ORIGINAL: Ihuntandfish: You're exactly right muley699. I don't know about in Montana, but here is Wisconsin, it is amazing how much of hunters' license money is wasted through the wolf program. Not only is the DNR spending money on tracking the entire population, which they are doing a horrible job at, as long as the wolf is on the endangered list, farmers and anybody else who has an animal attacked by a wolf, are able to be reinbursed for their loss.
The WDNR only has one guy tracking wolves and it does not occupy 100% of his duties, and he sometimes gets assistance with traps from other personell. Given the magnitudeof the wolf situation,the state should be monitoring wolves, the bitching and whining would be worse if the stated did not monitor them.
ORIGINAL: Ihuntandfish:Before anybody thinks that I am against this, I am not. Farmers were the ones who originally wanted to get rid of the wolves in Wisconsin, and I think it is fair that they get paid for their losses. However, because there are so many wolf attacks on livestock, an incredible amount of money is being paid out in the form of livestock reinbursement. Although the DNR does get some of this money from the government, a lot of it also comes from hunters buying licenses.
License fees go into the states general fund, controled by the Joint Finance Committee. The DNR budget is set by the Joint Finnance Committee.
ORIGINAL: Ihuntandfish:The DNR now is having problems getting enough money to run their operation effectively, and they're doing stuff like limiting the amount of miles a warden may drive.
Yup, costs are up, responsibility is up, budgets are down.
ORIGINAL: Ihuntandfish:This is ridiculus, and obviously its time to cut down the wolf population, not only because the population is growing unchecked, but because they are costing a ton of money to the DNR.
Yes, but the feds are in total control, and the WDNR has not been given legal authority to do anything about it ... yet.