Ethologist call it habituation I think...and it's our fault, not the wild animals. I have "looked into the eyes" of wild wolves more times than I can count...awe inspiring-yes; spine chilling-not in the least.

Yes...documented cases. Science is funny like that...things need to be able to be proven. I did take a look at some articles from google (non of which would be accepted in the world of wildlife management thankfully) and the ones that "appeared" to be somewhat credible put the number of attacks anywhere from the low 20's to about 80 in the higher ones (most of these "attacks" being wolves shot while looking at the "victim") in north america since the 1800's. Lets crunch the numbers shall we.

For your sake-I'll use conservative estimates. pop. of wolves in alaska and canada=about 60,000. pop in lower 48=about 7000. current total=67000. life span is about 10 years on average. So lets assume that population level for the last 150 years (it was obviously much higher during this time). That means 1,005,000 wolves in North America in the last 150 years. Even your most radical articles put the number of attacks at 80 in that time frame.

Not a very accurate model, but it should give you an idea. 1 wolf attack for every 12,500 wolves...1 attack every 2 years throughout NORTH AMERICA. Deer cause more DEATHS a year than there are wolf attacks in a 100 years. More people have been trampled by bison than attacked by wolves. More people have died from west nile virus than wolf attacks. And keep in mind that those wolf attack numbers are coming from people that may have less knowledge on the situation than even you do.

I don't really expect any of this to change your opinion...I guess the only positive I can take from this is that future legeslation will be based on research by my peers and I...not articles you find on google.

I really don't want to get into a pissing match with you...and it seems like it's headed that way. I'm going to go back to thinking about bowhunting and not about changing your mind on these awesome creatures. Best of luck in the 09 season-that is why we're all here anyway.