Wolves, Who's In Charge?

[shanevg]

I agree with all that bearpaw.  We definitely need to make our voices heard.  I know I am doing my best!

[bearpaw]

thanks shanevg.....it is only those of us who take 10 or 20 minutes to send email who will make a difference....thanks

[bearmanric]

in 5 year's there wont be hunting here. there is nothing we can do we are a minority now. the game department is not for our game animal's. people wake up. pretty stupid to have a muzzlelaoding season on the coast new this year. they have a serios problem there. they will put wolfs in the olympics Dorm Dicks wanted to several years ago. i'm just sick miss early 80's when hunting was ok and i could go to yard bird's wear hunting cloth's to get ammo for deer season and see friend's.go to down town olympia now i would get in a fight those day's have gone. just wish they wouldnt bring wolf's here but they will. Rick

[runamuk]

in 5 year's there wont be hunting here. there is nothing we can do we are a minority now. the game department is not for our game animal's. people wake up. pretty stupid to have a muzzlelaoding season on the coast new this year. they have a serios problem there. they will put wolfs in the olympics Dorm Dicks wanted to several years ago. i'm just sick miss early 80's when hunting was ok and i could go to yard bird's wear hunting cloth's to get ammo for deer season and see friend's.go to down town olympia now i would get in a fight those day's have gone. just wish they wouldnt bring wolf's here but they will. Rick

We can do something Rick we just keep writing and encouraging them to change then we keep voting. 
Besides now days minority rules special rules for minorities remember....I am not making light of the subject just trying to add some levity....

I also have days where I feel it is going to be gone so why try....if we all give up then they win and this is the one area where I am competitive I will not let the anti's win....I will fight them until I die....

[DOUBLELUNG]

WDFW is only in charge of wolves in the eastern 1/3 of WA.  USFWS is still in charge of wolves west of the Columbia Basin and the Okanogan River, they are ESA-listed and state status doesn't mean squat. 

WDFW is comprised of many divisions and sections; having wolves managed by the Game Division within the Wildlife Program would be a whole lot better than having wolves managed by the Endangered Species Section.  Game Division sets seasons, Endangered Species Section counts stuff until it disappears.

The best realistic scenario for Washington sportsmen would be 1) recovery where federally listed (no state management can occur until then); reclassification as big game in the federally delisted portion of the state; and 3) population targets for pack numbers.  To not have hunting as a management tool ONCE RECOVERY TARGETS ARE MET is a huge failure on the part of WDFW and state government.  Wolves are versatile, highly mobile, and most importantly, highly fecund and prolific large carnivores, and hunting is absolutely necessary to managing recovered populations.

[bearmanric]

not giving up. man these are just tough time's going to be tough battle's.

[wolfbait]

We all get a bit on the discouraged side at times over this wolf issue. But we cannot give this fight up. If we give up and there is no hunting management for wolves, than we give up a big part of our hunting rights. We give up any chances of our children and our gran children seeing and experiancing the pleasures of the hunt, the camping, all of it will be gone. We need to have our voices heard by those who can make a differance, flood them with letters on your thoughts of these wolves and what they will do to your way of life. It isn't just hunting that these wolves have and will affect, camping, fishing, anywhere in the outdoors you go you will have to be packing and worrying about your kids. Their wolf plan as it stands is to translocate problem wolves or over populated wolf areas. Now that being said, how are you going to like having these wolves lurking around in your back yard. Like here they never told anyone when they started releasing wolves, and they won't be telling you either.  Let me tell you, we have wolves around us all the time now and it isn't any fun. The people who are promoting these wolves don't give one whit about the problems we are and you will be having, they don't live here or have to deal with the wolves. They don't even care about the wolves that they are using in their agenda. I get way tired of dealing with the wolf issue, but if we don't deal with it now, chances are we won't get another chance and we will be stuck with what ever the pro-wolf people slap on paper. And if it is no hunting wolves it will get ugly for all of us.

[croix]

Wow doublelung. Good use of "fecund". Don't see that one every day.

[bearpaw]

Right now the biggest concern is getting washington to include hunting as the eventual management tool in the wolf plan.

Unless that language happens now, it will not be a part of the plan.....then taxpayers can pay guys like me insane amounts of money to go shoot nuisance wolves for them.

I hate to burst any bubbles, but it does not appear that WDFW supports hunting wolves at all. If you doubt this, I suggest you read the last version of the wolf plan and point out to myself and everyone else where it says hunting will be the management tool.

Since we all know the answer to that, I am asking everyone to take 15 minutes and write a short email message asking for hunting to be included in the language as the eventual management tool and send it before the September meeting.

Thanks In Advance....

[mulehunter]

I thank u Bearpaw, I totally Agree and this need to be FIXED! We already CONFIRMED two kills and PUBLIC Local News on two kills Larry and Michelle and Biologlist did TOLD News it were NOT WOLVES caused! But 3rd interview with lady name Barbie and she did saw those pack and This biologlist DID believe HER. WAS she PRETTIER? 

I figure.. Yes He need to be FIRED! 


