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Offline wolfbait

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Wolves scarce during special hunt
« on: June 18, 2010, 10:08:42 AM »
Wolves scarce during special hunt

·         June 15th, 2010

·         (4) comments

By Eric Barker of the Tribune

Outfitters have reported two kills in season that ends June 30

 



The wolf control partnership between the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and four Lolo Zone outfitters has been slow to produce results.

Outfitters reported killing just two wolves as of Monday in a special season that began last month.

"It's difficult catching up with these wolves in rugged country, steep country and heavily timbered country," said Dave Cadwallader, supervisor of the department's Clearwater Region at Lewiston. "That has been the challenge from day one. Even hunters during the long season didn't hit the quota."

Last month, the department authorized four outfitters to kill as many as five wolves each, for a total of 20, during the spring black bear hunting season. Outfitters and their licensed guides are permitted to hunt wolves during the short season that ends June 30.

Cadwallader said the Kamiah-based Flying B Ranch killed two wolves in the Weitas Creek drainage. The others, Boulder Creek Outfitters based out of Peck, B Bar C Outfitters based out of St. Maries, and Cayuse Outfitters based out of Kamiah, have not reported any wolf kills. The outfitters have 72 hours to report kills.

The department authorized the special hunt it characterizes as a wolf-control activity, to help reduce predation on the Lolo elk herd.

The number of elk in the zone has been in a long-term decline. In the 1980s, game surveys showed a Lolo elk population of more than 16,000. Last winter's survey predicted the herd now numbers about 2,100.

Fish and Game officials say wolf predation is now the primary cause of elk mortality in the zone made up of hunting units 10 and 12 in the upper Clearwater Basin.

Idaho conducted a seven-month long wolf hunting season in much of the state last fall. The department set a statewide harvest goal of 220 wolves. Hunters killed 188. But the state was divided into 12 wolf hunting zones and each zone had an individual harvest goal. Hunters met the quota in many areas, such as the Dworshak/Elk City, Hells Canyon/Palouse and the Middle Fork zones. But hunters killed only 13 wolves out of a harvest quota of 27 in the Lolo.

The Lolo zone is remote, with limited access and is characterized by steep, brushy slopes that give wolves and other wildlife ample cover and escape routes. Cadwallader is hoping hunters will have another chance to harvest wolves this fall.

Federal Judge Donald Molloy is conducting a hearing on the status of gray wolves in his Missoula, Mont., courtroom today. A coalition of environmental and animal rights groups is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and hopes to have wolves in Idaho and Montana placed back under federal protection that does not provide for hunting.

"Hopefully we will be allowed to continue that and have a hunting season this fall and progress to long-term management of another big game species in Idaho and keep our hunters involved and engaged and as time goes on people will see they are not easily taken as everybody thought," he said. "It takes a lot of time and effort. Outfitters are as good as anybody and they are having difficulties."

---

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273.

 

 

 

Discussion

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June 15, 2010
5:49 am

whitepinefan says...

score:

6



16000 elk in the Lolo area in the 80's ...down to 2100 now.....Its sure good to see with these number...... now the out-of -state hunters wont be buying tags in Idaho.. The wolf problem is bigger than anyone can ever know. We hunters need to do the 3 S's ( shoot shovel and shutup) every wolf we see . If we do that the elk herds might increase and the elk tag buyers might come back...

Reply to whitepinefan comment

June 15, 2010
5:52 am

vmayer says...

score:

-8



(show comment)

It is a well known fact that the more tags issued by the Government, the more money politicians get. Elk herds dwindle after thousands of tags are filled each year so it must be those 20 extra wolves doing it. Lets issue more tags for the wolves and the Govt can make even more $ and the hunters still have something to kill and feel they are conservationists. People are easy to fool and not to bright.

