It's all fun and games until someone picks on Cottonwood!!!.......

[haus]

....then its just all our fault  ****'in hunters.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-12-14-Wolves_N.htm

Obviously if wolves are killin' wolves then hunters are to blame. Sure it can't have anything to do with them EATING EVERYTHING!!!!! gawd.

I'm sure the anti-wolf propaganda minister already posted this one, but....

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/16057292/Idaho-Wolf-Management-Progress-Report-September-2009

Someone in the Sawtooth unit...." i swears thum lokked like yote's frmmm hunred yarrrds"

[bonkellekter]

"The winter elk numbers in the park have dropped from 17,000 to 6,800 since the wolves were reintroduced. Hunting and weather factors have also taken a toll, Smith says"

This is the part that worries me. Hunting and winter kill my ass. DFW knows that these #'s are 100% due to the wolves. And we are seeing it start here in WA now.

[wolfbait]

It's not DFW anymore, It's BHC,, Bunny humper central! 

[robodad]

"The winter elk numbers in the park have dropped from 17,000 to 6,800 since the wolves were reintroduced. Hunting and weather factors have also taken a toll, Smith says"

This is the part that worries me. Hunting and winter kill my ass. DFW knows that these #'s are 100% due to the wolves. And we are seeing it start here in WA now.

Apparently 10,200 of the elk were sick and weak, after all that is the only thing wolves eat right ??

"I've seen three cases this fall where a pack of wolves have gone after elk and the elk puts up a tremendous fight," Smith says. "I've never seen anything like that before. The wolves are risking their lives to hunt and eat."

 

Where do these people come from ?? 

[haus]

When the Montana biologist says "The remaining elk are stronger, he says, making hunting harder for wolves." - There is some truth to that isn't there? I mean ya gotta figure the elk haven't had to deal with these things for decades so the instincts are probably unwound a bit, I'm sure they had tactics to deal with them after centuries of being chased that'll work their way back in. Problem is they now have to fight them on terrain that they normally didn't inhabit in the winter.

Don't the buffalo get in a tight circle and stand there like, bring it bitches! 
?

[wolfbait]

Good Point Haus, the problem I see is the wolf numbers keep growing and the game herds keep shrinking. As this continues it won't matter how strong the herds get when they are out number to where they are run constantly. In Washington dfw are underestimating the number of wolves we have, In Idaho the wolf count is double   DFW estimate.

[haus]

I read a couple quotes from some article the other day where a bio pointed out that elk numbers are stable or increasing in other area's of MT where wolves are located, while in others the elk numbers have dropped significantly. He said they were unsure as to why.

Out of curiosity I had to asked my buddy that hunts over there about it, he said the elk numbers have went up on private land and down on public land for the most part.....I'm sure you can come to the reasoning on your own 

 

[chrisb]

"The wolves have fueled a $35 million-a-year industry as cars full of tourists spend hours from dawn to dusk looking for wolves and trading tales."


This explains why they like them so much... nobody wants to look at herds of elk i suppose.

[haus]

"The wolves have fueled a $35 million-a-year industry as cars full of tourists spend hours from dawn to dusk looking for wolves and trading tales."


This explains why they like them so much... nobody wants to look at herds of elk i suppose.

Kinda wondering how they came up with the figure in the first place.

[wolfbait]

"The wolves have fueled a $35 million-a-year industry as cars full of tourists spend hours from dawn to dusk looking for wolves and trading tales."


This explains why they like them so much... nobody wants to look at herds of elk i suppose.

Kinda wondering how they came up with the figure in the first place.

The same way fulla----fitkin gets his deer count numbers in the Methow Valley!

[bonkellekter]

The scary part is that of ID, MT and WA - WA is way more liberal and less likely to develop (if any) an effective management plan. Right now there are only 3 packs in WA, Right?? My ass there are only 3. There are at least 3 just in Pend Orielle County. And who knows how many throughout the cascades and other counties. I was afraid that ID's #'s were likely double the 850 that DFW counted.

Even at that - Assuming elk is the only game animal that wolves prey on. 850 wolves would require appoximately 6800 elk per year. Now double that # and take into account the # of unborn calves.