Conner77

Im just curious on all your positons on the wolf threat in wyoming and surrounding states, the crazy eco people put them back and wont keep track of the numbers and are ruining moose, elk, and deer populations.

Ihuntandfish

I'm not from you're are, I'm from Wisconsin, but I'm seeing a similar pattern at home. The Wisconsin DNR stocked the wolves a few years back, and now there is way more than the DNR is admitting. "Supposedly" there is only around 500 in the state, yet people seem to see them all the time, and they have been seen in just about every county in Wisconsin. The DNR finally made a step in the right direction when they delisted them from the endangered list, but then some judge in another state decided that this was unethical, so they are now back on the endangered list with huge penalities for shooting one. I don't know if it's completely due to the wolves, but the deer population in Wisconsin has drastically gone done in the last few years to the point when hunters are lucky to see a couple deer on opening weekend, especially in the northern part of the state. So in response to your post, I am definately against the wolf problem and you are right in saying that they are not needed.

farm hunter

Honestly -

I'm more inclined to have wolves than excess deer. I'm not a treehugger - but I truly like the idea of a sustaining ecosystem that includes top end predators (man not withstanding).

Maybe as a result, the hunter take is reduced..... but I'm OK with that.

FH

M.Magis

What a selfish bunch of hipocrites some hunters are. We claim that hunting is needed to keep animal populations in check, but the minute another animal starts doing what they've done for thousands of years, you start whining. Get over it.
It also seems clear the intent of this post is simply to stir crap. Someone has too much time on their hands.

Edit: This is not in reply to Farm Hunter's post,his issimply the post I hit the reply button in.

crenshaw

this is a very soar subject with a lot of people. Especially with the people i know that live in Wyoming. They all dont mind the wolves, what they do mind is that the wolves are not being held in check too. In yellowstone many people have witnessed wolves killing for the sake of killing because they were bored. Also, when pack levels reach high numbers they can start tohave a severe effect on the populations of elk and deer. This year when they opened wolf season in wyomingthey shot 60 of them in the throughfare outside the park during the first week. They shut it down due to a tie up in legislation but i think i read there going to open it up again to make the wolf a big game animal.

Wolfs need to be held in check just like every other animal, unfortuanatly we do not live in the 1600's anymore and wolfs cant be used as a primary method of control. Human populations are too large, and our land use is far to consuming to actually have large wolf packs. Also, large wolf packs have severly effected money coming into states like Idaho and Wyoming. Many hunters have seen a drop in elk populations and many outfitters have felt the dangers a large wolf population brings to there business.

Also, another problem with peoples wolfs arguments. The wolfs that were reintroduced to the park, wyoming and idaho are not native wolfs, they are the canadian timber wolf, which what i was told is a lot different then the grey wolf.Even though there called grey wolveson the paper many people claim this to be innaccurate.This wolves are a lot more aggressive and do a lot more damage. Canadian ranches pay people to shoot them up there just as farmers in the states will let just about anyone coyote hunt.

Wolfs need to be held in check we do not live in world where the can roam and do as they please anymore, sorry naturalist people, there are just way to many factors in this world today, everyone wants there peice of the pie and well man wants most of the pie.

americaneagle

If you take a top end predator (wolves, bears, cougars) put it somewhere it's protected from hunters, sooner or later you're going to have trouble. I sure don't want them in the woods my young grandson squirrel hunts in.

1sagittarius

NO. Wolves are federally protected, federally controled, and federally regulated. Wolves wondered into Wisconsin all on their own from Minnesota and Upper Michigan naturally. Due to the super high deer populations, the wolf poplulation quickly grew. All the WDNR is allowedto do at the state level is monitor populations, and eliminate specific problem wolves. There were never any federal or state wolf restocking programs in the midwest .... ever. But the time has come for some type of wolf population control in Wisconsin by hunting and/or trapping.
Again, at the state level, the DNR had absolutely nothing to do with any of it. These were federal cases, with rulings made by federal judges .... period.
Following the second highest deer harvest in state history in 2007, yes, the 2008 harvest is lower. Wolves had almost nothing to do with thelower deer populations.

outdoorsman4life_103

I hunt in Necedah, WI and we have never had wolves since I have hunted there and we have always been able to harvest many many deer for our freezers.. its our main food source.. This year, we discovered a pack of 8 wolves in the neighboring woods us and we saw only one deer during bow season, 150 or so yeards away. Now, anyone who wants to tell me that the pack had nothing to do with this, must be crazy. The neighbor put his trail camera above the wolf den and took pictures of wolves carrying in 23 different fawns in spring. If anyone wants to tell me that this has no affect on our population, I would LOVE to see a different explanation as to why I saw almost no deer this year. I have no problem with wolves so long as they are monitored. They are not monitored and I can only fear what this will do to the future hunting generations because of the lack in future deer populations.. We are already loosing hunters because of new rules like earn-a-buck, so why don't we try to stop from loosing anhmore? God knows this state needs all the tax income it can get from tags and liscense sales...

Brandon

outdoorsman4life_103

1sagittarius, i saw your quote by Aldo Leopold. I am currently a student at UW- Stevens Point and I plan on majoring in Wildlife Management... Do you study wildlife management as well??

Brandon

1sagittarius

As a lifelong hunter/fisherman, I've always studied wildlife management, habitats, and its history in Wisconsin. I would recommend the book "Thinking Like a Mountain", by Dr. Susan L. Flader. More than half the book is about early Wisconsin deer, wildlife, and forest management.

Wolves do have a effect on deer populations, as do the high bear populations right now. But, thatis very small compared to hunter harvests, 13 years of abundant antlerless tags, and several years of EAB. In the last 14 years, Wisconsin has had the 10 highest deer harvests in state history. 2008 will rank somewhere between 11th and 12th highest. That is nothing to make light of, that is still a very healthy harvest, and more in line with what is sustainable long term.