As usual, my personal opinion on this comfounds people who know me as a gun owner and hunter, but what the hey, I'll spout off.

I'll tell you the wolves I've seen in the wilderness are really special, at the same level of quality for me as harvesting edible game. I would never think of killing one (can't eat it after all), and really think that they are an important indicator of wilderness and the part of wilderness I love.

On the other hand, I have absolutely no objection to the guys in my party who indicated they'd have shot the wolves I saw and I have no problem with people who trap them to sell the furs - I have wolf fur garments. It's just that I don't believe they should be hunted or trapped into oblivion and personally don't have any problem if some wolf kill of game means less to go around for us hunters. If it got to be an ecological imbalance, I'd have a different opinion.

I do have a problem with the guys who really think every wolf they see or that exists needs to be killed and that their hunting is more important than the wolves. And I really have a problem with the guys I hunt with who let it be known that I'm f.o.s. because I don't kill them. These are all my personal opinions and I have no animosity towards my friends and fellows who differ. -zeke