Reply to vmayer comment

June 15, 2010
9:08 am

riflebird66 says...

score:

3



When Lewis and Clark treked through the Bitterroots they nearly starved to death because of not being able to find and kill any critters to eat. The forest at that time was very thick and dence, not much vegitation for deer or elk to eat. The explorers never wrote about wolves or coyotes while traveling throgh the Bitteroots. With the lack of herd critters , wolf populations in the area was most likey very small. Another thing, those wolves lived mostly on the Montana side of the mountains where there was more open space for grasses and shrubs to grow, providing more food source for the deer and elk herds. Something else to remember is that the wolves that lived in the area was not Canadian wolves...they was the smaller plains wolf...they wasnt as agressive hunters as todays alien wolves....

Reply to riflebird66 comment

Replies to riflebird66's comment:

libby   June 15, 2010 12:21 PM

score:

-1

 

Don't forget the tape worms...these new wolves have to eat twice as
much just to live because the Fish and Game and the Tribes brought in
wolves infected with tape worms.

 

 

 

 



 

Steve Alder
Idaho For Wildlife

Web:   http://www.idahoforwildlife.com/
Email: steve@idahoforwildlife.com

 

 

 

 

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Re: Wolves scarce during special hunt
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2010, 10:26:32 AM »
From the beginning I knew the kill would be small, I think this proves a point about wolves. There were how many thousands of wolf hunters in the woods from September to March hunting a generation of stupid wolves that had never been hunted and they only killed I think 188 wolves.  :chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle:

Now we have a population of wolves that is learning that hunters can shoot at them. Trapping and year around hunting will be needed just to hopefully keep up with wolf pup production.   :chuckle:  :bash:
Americans are systematically advocating, legislating, and voting away each others rights. Support all user groups & quit losing opportunity!

http://bearpawoutfitters.com Guided Hunts, Unguided, & Drop Camps in Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wash. Hunts with tags available (no draw needed) for spring bear, fall bear, bison, cougar, elk, mule deer, turkey, whitetail, & wolf! http://trophymaps.com DIY Hunting Maps are also offered

Offline wolfbait

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Re: Wolves scarce during special hunt
« Reply #2 on: June 18, 2010, 11:33:48 AM »
Alaska and Canada hunt wolves year around, plus trapping in the winter months, they still have trouble controling their wolf populations. Aireal shooting of wolves will need to be impimented in the lower 48 among other methods that we are not allowed to discuss on W-H. The wolves in the lower 48 will have a greater impact on country life and the smaller towns as we are starting to see already. I beleive in the near future do to the amount of wolves that we have and the lack of wolf management, folks will begin to manage the wolf population on their own very Aggressively. :twocents:

Offline wolfbait

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Re: Wolves scarce during special hunt
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2010, 10:01:39 PM »
Human Harvest Does Not Halt Wolf Increases

On page 8 of the Jan-March 2008 article, I reported

the Alaska study in Denali National Park where biologists

found they had been underestimating total wolf numbers by

50% by documenting primarily packs of wolves instead of

also documenting dispersing and transient wolves. Yet

Idaho biologists continue to ignore the Alaska research and

pretend that pups, yearlings and older wolves that emigrate

from packs suddenly disappear from the face of the earth

just because they are not wearing a radio-tracking collar.

A six-year study of the impact of hunting and

trapping on wolf populations in Alaska’s Central Brooks

Range by Layne Adams and four other scientists concluded

that liberal harvest by hunters and trappers of 29% or less

of a wolf population has no impact (yes I said NO impact)

on wolf population increases. If you doubt that, I suggest

you read more about this study, published in the May 2008

issue of Wildlife Monographs, later in this article.

