Wolves in WA

[tlbradford]

Mange was introduced to wof packs to help control them in the past.  They would dart an animal.  Infect it with mange, and then release it to go back to the pack and infect others.  Bunny huggers would not allow it these days.

[WAcoyotehunter]

Mange was introduced to wof packs to help control them in the past.  They would dart an animal.  Infect it with mange, and then release it to go back to the pack and infect others.  Bunny huggers would not allow it these days.

That seems like a pretty crappy stance for a sportsman to take.  No one should allow it these days.  Do you think mange only affects wolves?

[WAcoyotehunter]

Poisoning used to be a popular way to get rid of predators.   People would lace a carcass with poison and let the critters eat on it and then die.  The problem is you have NO way to know what's eating the poison.  I suspect lots of birds and other non target animals died that way.

It also worked well in reducing the populations of lion, bobcat, coyote, eagles, hawks....
There are too many non target populations that would be affected by poison to make it a reasonable control method.  If i had to choose between poisoning the wolves (and all the other incidental species) and letting the wolves eat the herds, I would choose the latter.  It might be unpopular, but I'm unwilling to support eradication of all the predators.


It worked well in eradicating the wolves the first time.......

[Houndhunter]

mange will effect mainly the canine family, so just yotes, fox and wolves. i'll have to check my trappin book, but i believe bobs and coons can get it too

[WAcoyotehunter]

Canines are bad with mange...so are squirrels, people, cats(on the face)...it's an ugly way to die. m I've killed several coyotes that were going to die from it and they looked pitiful! 

[Ironhead]

 If they are here to stay (Wolves).I would sure like a tag, they make a beautiful rug.

[Houndhunter]

ahh forgot bout squirrels. from what the book says, bobs have a better immunity to it, i guess its the distemper that gets them. the only other thing i can think of that mange might effect is maybe the mustelid family, but i'm guessin not

[WDFW-SUX]

If we get a tag I'm making my wife a full length coat.

[tlbradford]

I'm not saying that mange is the way to control wolves, I merely stated it was used in the past.  Mange is spread by being in direct contact with an infected animal or a surface that the infected animal was touching.  Cross contamination between wild species or domestic animals is rare, especially for a roaming pack animal like the wolf.  I would much rather shoot them.

[Ray]

I don't care for a wolf re-introduction. I'm not going to take any illegally but if they have tags some day I'd bust a cap in those things in a heartbeat.

I sympathize completely with those people that want to kill them on sight illegally... But I will not be a part of that...

Kill a wolf... Save an elk.

[huntnphool]

Not sure where it came from but looks like someone tagged one, way to go whoever you are

[NWWABOWHNTR]

Amazing a one legged guy can pick up that big (LOL) wolf.  That and the hunter must be about 4 foot tall....

[jackelope]

1 thing i saw said that wolf was killed in idaho because it was killing livestock in sun valley, another says it was killed over a bear bait in canada.

[saylean]

I heard a hunter shot it when it was hiding in Grandma's bed, after being told what big teeth it had.

[CastleRocker]

I don't know how many of you have been hunting Idaho the last several years, but I received a questionnaire from their Dept. of Game asking why I was no longer putting in for tags.  I wrote accross the front, "too little game due to too many wolves!!!" and sent it back. 

We hunt in a roadless portion of the Kanisku Nat. Forest.  No roads = no road kill, no development, not many other hunters.  So there goes those theories.  Last year we were told the animals were just very wary due to the number of wolves in there.  Ok, I'll agree with that.  I'd be extra wary if I was a prey animal too.  However, just because they are more wary, does that mean they no longer walk?  What to they do....fly?  We saw so little sign, (very few tracks, no beds, no crap, no scrapes, no rubs), we may as well have been hunting on the south side of the moon!  But we did see and hear wolves, and they were making a LOT of tracks, and leaving sign everywhere. Kind of makes me go "Hmmmm".

We went to the interior of Alaska last year on a DIY moose hunt.  My son wanted to call in a wolf, so I asked about buying a non-resident wolf tag.  The lady at to counter told me they were currently on the top of the wolf cycle in the area we were going, and the bag limit was 5 per day, no tag required.  5 PER DAY, PER PERSON!  We called in one wolf and didn't get a shot.  That is in an area with a known "wolf issue" (as she put it).  We saw five in Idaho, without trying to, and way more sign than in AK, in an area that (according to the folks who have the "facts" and think they know what they are talking about), DOESN'T have a wolf issue.   Once again....Hmmmm.

I'm so glad we won't ever have a "wolf issue" or season in Washington.
Makes me feel so warm inside.  Or maybe that's my blood pressure spiking.  But we can't argue with the facts.  Once more, a thoughtful "Hmmmm".