Stupid Wolves...!!!

Be happy you got wolves, some moron has been releasing mountain lions into NY for the past 5 or so years. No one has come out of the woods mauled yet, but a lot of scary stories.

22 wolves?! Holy shit that is a huge pack of big wolves! That said if that pack goes hungry they will split up and move elsewhere and your elk will return.

The whole theory on bringing back the Grey Wolf was great on paper, but the assumption that the elk were healthy strong enough that only the weak would be suitable prey may have been a bit off. That said its too soon to say what the end result of all this will be. It may also be that the elk have forgotten how to this type of predator, and their behavior is going to have to change. What is certain however is that wolf populations are going to follow the boom and bust cycle- they are going to grow dramatically until food becomes scarce, then die back to a level that is more at balance with their prey.

It is going to hurt hunting for now, but there is a pay-off. Once the elk and wolf populations have balanced and the wolves are doing their jobs and only preying on the weak the system will be much healthier. The weak will be picked off by the wolves which will free up resources like food and shelter for the healthier individuals in the herd. This improves the overall health, size and vigor of the herd, and will increase the number of trophy animals.

Not something that probably you haven't already heard, but its true. With time you will need a long bed to haul your elk!

 

I had run ins with wolves (one at a time thank god) twice in Yellowstone, so i know what you mean, they are BIG.

If you look at any predator-prey population dynamic where a predator is introduced like this this is always the first stage; predators boom and the prey become scarce. Phase two is a dramatic die-back of the predator while the prey make a partial to more or less full recovery. We know for a fact that that is normal and healthy, and will subside into a balance where both species are living at the maximum capacity of the resources in their habitat.

As an informed outsider my main concern is for the ranchers. Should the wolves turn to cattle in the coming stage where the majority of them are forced to move elsewhere or starve to death things will get ugly fast. Its already been shown that the wolves may not prefer cattle as food, but once they decide on beef they get it.

There is a fund dedicated to repaying ranchers for cattle lost to wolves, however last I read there were concerns that while the fund paid the rancher for the market value of the lost cow it did not pay the market value for the animal when mature. In essence it would be like refunding you for a bond stolen a year after you bought it for the current market value, but not for the full eventual value.

 

+1 wolf... those grey wolves are beautiful elegant killing machines...

whats the matter... you have to compete with a wolf... ah too bad

 

I gotta admit, I don't feel sorry.

It's true that wolves can be a pest, but overhunting has caused it.

The food thing about predators is that they form an equilibrium with their prey (adjusted to the size of their pack) and in accordance with the surrounding environment.

So, yeah, it sucks you have less elk to kill. But you'll also have less hares eating crops, less marmots tearing holes, less groundhogs being groundhogs, etc...

 

Also, how come Colton and some others got all bent outta shape when jandrews posted at thread with "God Dammit" in the title, but this one gets a year+ pass?

Not that I want to start anything, but I've been drinking, and it strikes me as curious...

 

Que?

 

Fair enough.

 

I would have put some bullets into that pack ...

Gutshot

SSS

All good methods.

I like the baithooks too...but that would leave a trace.

Blast them bastards

 

How bout shootin the wolves and sellin the meat as gourmet dog to Chinese food restaurants?

 

So I have a question for the OP

When the game dept. noticed such a drastic drop in the numbers, did they reduce the amount of tags sold or did they keep selling the same amount?

The reason I ask is out here in WA the fisheries have warned the salmon population has been in trouble for many years now but they refuse to completely close the season because they want the income from selling licenses so they just make the seasons shorter.

 

I realized last night I forgot to add one thing to my explanation of what will happen with the wolves. They will kill each other. Seriously, the packs will all begin to compete to expand their territories since there isn't enough food on their existing plot, and a blood bath will ensue. By your description that will be happening shortly. The way I see it the FWS or whatever the MO has might as well sell permits to hunters or the wolves will just kill each other in pack wars. Once again, just a natural process.

For those of you who I may have offended please understand the logic behind selling tags in the first place. Tags are sold to take animals during the time of the year when they are succumbing anyway as populations are forced to decrease as resources decrease during the fall and winter months. This way the animals that we take are absorbed by the rest of the population; a hunter's trophy frees up food for another animal to survive the winter. Taking animals under proper regulation therefore actually benefits the quality of life of the herd as less animals are forced to suffer and wind up starving to death, or in this case becoming weakened to the point of being nabbed by a wolf pack.

That said there are all sorts of interesting studies about how trophy hunting in this manner is shifting the gene pools in these herds to weaker animals because we are removing the superior ones as trophies, but that is a completely different conversation.

 

Because- More people, new mods added, LOTS more people, Etc- Things can change.

And the mods aren't everywhere all the time...but tis fixed now.