Simple Math: 1,600 Minus 428 = 1,172

The 29% mortality from hunters and trappers did

not include mortality from all other causes yet on May 22,

2008 the Idaho F&G Commission set a new combined

death loss goal of 428 wolves “from natural causes,

accidents, wolf predation control actions and hunter kills,”

and said that will result in its new goal of about 518

wolves on Dec. 31, 2008. Sources including Dr. David

Mech, indicate there are ~1,600 wolves in Idaho now,

counting this year’s pups, so 428 wolves dying from all

causes would result in ~1,172 wolves remaining in Idaho –

twice the number claimed by the Commission.

continued on page 2

Page 2 THE OUTDOORSMAN May 2008

3,000 Wolves in ID, MT, WY - continued from page 1

About 1,172 actual wolves – not paper wolves –

would represent the minimum number of wolves in Idaho

this coming winter and this should trigger loud alarms in

the minds of those who are responsible for perpetuating

Idaho’s wildlife resource. That is nearly 12 times the

number of wolves the public was told would exist in a

recovered wolf population and eight times the minimum

number agreed to by all parties in the only Idaho Wolf Plan

approved by both the Idaho Legislature and the FWS!

Will Wolf Activists Believe Their Idol?

If the wolf preservationists and the doubting

Thomases refuse to believe these facts because they didn’t

appear in the major media, what source will they consider

reliable? The obvious answer is Dr. L. David Mech, the

undisputed wolf authority in North America and perhaps in

the entire world.

Although Mech eventually refuted the “Balance-of

Nature” theory he and his mentor, Durward Allen, foisted

off on the world during 1958-1962, he has generally

remained silent while similarly inexperienced fledgling

wolf biologists supply misinformation about wolf

populations to the media. But the April 28, 2008 legal

challenge to state wolf control by Defenders of Wildlife

and eleven other preservationist groups in a Federal Court

in Montana forced Mech to make public some of the facts

he and other FWS wolf activists have known all along.

As part of the FWS May 9, 2008 Response to

Plaintiffs’ Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (to halt wolf

management by the three states) Mech wrote the following

in his 22-page “Declaration under penalty of perjury:”

“Every year, most wolf populations almost double

in the spring through the birth of pups [Mech 1970]. For

example in May 2008, there will not be 1,500 wolves, but

3,000! (Wolf population estimates are usually made in

winter when animals are at their nadir*. This approach

serves to provide conservative estimates and further insure

that management remains conservative).”

(*lowest point)

“70% Kill Needed to Reduce Wolf Population”

Mech continued, “As indicated above, 28-50% of a

wolf population must be killed by humans per year (on top

of natural mortality) to even hold a wolf population

stationery. Indeed, the agencies outside the NRM which

are seeking to reduce wolf populations try to kill 70% per

year (Fuller et al. 2003).” (emphasis added)

“Such extreme taking of the kind necessary to

effectively reduce wolf populations is done via concerted

and expensive government agency (Alaska, Yukon

Territories for example) programs using helicopters and

fixed wing aircraft. Normal regulated public harvest such

as is contemplated in the NRM is usually unable to reduce

wolf populations (Mech 2001).” (emphasis added)

In his Declaration, Mech also refuted the 1,500

NRM (three-state) minimum wolf estimate as follows:

“Starting with a base population of 1,545 wolves in

late 2007 (Final Rule) and adding the average 24% annual

increase shown from 1995 through 2006 yields 1,916

wolves expected to be present in fall 2008. (Here I should

note that the estimate of 1,545 wolves is a minimum

estimate, i.e. there were supposedly a minimum of 1,545

wolves. As wolf populations increase, it becomes

increasingly harder to count them accurately and the

minimal counts become increasingly lower than actual.

Thus a better estimate of the actual population could be

about 1,700, and thus the 2008 estimate would be 2,108.)

Assuming the minimum figure and that ID actually takes

328 wolves which is its limit” (was its limit until May 22,).

In other words, Mech is saying that if the three

states had a total of 1,700 wolves after hunting season last

fall, they will have approximately 2,108 wolves after

hunting season this fall regardless of the take by hunters

(1,700 wolves multiplied by 1.24 [a 24% increase after all

death losses] equals 2,108 wolves this fall). Multiplying

the 2,108 wolves by another 1.24 would leave 2,614

remaining wolves at the end of 2009.

