Again, I completely agree that wolves need managed to keep their numbers within certain bounds. I monitor my own hunting areas very closely, and I assure you that if I see that wolves are depleting "my" elk herds, the words will be shoot, shovel, and shut up! I just hear so much of this doomsday talk that I can't sit silent anymore. Here in my neck of the woods, where it's an indisputable fact that elk numbers are going through the roof, you can walk into the local cafe any day of the week and hear three different guys talking about wolves and how they have destroyed the elk population.

In Yellowstone, the people running the program predicted that the elk population would be knocked back to 8 or 10 thousand by wolves. The 19 thousand level probably wasn't maintainable anyway, so it's kind of a false level of comparison.

I just want hunters to try to keep their heads a little bit on this issue. We can come off so crazy about wolves that people will just shut us out. We are really going to lose credibility in years to come if the doomsday prophecies don't come true.