Ellensburg wolves

[greenhead_killer]

Was talking with my butcher last night. Apparently there is a pack of wolves chasing the colockum herd just behind the operators school. Neighbor laid eyes on at least 6 of them. That’s not far from a lot of residences. Too bad to see this start to happen here too.

[boneaddict]

It’s been going on for some time there.  Prior to them identifying our first Wolfpack actually.

Their population seems to ebb and flow.   I’ve ran into them a couple times.

The good news is they get smacked on the road once in awhile.

[Taco280AI]

Just coyotes 

[HighlandLofts]

Well fed coyotes.

[lewy]

Some coworkers got pictures of a couple at the wind farm the other day. Makes you wonder if that’s the reason there has been more elk/vehicle incidents on vantage lately, more elk pushing south to winter?

[greenhead_killer]

Thanks for info bone. I knew it hadn’t just happened, just surprised to see them that low in full view of people and what not.

Lewy, that’s my thought too. Pushing the elk around, looking for safety. Safe alright, packaged up in my freezer.

[boneaddict]

If I could guess...I haven't been out much lately, I'd guess this pack has established its territory there.   They used to drift from there, to Mission, to Teannaway.  Now Im pretty sure the Teanaway has their own pack, plus this one now.   I also venture a guess one will be solidifying itself over in Robinson, Watt and the Taneum.   I haven't seen or heard anything about those on the Wenatchee, Mission side of things.     Ive seen tracks up Peaches and Quartze and Manastash.  I'm not sure where basecamp is.

[bearpaw]

If I could guess...I haven't been out much lately, I'd guess this pack has established its territory there.   They used to drift from there, to Mission, to Teannaway.  Now Im pretty sure the Teanaway has their own pack, plus this one now.   I also venture a guess one will be solidifying itself over in Robinson, Watt and the Taneum.   I haven't seen or heard anything about those on the Wenatchee, Mission side of things.     Ive seen tracks up Peaches and Quartze and Manastash.  I'm not sure where basecamp is.

I sure wish WDFW could figure that out!

[trophyhunt]

Shoot them on sight!  Protect OUR game!

[time2hunt]

These pics are from the wind farm around Christmas time


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jackelope]

@Rainier10 

[boneaddict]

Is that a red collar?  One of the original 7 I saw there had a red collar

[Meathunter06]

Shoot them on sight!  Protect OUR game!

Thats illegal oh well I thought it was a coyote

[time2hunt]

Not sure on collar collar  my friend works out there and sent me the pics


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rainier10]

Yep, I saw one 18 years ago when I was snowmobiling up on table mountain.  Wolves didn’t exist in Washington at that point. 5 or 6 years ago I got a pic of one at my cabin just above ellensburg. Sent the pic to the game department. No comment. A couple years later they said there were wolves moving in and out of the area.  A neighbor saw two working a herd of elk in bear creek also.  It was just a matter of time before they setup shop in the area.

[jstone]

That sucks. Hope to get that tag before it’s to late

[jstone]

Did you see any when you had the tag? Last year I saw none up there.
Yet

[cooltimber]

Seen two in the wenas,up from BBQ flats,elk hunting..NO elk were sighted by any i knew

[Rainier10]

Did you see any when you had the tag? Last year I saw none up there.
Yet

No but last weekend I saw what I thought was one briefly. Could get the spotter on it before it got into the trees and disappeared.

[smittyJ]

Yep, I saw one 18 years ago when I was snowmobiling up on table mountain.  Wolves didn’t exist in Washington at that point. 5 or 6 years ago I got a pic of one at my cabin just above ellensburg. Sent the pic to the game department. No comment. A couple years later they said there were wolves moving in and out of the area.  A neighbor saw two working a herd of elk in bear creek also.  It was just a matter of time before they setup shop in the area.

Saw one 10 years ago in Ellensberg Ranches while 4 wheeling!

[danderson]

  I spotted my first wolf in the Teanaway in the late 80's, they have pretty much devastated the local deer population in the hills and changed the behavior patters in the remaining deer and Elk, now I see deer in town that use peoples back yards as a safe haven from predators, the elk herds for the most part in the upper county are fractured in groups or 5 to 10 except for the feeding stations, the elk in the wintering grounds are being dogged constantly, there's no resting or lolly gaging for these critters,  guys hunting the Wenus last year complained about the lack of Elk well hate to tell them but the Elk were in town mostly on private property. a wolf was killed by a cougar in Ellensburg a few years back as far as I know that's the only confirmed case in Washington were a cat got the upper hand on a wolf and won, I don't like seeing Elk and deer in town its not natural and vehicle collisions take a toll on them, more deer and elk get killed on I-90 between Vantage and the top of the pass in a year than get harvested in GMU'S 335 and 336 annually combined, not a total waste as all my buddies are picking up roadkill so who needs to purchase a hunting license anymore, we have a wildlife crossing up at the pass for slugs and amphibian's that cost  millions of  dollars, and yet we cant  figure out how to manage the wolf population, pretty soon it will be called the Fish and no Wildlife Department.

[boneaddict]

  WELL SAID                                                                                                 

[fishngamereaper]

Spot on danderson....

I ran into wolves in the alpine lks back in the mid 90's...told a bio for the area and he said no I didn't....of course all the old wardens back then knew they where there but the state wouldn't acknowledge them... down hill ever since.