Viewed from just the Idaho perspective, the

“minimum” wolf estimate reported in Idaho late in 2007

was 732 (47.4% of the 1,545 wolves in the three states). If

we correct that 1,545 to 1,700 as Mech suggests, double it

to 3,400 to equal the present population with pups as Mech

suggests, and then multiply the 3,400 by 47.4% we

calculate that Idaho presently has about 1,612 wolves.

Then if we subtract the 438 wolves that will die

from all causes according to IDFG biologists, that would

leave a total of 1,174 wolves in Idaho in December 2008.

If you prefer using Mech’s other formula, multiply the

1,700 by 47.4% and multiply the 806 wolves by 1.24

which projects a Dec, 31, 2008 population of 999 wolves.

In either scenario many of the single wolves and

groups of 2-3 are still not included in Mech’s calculation.

In my rural county and throughout much of Idaho,

outdoorsmen report encountering far more evidence of

single wolves and small groups than they do of packs so

the total number of actual wolves remains a mystery.

Hunter Take Replaces Most Natural Mortality

The Declarations filed with the court by other wolf

biologists agreed with Mech’s and the Alaska scientists’

claim that regulated sport hunting and trapping will not

impact wolf populations. On page 7 of NRM Wolf Project

Leader Ed Bangs’ Declaration, he wrote that human-caused

mortality accounted for an annual average of 23% of the

wolf population (agency kill–10%, illegal kill–10% and

vehicle and other–3%) yet the wolves still multiplied at a

rate of 24% per year despite additional mortality from

natural causes.

Bangs added, “Studies indicate that human-caused

mortality can compensate for as much as 70% of the

natural mortality that might have occurred anyway (Fuller

et al. 2003). Hunting would disproportionally remove the

May 2008 THE OUTDOORSMAN Page 3

boldest wolves in the most accessible open habitats, the

very type of wolf in the typical location where most

livestock depredations, agency control actions and illegal

killing occurred when the NRM gray wolf was listed.

“Wolf populations can maintain themselves despite

annual human-caused mortality rates of 30% to 50%

(Brainerd et al. 2008; Fuller et al. 2003). Wolf populations

below habitat carry-capacity can quickly expand,

sometimes nearly doubling within one or two years,

following sharp declines caused by temporarily high rates

of human-caused mortality or other causes.”

Where wolves with adequate habitat are protected

from intensive human harvest they ultimately saturate an

area, forcing young or transient wolves seeking to form

new packs to either leave the area or be killed. In Denali

National Park, hunters, trappers and all other human causes

account for only 3% of annual wolf deaths (see Bulletin

No. 26).

By comparison 60% of the remaining wolf deaths

are caused by other wolves and the average wolf pack lasts

three or fewer years. When prey becomes scarce as it

eventually does, starvation, disease and cannibalism further

reduce wolf numbers emphasizing the “feast-or-famine”

nature of so-called “natural management.”

FWS Knew Sport Harvest Can’t Stop Wolf Increases

The six-year wolf harvest study in Alaska’s Brooks

Range that was published in Wildlife Monographs this

month (see page 1) was actually conducted during 1986-

1992. Wolf biologists Mech and Bangs knew then, before

any wolves were transplanted into the NRM, that hunting

and trapping, even with liberal seasons and bag limits, does

not stop continued annual increases in the wolf population.

From this and similar research in several countries,

they also realized that sport hunting and trapping creates

healthier wolf populations by removing surplus wolves that

would otherwise be killed by other wolves or die from

starvation or disease. So FWS dangled the carrot of

allowing states to “control” wolf populations by making

wolves a big game animal to get two of the three states to

accept a series of changes to the original delisting criteria.

While the Governors of Idaho and Montana went

along with the mythical claim that wolf numbers could be

significantly reduced once states were allowed to manage

their wolves as “Big Game,” Wyoming’s Governor and

Legislators insisted that wolves be classified as predators

outside of federal wilderness areas and parks. In Idaho, the

Governor’s Office of Species Conservation and the F&G

Commission refused to use the alternate “Special Predator”

classification approved by FWS in the Idaho Wolf Plan.



http://rliv.com/pic/TheOutdoorsmanMay.pdf

 


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