Yellowstone is the "epicenter" of the wolf reintrodution effort and has the oldest and most established populations. This is at least the second article with empirical data showing drastic hits to local big game populations. I am consistently amused how either everyone is silent about this stuff or it is poo-poo'd as just not relevant.

Amazing to me what a difference there is between being up in the "ivory tower" theorizing about what is happening with wolves and exercising scientific methodology in quest of a good publishable article (get published or perish),

versus,

Those locals who are simply on the ground, at the scene, and "in the trenches" and can just plain see what is happening to the wildlife populations.....

But wait, no, just seeing it/experencing it is just too simple and straight forward, we need to complicate it first and then use science to sort it out and come to some kind of "certified" conclusion.....

Reminds me of the 10 to 15 year period of research that it took to "prove" that cigarettes were killing people so it could be come "official". Everyone knew they were lethal, we all had friends/acquaintance smokers (all older) who had died from lung cancer, yet the scientists were so pleased with themselves when they announced they had actually "proved it" and it was now offical --- duh, now we have a warning label on the package, wow.
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Colorado has always been the "safety valve" state for elk hunters. If you couldn't draw in another state or if your elk hunting plans got started too late in the year then you could always "head out to Colorado and get an over-the-counter bull tag". That's because Colorado has more elk than anyone else.... well boys, the future of all that may well all be "on the line". Seeing all that dwindle down to a mere shadow of its former glory, similar to the folks up by Yellowstone, doesn't sound like a really good bargain to me or for you folks that come from out-of-state to hunt. (Note: the best hunters I have met here in Colorado have been mostly from out of state, including my mentors from Michigan.)

All this so a family from D.C. can stop their tent camper in a mountain camp ground in the Rockies, maybe hear a wolf howl before bedtime, before driving on to sit on the beach in California the next day. I'm just not sure that is going to be a real desirable trade in the long run.... and I'm betting the D.C. family won't know a coyote's call from a wolf's howl anyhow.
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IMHO, delist them, get their managment out of the feds hands, let the states take over! The states like Ph D's and studies and reports too --- they are just a bit more "on the ground, at the scene, and in the trenches". The states also strive for a bit more balance between romantic wildlife ideas and those who have to actually live with those romantic wildlife ideas for 52 weeks a year (instead of 2 days or 2 weeks a year [max]). The states also have to deal with the consequences of revenue shortfalls when there's not enough elk/deer/(antelope?) tags to go around to fund the Department of Wildlife because of drastically reduced populations (a'la Yellowstone).

EKM