how WDFW reacts to wolf reports! We have coyotes all over Stevens County, these ranchers see coyotes every week of their life. It's one thing if WDFW said they can't find proof that a sighting was wolf, but it's quite a different story when they insist you saw a coyote when you know it was a wolf and they won't even consider your report a wolf report. 

What is the motivation for WDFW to tell people lies about seeing wolves?  And please don't give me some wolfbait contrived conspiracy here...Seriously, what do they have to gain?  I am not saying a few good ranchers are not seeing wolves, but all of my interaction with wdfw staff has been them saying that wolves can be absolutely anywhere and everywhere in WA and the population is growing.  The wolf bios also preach about getting any wolf sightings or activity into them that you can, especially if it includes pictures of the animal or tracks etc. so they can focus their trapping efforts.  This seems inconsistent with what you are posting 

You seem to act like you represent WDFW wolf division! I'm just presenting the information, you tell me?

Gotta be an internal policy,  part of the tolerance portion of the wolf plan *or*  just the bigwigs in Olympia saying that all non-verified sightings are coyotes/domestics/hybrids until proven otherwise.

Were these the local wardens Bearpaw?  disappointed if the local guys are doing this.."Olympia say's is a coyote, so I have to tell you you'r seeing Coyotes..but....." 

Yes, local warden, you must know him. Yes, the ranchers feel that they are getting the runaround. Yes, the one guy told the warden if the wolf comes back in his yard he is shooting it. I imagine if the wolf comes back and he shoots the "big coyote" that it will be pretty hard to prosecute after the warden said it was a coyote.

[bearpaw]

Yes, everyone is laughing after the warden and his sergeant were seen right behind the ranchers place two days after the "coyote" report! 

[KFhunter]

I'm at the give up point Dale,  probably noticed I haven't been in the wolf section too much lately.


Painfully obvious NE/WA is a forgone conclusion and the wolf huggers here admit that freely.  WDFW isn't going to lift a finger to do anything and quite the opposite they suppress wolf sightings and fail to document.

The only thing that'll bring about change is more pain, lot's more pain.

[bearpaw]

I'm at the give up point Dale,  probably noticed I haven't been in the wolf section too much lately.


Painfully obvious NE/WA is a forgone conclusion and the wolf huggers here admit that freely.  WDFW isn't going to lift a finger to do anything and quite the opposite they suppress wolf sightings and fail to document.

The only thing that'll bring about change is more pain, lot's more pain.

I've been busy hunting so have not been on the forum much in a month. I agree that NE may be in for a lot of hurt. WDFW told us directly at the Colville meeting they were not going to do anything even if game numbers dropped. I'm certain that was the wrong thing to tell people. 

Every moose I have seen this spring I am glad to know survived the wolves another year. But I also noticed in the regs that the moose permit numbers are dropping in some wolf areas. There are some impacts and I'm sure WDFW knows it.

I'm afraid that many of these single wolves may be teaming up with a mate to form new packs. But on the other hand some packs do not seem to be surviving well in our human populated countryside. Maybe they don't like all the human activity here and that's why some are going back to Canada, maybe locals are putting more hurt on them than we imagine, I'm not sure why exactly, but I am hoping for whatever cause the number of packs don't multiply like they did in Idaho.

I suspect that wolves may end up being the bigger problem in western Washington before this is all finished.

[rasbo]

I watched a program last night about the wallowa area in NE oregon,elk populations are dropping and the conclusion they seem to be arriving at is cougar and bears are killing calves at an alarming rate...Now toss in the wolves in that area which of course dont cause many problems ..and the were not mentioned I might add...cullling bears and cougars seem to be where oregon might go with their problem,why and when will wa state get on the ball?