Mulehunter 

[mulehunter]

Who is in CHARGE in this County of Okanagon?  BUNNY HUGGER BIOLOGLIST!   Thats EXPLAINS A LOT!

I want to show this CLEAR... I understand Gamedept were in Charge FIRST ARRIVAL! He was told it possible Wolves! But... Scott Fitkin Biologlist Walked AFTER in said No... IMPOSSIBLE Hard to tell, Well BUT.... He have NO RIGHT to Explain this Crap to Local News just because HE JUST SAVED Thousand dollar on LOSS of CATTLE and Missing Calf by telling them NOT wolves because that way they cant ERASE LOCAL NEWS HISTORY and make it look STRONG ON HIS SIDE!
I cant believe He walk stright to Local News FIRST THING! No wonder why He is BUNNY HUGGER!

Scott Fitkin just RIPPED LARRY OFF and He SMASH his HEART with FULL PAIN because they wouldnt Help him anything to Manage it and FEDS Dept just THANK HIM for doing his job to HURT all RANCHERS!! I am surprised He wouldnt HIRED HOUNDMAN to put on tracks after what? Was it Cougar? Bear? Coyote? Well.... HE KNEW IT! Thats why he wouldnt do anything about it to not MANAGE IT  why they wouldnt even TRY to go up mountain SEEM NOT TRY HARD ENOUGH!
Obviouly He tell to Local News about that were NOT wolves. Hard to tell. Maybe He doesnt want to be HONEST! Because he want to keep his JOB that way Feds have enough money to pay his salary instead pay some livestock Loss.

I believe Larry were having Coffee with LOT LOTS of Ranchers! U know why because THEY ALL are ANGRY at Biologlist!  


Mulehunter  

[mulehunter]

AGAIN, A Bunny Hugger Biologlist. But...... He listen to Michelle.... She SAW WOLVES TWICE But She did saw  TWICE and SHE PROMISE SHE did saw TWICE!!!! VERY TWICE! But He doesnt BELIEVE HER! Again OH GEEZ!!!  I cant believe He just told local news after this caused!  So obviouly He saved money by not confirmed on Wolves. If it would be Wolves caused Feds Must pay livestock Loss!

FEDS Dept just thank him for not BLAME on Wolves caused.

I KNOW HIS SYSTEM NOW!!!

Michelle SHOULD HAVE SHOT this *censored* DOG to PROVE SF! 




HERE his statement with Local News.





Carlton resident says wolves killed chickens

 
By Joyce Campbell

“I saw it twice and I really think it’s a wolf,” said Michelle Mondot, who learned the hard way that protecting her chickens from predators starts with prevention, not with scaring them off.

She went out to do chicken chores on the morning of Sunday, Aug. 2, and found eight dead birds and six more missing. She saw the back half of a large dark grey canine with a fluffy tail disappearing into the brushy hillside behind her Libby Creek home.

“He or she left, and I saw it again Sunday night because I was keeping an eye on everything,” said Mondot. She went out in the dark with a flashlight and stick around 9:30 p.m. and yelled, screamed and beat the stick on the ground and the animal took off after about 10 seconds. So long, she said, that she realized the animal was not afraid.

She got a .30-30 rifle and shot into the hill past her house and has not seen the predator again. “I think I’ve scared it off, at least for now,” she said.

State wildlife biologist Scott Fitkin is skeptical that the predator was a wolf.

“The fact that the animal appeared unafraid, I’m more skeptical that it was a wolf,” said Fitkin. “The fact that she went out and yelled and banged things, it’s not characteristic of wolves, who seem skittish. We’ve not ruled out it being a wolf,” he said. “We have no evidence except her eyewitness, but we are looking for more information.”

He sent two wildlife field technicians to set up a remote sensor camera at the site, but no photos of a wolf or any other canid have been captured. Radio telemetry was used for several days and showed that the radio-collared adults in the Lookout Pack were not present. A compost pile at the site contained the remains of butchered chickens, an attractant for carnivores.

Fitkin said being surrounded by public land and wildlife is a little different than having a chicken coop in town. Chances are greater for attracting predators looking for a meal.

“We’ve got the top predator of the West here and we need to know how to secure our livestock,” said Mondot. She said she felt responsible that her setup was only minimally secure. She had become lax over the years, chasing off one golden eagle and a weasel or raccoon, but felt unprepared for wolves.

She was instructed by the wildlife field biologist to bury attractants – any meat and scraps that are not vegetation.  She wants to make sure her chickens are wolf-secure, but doesn’t know exactly what that means. She has covered plastic netting with chicken wire on her portable coops.

Fitkin said that wolves and cougars are easier to keep out, but bear-proofing is the most difficult predator prevention, because of their agile, dexterous and extremely strong front paws.

“We can co-exist, but we need to modify our behavior,” said Mondot. She said people need to not be attracting, feeding or being nice to the wolves. “I want them to be afraid. This is not part of their hunting territory. They can have all the rest.”

For more information on preventing wildlife conflicts with livestock and pets, visit the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife website on living with wildlife at www.wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/living. The state’s draft gray wolf conservation and management plan has a section on preventing conflicts and is available at www.wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/diversty/soc/gray_wolf.

