The reason Wyoming is "battling" is because when all the other states had viable management plans in place and the wolf was to be removed from the fed endangered species list and become state managed - Wyoming had virtually no plan at all. The federal government wasn't about to spend 30 years and millions of dollars to help a species recover, only to turn it over to a state with no management plan.

Wyoming's lack of a management plan is also one of the biggest reasons the enviromental groups sued to get the wolf temporarily put back on the list. They didn't focus on the states where there were more than enough wolves and where plans were set up and ready to go...they focused on the "one bad apple," as people and the media love to do.

As for taking the law into your own hands. Talk like this is like what makes us all look bad to the environmentalists, anti-and non-hunters, and people in urban areas who could care less about hunting: also known as the rest of America. This may be a news flash to some, but non-hunters outnumber us in this country by quite a bit, AND they vote. Even if hunters started routinely whacking wolves whenever they saw 'em, the damage done by the negative publicity would far outweigh any benefit in reducing the wolf population. People would focus on the "bad" hunters killing wolves and not the majority of us who follow the rules. You'd end up with more restrictions and more protection, for a lot longer period. It'd be like starting all over again.

And as far as gut-shooting ANY animal so it can crawl away and die a horrible, painful death, that's a great quote for some anti-hunter to copy off the net and take to their Congressman: "see what these whackos are talking about..."