Selkirk Elk Herd Ramblings

[Seabass]

I think the blue tongue did a number on the whitetail here in Stevens co. As far as the increased seasons on bears, I knew that was coming when we lost our hound seasons. Uninformed liberal hippies voting a management tool out of the woods. Now they cry when a lion kills their pets or hangs around their house. But personally as far as elk are concerned, the increase in the bear and lion population along with the addition of wolves defiantly has an impact on the herds .

Increased number of bears or increased seasons? We lost hounds and baiting in 1999... it’s taken 20 years to get any movement on increased bear seasons.

[Bango skank]

I think the blue tongue did a number on the whitetail here in Stevens co. As far as the increased seasons on bears, I knew that was coming when we lost our hound seasons. Uninformed liberal hippies voting a management tool out of the woods. Now they cry when a lion kills their pets or hangs around their house. But personally as far as elk are concerned, the increase in the bear and lion population along with the addition of wolves defiantly has an impact on the herds .

Increased number of bears or increased seasons? We lost hounds and baiting in 1999... it’s taken 20 years to get any movement on increased bear seasons.

96 i believe.  23 years.

[idaho guy]

It's also not X number of wolves eat X number of elk.  They have changed the way cow elk graze, thus resulting in more cows not making it to full term, which means less and less calves in the spring.

 

  Think about wild dogs chasing your cattle herd 24/7 even if they never kill one they certainly won’t put on any weight and many cows would abort their calves. Wolves do a lot more to elk health besides just killing them. I see elk in places I never have before and they are ridiculous places for elk to live but I think they get pushed there from constant wolf pressure. I read the study on lions killing more elk than wolves that makes no sense to me because where I hunt in Idaho we had way more lions and bears in the 90’s and tons of elk. Once the wolves showed in significant numbers the elk went way down.It’s not my fight in the Selkirks but I will have lots of traps laid for wolves on the Idaho side this year 👍

[callturner]

I think the blue tongue did a number on the whitetail here in Stevens co. As far as the increased seasons on bears, I knew that was coming when we lost our hound seasons. Uninformed liberal hippies voting a management tool out of the woods. Now they cry when a lion kills their pets or hangs around their house. But personally as far as elk are concerned, the increase in the bear and lion population along with the addition of wolves defiantly has an impact on the herds .

Increased number of bears or increased seasons? We lost hounds and baiting in 1999... it’s taken 20 years to get any movement on increased bear seasons.

The bear and lions did not magically increase and start problems. The game commissioners who know everything followed the rule of law voted in by the uninformed public. No one who works for the WDFW stood up and said look guys were losing a valuable control tool. Many hounds men , myself included, were approached to do control work when there was a bad kitty or nuisance bear. Some did, I chose to tell them to pound sand. Every year it gets worse, not all at once. If my friends could not hunt them why should I? Every time a hippie gets bit or a pet gets eaten, I smile. Oh well!