Money to deter wolf attacks goes unclaimed

[MuleDeer]

You guys all made great comments and have great questions....exactly what you should bring to a WAG meeting and ask/comment on.  Everyone there needs to hear those comments, and demand answers to the questions.  Hope to see some of you at a meeting sometime and hear those comments and questions posed to WDFW and the other groups there.

[JDHasty]

All the ranchers I know get up no later than 5:00 am, work all day and never get done till after dark.  All these deterrents offered to them requires adding more time to their already overload of work. They've read and talked to other ranchers about the success rate of these deterrents.  The only one that seems to make a small difference is range riders which usually costs them extra money which they don't have. If range riders were totally free of charge you'd be seeing more participation. They don't hate wolves but do hate losing their livestock to them or anything that steals their livelihood. Some have decided to stay out of the radar screen completely and deal with the wolves tHemselves. 
  Until you convince them your deterrents actually work and are willing to pay 100% of the costs, don't require them to add time to their busy day and pay them restitution for ALL wolf kills you will not get them on board.  Hiring wolf lovers to investigate depredations has really set the program back.  When multiple circumstantial evidences (trail cam pics, recent tracks, wolf hair on fence, 60 pounds of calf missing in one night) of a kill are present and they declare it is an unknown, then their credibility is destroyed with the rancher.  This rancher tells his story to all his friend ranchers and they all distrust the the whole group of agencies pushing for wolf reintroduction.  Being truthful and honest with a farmer or rancher is at the top of their list.  They can spot a rat quickly and will take another direction and not look back.

 

And I might add that the only three days my cousin and his wife got to take a little three day vacation in 2014 to enjoy themselves was while my six-year old and I were on the ranch visiting for a week and could water cattle, feed cattle and open and close head gates and move flood irrigation dams.  They got three days and two nights in Glacier Park and that was it.  And when you ranch right up against The Bob you deal with grizzly bears and wolves along with mountain lions.