Redskin_Archer

I saw an article the other day about a wolf that was shot in Bureau County, Illinois. I have 22 acres in that county that I hunt. There are a lot of coyotes. But this thing was 140 pounds(according to the article).

Wolf killer

A wolf is tough on the game populations. Good thing the wolf is not protected as an endangered species in Illinois. SSS

2 Lunger

It's protected under federal law.

That is the third confirmed wolf in IL. this year.

Redskin_Archer

I have been hearing about wolf stories around this year but I didn't believe it until I saw the article. I figured it was just people stretching a big coyote story. That is the third reported....I wonder how many ended up under the SSS category. Lions and Bears and Wolves oh boy...

Brian K

Not as tough as you think. Do yourself a favor and read this article, especially the part that says "The model suggests the presence of wolves is related to a SLIGHTLY increased rate of doe mortality."

http://dnr.wi.gov/news/DNRNews_artic...up.asp?id=1362

natimage

Coming from Wisconsin though I don't trust much the dnr says sometimes when it comes to deer population...they're starting a much better survey and study to see how much the presence of predators effects the population of the deer herd...It'll be a multi year study but should shed some light on how much it effects mortality of healthy animals or if they primarily take out the sick and injured.

Brian K

Hey, I'm no huge fan of the DNR here, either. But the research they refer to in that link I posted wasn't done by the DNR, it was an outside organization (at least I'm pretty sure it was). I talked to the big game ecologist in Madison this week about the new study. He said it'll take 5 years to complete and will look at all kinds of predators, not just wolves.

The only reason I spoke up in the first place is that I think people hear the wolf and assume their hunting is going to suffer. I've seen a lot of research that would contradict that idea. There have been a lot of reports of wolves on my hunting property and I've seen tracks that would be hard to classify as anything other than a wolf. But I'm still seeing deer and bagged my biggest buck this year. The wolves in my area haven't destroyed the herd.