A film and panel discussion on predators will be presented Sept. 16 at the Twisp River Pub. The Lords of Nature: Life in a Land of Great Predators is a new film on wolves and other top predators and will be presented in the Methow Valley by Conservation Northwest.

Photo by Joyce Campbell

These chickens survived a nighttime raid by a large canid that Michelle Mondot thinks was a wolf. She feels responsible for making her poultry wolf-secure, but isn’t sure what that means.



 Mulehunter 

[mulehunter]

Whats This? Just because He told Local News that He Only BELIEVE BARBIE and NOT MICHELLE that she saw TWICE, LARRY? WTF!!!

Is Barbie PRETTIER LADY who LOVES WOLVES!

Thats EXPLAINS A LOT!

Whats does this help us understand how Biologlist system working after you read this topic

To report wolf sightings call the toll free Wolf Reporting Hotline for Washington (888) 584-9038.

 




Mulehunter 




Sighting confirms trio of wolf cubs

By Joyce Campbell

A visitor to the valley was the first to sight three gray wolf pups and wildlife biologists have confirmed that the Lookout Pack is raising at least a trio with the help of a “babysitter.”

“There’s one,” said Barbara Mattingly, an earth science teacher from Indiana who was visiting family members in the area. She saw some motion out of the corner of her eye and came eye-to-eye with a half-grown wolf pup about 50 feet away.

Mattingly was gazing into the eyes of the offspring of Washington’s first confirmed wolf pack in more than 70 years. The wolf pup was calmly looking back.

“They were very calm and we were very calm, and they were very well camouflaged,” said Mattingly. The pups moved from left to right within 30 seconds and quickly disappeared into the camouflage of the forest before either of the pair of humans could get any good photos. “It looked at me, stared at me right in the eye. Each one stopped and stared at us and walked away into the woods. It was the coolest thing ever.”

Mattingly had hoped to see the print of a wolf track when she and a Forest Service wildlife field biologist went out on July 30 to set up a remote sensor camera to try and capture images of the pups. A howling survey a day earlier confirmed the presence of an undetermined number of pups, and cameras have only picked up photos of single pups.

“We had guessed there were three from the howling response,” said state wildlife biologist Scott Fitkin. The Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Forest Service and the citizens’ organization Conservation Northwest have been collaboratively monitoring the Lookout Pack since spring of 2008.

A third adult wolf is confirmed to be traveling with the pack. A wolf howl was heard with the higher pitched howls of pups during a time when the radio-collared adults were out of the rendezvous area, presumably hunting, according to Fitkin. Pups are typically left at a rendezvous site with a babysitter, which could be a wolf from a previous year’s litter of pups or any other member of the pack.

The alpha male and female were trapped and radio-collared with the help of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in July 2008. Radio-telemetry from ground and air, remote sensor cameras, ground tracking and scat analysis have been used to follow and collect information about the wolf pack, including their six pups from last year.

By winter’s end, only three wolves remained in the pack, confirmed by visual sightings, radio surveys, photos and ground tracking. Wolf pups typically suffer 40 to 50 percent mortality from natural causes, according to wolf specialist Bill Gaines with the Forest Service. He said he was disappointed by the apparent survival of only one of the pack’s six pups.

This year, Gaines led a team of researchers collecting data from the denning site after the wolves moved on to a nearby rendezvous site in the Lookout Mountain area southwest of Twisp.

“It was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but we got lucky and walked right into it,” said Gaines. He said the well-concealed den had three different ways in and out of an underground chamber. The crew collected puppy scat for DNA analysis to determine a minimum number of pups and what they had been eating.

The year-round territory of the pack covers 350 square miles, said Gaines. It might be different this year due to the lack of snow in the Sawtooths.

“These wolves could easily travel 30 to 40 miles in a day,” said Gaines. He said as people get out and hike he expects to get more reports of hearing and seeing the pack.

“They are still around the low elevations of their range,” said Fitkin. He said there are indications that the pack is starting to move to the higher elevation of their summer range, following the migrating mule deer herds. 

To report wolf sightings call the toll free Wolf Reporting Hotline for Washington (888) 584-9038.

Photo courtesy of WSDFW, USFS and Conservation Northwest
This wolf pup was photographed by a remote camera near the Lookout Pack’s rendezvous site southwest of Lookout Mountain on Aug. 9.


 
 
Date: 08-12-2009  |  Volume: 107  |  Issue: 13
 

[DOUBLELUNG]

Sorry mulehunter - Scott Fitkin is not a bad guy.  He is, however, a WA state employee

[wolfbait]

Sorry mulehunter - Scott Fitkin is not a bad guy.  He is, however, a WA state employee

Scott Fitkin may not be a bad guy,  How long do you think it will take before any honesty on their part starts happening, about as long as it has taken in other states where these wolves were released. In the near future anyone who finds their livestock that has been killed by wolves it would be advisable to skip Scott Fitkin and call the sheriff and Channel 4 news, and then the livestock killings in the Methow Valley may start to see some honesty involved.