Wolves in WA

[tabynn]

when we have a problem with wolves attack children and elderly people, by all means open the season. but until then i say we just learn to respect the wildlife that is making a come back...

Jake,
I understand what you are saying, but I am not too sure I want to sacrifice my children for the Wolf cause!! 

[Cougeyes]

Some of you have probably heard of this or saw it on the news.  Wolves kill deer near school bus stop in Idaho.  Check out the long response by the one person bashing on anti-wolf people. Quite interesting and amusing.

http://wolfcrossing.org/2008/02/01/idaho-wolves-kill-deer-within-yards-of-school-bus-stop/

[bowhuntin]

I think wolves like any other predator need to be kept in check too. They are part of the ecosystem and help maintain a balance, but I don't want to see them decimate our ungulate populations because they are not controlled. The FWS set goals for the populations of wolves in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming and have been well over it for some years now. I think if Idaho was able to have a hunting season for them we probably wouldn't here to many stories of wolves starting to cross over into our state. The other thing is that I don't think wolves would work out in our state just because of all the development and people that we have in our state. The other states that have wolves don't have the human population that washington has.

[bowhuntin]

Here is a link about wolves in the northwest that is on the wa bowhunters website... Thought it was interesting.

http://www.wabowhunters.org/Page.aspx?nid=97

[whitey]

Ironhead  Fire in the Hole, Backblast area clear. Now let those bunny lovers have it. Shot Em some fact...... Stand By fellas

[Skyvalhunter]

Whitey, instead of gophers maybe you should try bunnies or wolves.

[whitey]

Bunny Lovers, We need more gun than my 17hmr, Dont want them getting away. I will practice up on my gut shooting skills.

[Skyvalhunter]

Just use that nice over and under 12 gauge you got and split them in two.

[whitey]

Being this for the good of the enviroment better us 3 inch mag BB and of course steel shot.Dont want anybody thinking we arent down with the bunny hugging thing..Lord only knows we always have to be thinking,and make sure we apply the help me,hug me, hold me rule.

[WAcoyotehunter]

  I personally do not want to see them here, and i do not think they will become a huge issue because we have people that will keep their population in check.

Who's that?  The poachers?  I think we've been here before...a whole lot of righteous hunters advocating poaching, because they don't "like" the animal. 

[jake]

here you go hound hunter, im not here to argue with anyone frankly i dont care what happens with the wolves, because there will never be a population of them that you will ever see them on a regular basis in this state, and no im not a member of PETA. its easy to hop on here and write little one liners but hey what ever melts your butter man.

http://www.i90wildlifebridges.org/I90Roadkill.pdf

"When deer road kill statistics are looked at on a national basis, the data is staggering. In 1991 it was estimated that 726,000 deer were killed on the nation’s highways.5 In 1995, the number of deer-vehicle collisions was estimated to be over 1 million and that 92% of the time, being hit by a car is fatal to the deer.6 But because there are no national summaries available, we cannot determine what this number has risen to in the nine years since."

[Houndhunter]

ok heres a fact, in washinton alone there were 35,765 deer killed by hunters, in 1995. now think about this, our state only allows you to kill one deer per year!! think bout montana where you can kill 3-4 or them southern states where you can kill 6! im not goin to go around to every state to find out how much there harvest was but you get my point. just take and ave 30,000(deer)x50(states) and you get 1,500,000 and thats way less then the real deer harvest in the US and is 500,000 more deer then rd kills in 1995. and this is just deer, you can bring in elk, moose, lions, coons, beaver, bobcat, whatever it is guna be the same story.

here is the site for all of you who have no faith in this 17 year old kid http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/status/07trend.pdf
and another http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/status/

yo cougeyes i dont remember what the discussion was, but i got lots of facts to back me up if you want to here them. just gotta remind me of what i were tryin to prove. you can pm me if you want to talk there instead of on a thread. or hell i'll just drop it i guess, guys can have there own seperate opinions

[Houndhunter]

and for those of you who think trapping and hounding didnt help out deer populations go look at this site. look it at how much that annual harvest has dropped since the 70s to the 90s. and think about how many more people were hunting deer in the 90s then 70s, yet the harvest #s go down?? hmm.......

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/status/98trend.pdf go to the deer section or page 3, i bet alot of you guys will be suprized when you look at the numbers and graphs

[tlbradford]

My biggest problem with the wolf reintroduction is that it is not a "reintroduction".  It is a non native species to the lower 48 states.  The wolf that populated the lower 48 was smaller, weaker, and more succeptible to the elements and disease.  Nature could help control their numbers.  You may as well bring in Polar Bears.

[WAcoyotehunter]

Keep in mind the seasons are more restictive now...there's not a general rut hunt for mule deer and it's three point on the east side. 
Check the link you posted, It says the deer tag sales fell from 239k in 1974 to 141k in 1997...that might have an effect on havest #'s. 
Now take into consideration habitat loss and degradation, from weeds, ORV traffic, recreation...Less habitat means less deer.
I agree that more predators are likely to reduce deer/elk numbers, but there are other forces at work here.