[BreezyBear]

Not the best pic, but this is from a few years back in GMU 328

[vandeman17]

I have wolf pics in there from many years ago too. Nothing new 

[bearpaw]

I'm sorry to see you guys are sharing the wolf love too. It took about 5 to 10 years and they really exploded here in the NE.

[Rainier10]

I am hopeful that before the eburg and yakima area population explodes we will get the point where they are allowing management.

Wishful thinking maybe but that is really all we have at this point.

[boneaddict]

Im hoping the Yakimas are smart enough to start trying to manage them, like the Colvilles and Spokane tribes.   It wont be enough but might extend things

[woodswalker]

I am hopeful that before the eburg and yakima area population explodes we will get the point where they are allowing management.

Wishful thinking maybe but that is really all we have at this point.

its a bit late for that...I saw wolves in Elk Heights 18+ years ago.  Moreso later, 2010ish I had a good view of them WAY up above Taneum Ck on the W side of the canyon.  Also noted that once FINE turkey hunting was Kaput.  Saw a few in the Yakima Canyon off Swinging bridge on the way through a few years ago.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Was up in the Wenas, off Durr Rd and watched 5 trotting along about 1/2 mile away mcross the creek.  There are FAR more than WDFW will admit to, there are likely several reasons for this.  NONE of which bode well for hunters.

[Rainier10]

I am hopeful that before the eburg and yakima area population explodes we will get the point where they are allowing management.

Wishful thinking maybe but that is really all we have at this point.

its a bit late for that...I saw wolves in Elk Heights 18+ years ago.  Moreso later, 2010ish I had a good view of them WAY up above Taneum Ck on the W side of the canyon.  Also noted that once FINE turkey hunting was Kaput.  Saw a few in the Yakima Canyon off Swinging bridge on the way through a few years ago.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Was up in the Wenas, off Durr Rd and watched 5 trotting along about 1/2 mile away mcross the creek.  There are FAR more than WDFW will admit to, there are likely several reasons for this.  NONE of which bode well for hunters.

Oh I have seen them 15-20 years ago as well.

Sent game camera pics to WDFW when "there weren't any wolves in the Colockum". 

They are here and they are here to stay. 

Are they as bad as they are in the NE part of the state?  No way. 

Are we 5-10 years away from being able to hunt them in this state?  I hope not, I hope we are getting really close to being able to manage them. 

Dale said they really exploded after 5-10 years in his area and I am hopefully we get to the point of management before they explode in the colockum.

[woodswalker]

I am hopeful that before the eburg and yakima area population explodes we will get the point where they are allowing management.

Wishful thinking maybe but that is really all we have at this point.

its a bit late for that...I saw wolves in Elk Heights 18+ years ago.  Moreso later, 2010ish I had a good view of them WAY up above Taneum Ck on the W side of the canyon.  Also noted that once FINE turkey hunting was Kaput.  Saw a few in the Yakima Canyon off Swinging bridge on the way through a few years ago.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Was up in the Wenas, off Durr Rd and watched 5 trotting along about 1/2 mile away mcross the creek.  There are FAR more than WDFW will admit to, there are likely several reasons for this.  NONE of which bode well for hunters.

Oh I have seen them 15-20 years ago as well.

Sent game camera pics to WDFW when "there weren't any wolves in the Colockum". 

They are here and they are here to stay. 

Are they as bad as they are in the NE part of the state?  No way. 

Are we 5-10 years away from being able to hunt them in this state?  I hope not. 

Dale said they really exploded after 5-10 years in his area and I am hopefully we get to the point of management before they explode in the colockum.

"there weren't any wolves in the Colockum", That is good...I am coyote hunting up there....

[Rainier10]

I am hopeful that before the eburg and yakima area population explodes we will get the point where they are allowing management.

Wishful thinking maybe but that is really all we have at this point.

its a bit late for that...I saw wolves in Elk Heights 18+ years ago.  Moreso later, 2010ish I had a good view of them WAY up above Taneum Ck on the W side of the canyon.  Also noted that once FINE turkey hunting was Kaput.  Saw a few in the Yakima Canyon off Swinging bridge on the way through a few years ago.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Was up in the Wenas, off Durr Rd and watched 5 trotting along about 1/2 mile away mcross the creek.  There are FAR more than WDFW will admit to, there are likely several reasons for this.  NONE of which bode well for hunters.

Oh I have seen them 15-20 years ago as well.

Sent game camera pics to WDFW when "there weren't any wolves in the Colockum". 

They are here and they are here to stay. 

Are they as bad as they are in the NE part of the state?  No way. 

Are we 5-10 years away from being able to hunt them in this state?  I hope not. 

Dale said they really exploded after 5-10 years in his area and I am hopefully we get to the point of management before they explode in the colockum.

"there weren't any wolves in the Colockum", That is good...I am coyote hunting up there....

I took their no reply as "Oh we didn't know you had a picture of one." 

[woodswalker]

probably true too

[boneaddict]

Don’t take this personal fellas (Vandeman and Wolfbait) but I’m going to clean these posts up and get us back on topic.  I’m sure each has read each other’s point of view.
Thank you.

[RG]

They killed a bull elk up in the Naneum/Wilson Creek area according to local residents over there.  They reported it but DFW denies they’re hanging out around there.  Supposedly about five of them crossing back and forth between reecer area and quilomene.  7 or 8 cougars are down low in the Charlton, Thomas, Naneum road area tearing up the livestock. DFW won’t authorize anybody to shoot any unless it’s sitting on their animal.