Interesting thread, and a lot of misinformation sprinkled throughout. I am not a hunter, but I have spent most of my life in the woods observing what goes on there
As for danger to humans, the threat from wolves is pretty low. Documented actual attacks are pretty rare, but there have been quite a few reports of wolves stalking humans. A couple of years ago, a group of Forest Service "ologists" were on an overnight hike into the Sawtooth Wilderness and got so scared of a pack of wolves stalking them that they called for a helicopter to come and get them. Threats to humans is not the big problem
The big problem with the re-introduction of wolves in Idaho is that it has resulted in the decimation of deer, elk, and moose populations here in Idaho. According to the Chairman of the Idaho Fish & Game Commission, the Lolo herd, has crashed from a historical average of about 12,000 down to about 2,500. The Yellowstone herd has dropped from 20,000 to 6,500. The Gallatin Valley herd in Montana dropped from 1,500 to 200 in 3 years. Deer and moose herds have also severely declined where wolves are present. Cuurent Elk cow/calf ratios are at the lowest level on record. Predation losss currently exceed the ability of herds to recruit adequate numbers of calves into adulthood to restore historical population numbers. Even with the restoration of wolf hunting this year, not enough wolves will be killed to bring back a balance, as hunter success rates are very low. Now, the question of hunting big game is another debate, but it is clear that Wolves have had a major negative impact on big game herds, far beyond hunting, which is MANAGED to sustain population levels
Wolf advocates will try to tell you that Wolves only kill the old and the infirm, culling out the weakest and allegedly improving the health of the herds. Supposedly, they only kill enough to survive, with no "sport kills". Here is a link to a website that has documented many, many sport kills by wolves:
http://www.saveelk.com/wolf_002.htm
Finchfan, I am puzzled why you are so invested in this thread. You have made a lot of statements that are simply not true, I will leave it to you to figure out what that means. You said wolves were exterminated in the lower 48 states, which is not true, plenty of them never left Michigan and Minnesota. You said Alaska has more deer and elk that the lower 48, also not true. You said your USDA source told you he shot cougars from a helicopter, which is NOT permitted. You doubt many kills are barely eaten by wolves and say that is far fetched, see link above for lots of barely eaten wolf kills. You say you are far from a liberal environmentalist, yet you seem to share their thinking about hunting ("
If there are no elk left for hunters to hunt because wolves have eaten them, then more power to the wolves") You claimed that Polar Bears are in decline, a position of the enviro community, in spite of the FACT that Polar bears are increasing their populations to historical highs in almost every area they live. You claimed sheep are so dumb they just stand there while they are attacked. I used to own a herd of sheep, so I agree they are dumb, but i assure you they don't just stand there while they are killed, they are just totally defenseless and can't outrun a wolf. The Snopes link you provided never disputed the size of the wolves, only where they were taken. know the next to the bottom photo is in Idaho near Salmon, ID. Yes, we have VERY BIG wolves, that photo is NOT faked. USDA Wildlife Services used to be called Animal Damage Control, and their primary mission is to eliminate/reduce populations of pest animals, typically things like coyotes. Wolves and other T&E species are managed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, a branch of the Department of Interior, and with a mission totally opposite USDA Wildlife Services. Often there are major conflcits between these federal agencies, and very little coordination. Big game is managed by state wildlife agencies, with a totally different mission from either of the federal agencies.
Wolf re-introduction in Idaho has been successful beyond all expectations. We have close to 1,000 wolves now, and they have greatly expanded their range. Wolves have migrated beyond Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming into Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado so far. BTW, there were similar "rumors" of secret wolf plants nears Stanley, ID back about 1995. Interestingly, Stanley has several large wolf packs today and not nearly as many elk, deer, or moose.
One of the dangers of wolf reintroduction to our sport is the potential for restrictions on motorized access to minimize disturbance and conflicts. If there is an issue, OHV gets thrown out. For example, reintroduced Grizzlies resulted in closure of hundreds of miles of roads and trails in Idaho. Many trails are closed either during hunting season or early summer to "minimize disturbance". This is in spite of the fact that there is not a single study that has proven OHV use has had any impact whatsoever on population trends or viability. So, we can't "scare" elk by riding by, but it is okay to let wolves chase them 24/7/365 until they kill them. That is okay because it is "natural". Just like the forest fires ravaging Idaho's forests right now, that is okay because it is natural, even though the result is massive wildlife kills and huge amounts of large scale erosion, while a rutted trail is NOT acceptable for motorized use, regardless of what actually causes the erosion, usually poor design and a lack of
maintenance.
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