Redclub, I really can not argue with you over wolf numbers, I saw my first Wisconsin wolf back in 1990 and that was in S.W.Wisconsin near Lone Rock, in Richland county. They found a Wisconsin radio collared wolf in Indiana. With out deer up north, the wolves and bears have little choice but to spread out, meaning east and south as they can not swim the great lakes.
As far as the wolf biologist, he'd better start killing wolves one way or another soon. Mr Warnke said months ago that the DNR would never give up EAB also, hunters went over his head April 15th and all of a sudden the DNR is paying attention to what hunters are saying. The legislature threaten the DNR with taking over wildlife management if they couldn't make hunters happy because the DNR works for us. The more hunters that speak up, the more the DNR has to listen. The wolf biologist was correct in protecting the wolves for many years but if he's any kind of biologist, he should be able to see that we are at the point where it's going to take more than a few sharp shooters to correct the problem. The facts are the wolf management plan is pretty clear that the goal number is 350 with a max of 500. BTW it is now legal to protect yourself against wolves but you'd better be able to prove it was being a problem.
Last count I saw of wolf pack was about 150. According to DNR biologists, each WI. wolf pack averages 5-6 puppies per year. That's 750-900 puppies. Add that to the existing 660 you get 1410-1560 total wolves by this fall, 3 times past the habitat carrying capacity, I don't see how Mr biologist is going to keep up with out the help of hunters with and a wolf season. It would be costly when a controlled wolf hunt would be profitable. We don't need a degree to figure that out.
I'm not anti or pro DNR, I see what's going on out in the woods, I hear what others are saying, I hear you, and can only come up with the conclusion that if we don't speak up for what is right, we can only blame ourselves when things don't change for the better. What we have to do is get control of the wolf population as in the wolf management plan, reduce the bear population, and let the deer recover by limiting hunting and at the same time, make a serious effort to reintroduce more elk into the picture.
I heard something on the radio today, not sure who said it, but I thought it was funny and can kind of be applied here, it was," They say that there's a hundred million rats in the sewer system of New York. Why didn't they kill them while they were counting them?"
If it were only that easy. lol
How long it takes for the north woods to recover is up to us. Northern towns that depended on deer hunting are suffering, adding a new elk herd to Black River falls would create instant tourism to that area, every dollar helps. Wolf and bear hunts could make up a fraction of lost deer hunting revenue and a elk lottery will chip in $3 of $10 from lotto sales to the general DNR fund, this is our bail out plan, bring the deer back, the elk back, the bears back, and keep the wolves down, all through hunting, for hunting. My idea of bringing bison back isn't any more crazy than letting the wolves come back and letting them get out of control. Bison are one of the wolves favorite food. Much like elk, try some, you'll know why. Yummy. Bringing back dinosaurs? Now that's crazy. So I'm a dreamer, which puts me in a pretty good group of people, my dream is to leave this land better than we found it. Well, we found it pretty screwed up, I'm doing my best to fix it, how about giving me a hand?