Wolves On My Property!

[gogoalie]

For the most part, wolves do eat the weak, sick, aged, & young (but, seems that bears eat most of the moose young, both here & in MT, eat the elk...& blackies are the biggest culprit for moose calf & elk calf eatin') & the most of the damage they do is in the winter time, when snows are deep...I know that wolves are eatin' machines...I've been out on the Yukon & seen many a kill or eatin' sight...& there's evidence that they'll just slaughter penned up livestock. (they're just like us, will kill excess & store the rest for later use...)

Now you point to McGrath & Bethel area, & you're right, the wolves are thrivin' out there...but the wolves were not the issue in the moose numbers bein' so low, it was human predation, & not only just the bulls, but the villagers shootin' all the cows too...

 

[Wolfwoman]

Surplus killing. Seen that? Where they kill everything in a group and just move on, not eating. Yes, let's not blame the wolves

They don't eat much.

Alakanuk, Anvik, Emmonak, Grayling, Kotlik, Mountain Village, and Nunam Iqua. I also have a friend in Emmonak!

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I dunno....if I were a rancher I'd be blowing it out of proportion too. It's tough to recover from even one or two calf losses if you have a bad spring, much less losing a couple of bred heifers at....oh, say...maybe $1300+ a pop? Cattle ranchers aren't making out like bandits anymore, just like the rest of the farmers. The last thing they need to worry about on top of everything else is something that previously WASN'T.

 

[gogoalie]

Ifin' ya wanna, you can befriend me on facebook through Mrs. Deb...

(my avatar are the BARE moose t-bones on a paper plate..>

)

Well, of course they're gunna move on, it's a freakin' human habitat, they ain't stickin' 'round to ask the rancher permission to eat what they left...All things bein' equal, & there's no rancher, in site, those "surplus" killins' will be consumed in due time...(the meat will be good, rotten & tender! Wolves are smart!)

Mt. Village, just north of them have an ANY MOOSE (actually it's an ANY BULL upto & includin' antlerless calves) season opening & they opened up a cow season in the YK Delta Refuge...& up near Piamute, there's 2.5 moose per sq. mi, in the last census taken by ADF&G...There wasn't ANY wolf control done by the state in the Moose moritorium area of the Lower Kuskokwim, & yet the moose population rebounded enough for them to open up a limited bull hunt, & just as you state, wolves thrived...

(same thing occured here on the L. Yukon, in the 90's, no state wolf control & the moose have rebounded so well that there's cow seasons...)

 

[TheFeatheredTempest]

Keep in mind that red wolves (Canis rufus) and Mexican wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) are smaller, in some cases considerably smaller, than the gray wolf (Canis lupus lupus). (For those of you with an interest in wolf taxonomy I'm not going into that here because it will detract from the topic at hand)
I couldn't tell where the OP lived. But if there have been wolf reintroductions in your part of the country you will want to familiarize yourself with the legal status of that population. Your local/state/federal wildlife officials should be able to help you out here so you can protect your property effectively and still comply with the law.
Before wolves are reintroduced they go through a "training program" on how to hunt and process their kills. These are learned skills. So they aren't just "thrown" out there without survival skills. Reintroduction is an expensive, lengthy process subject to rigorous scientific standards. I realize that was not always the case in the past, but it is now.
If you are a poultry owner than wolves are a good guy! They will efficiently limit the populations of other predators like foxes, coyotes, and raccoons.
As a wildlife biologist I'd like to add that the misinformation out there on wolves, and predators in general, is simply staggering. You wouldn't believe the tall tales that are told as absolute truth. In some cases it takes on the same sort of dynamics as Sasquatch/Big Foot lore (hope that doesn't open a can of worms; do Sasquatch eat chickens?

). Biologists are called out all the time by otherwise intelligent responsible citizens to investigate sitings of wolves, mountain lions, bears, etc... only to find the person saw a collie (seriously) or a siamese cat (true story), or even a cow! Of course, there are plenty of legitimate accounts and wolves have been reintroduced and are even thriving in some places. But I've reached the point that I don't believe anything someone tells me unless I can document it. This especially applies to thrilling or scary tales and people who quote numbers and statistics but don't name their sources.

 

[gogoalie]

Quote:
& there's yer problem...policy makers, judges & lawmakers are going to appeal to reason & not emotion & hyperbole...

 

[Wolfwoman]

Hmm no I can't, Deb doesn't show her friends list

You'll have to find me. Bonnie Brummett

I'm talking about surplus killings where there are NO human habitats. In areas like outside of McGrath... entire caribou herds killed, and left. The wolves didn't come back.

I never said our management was great either... but it's better than some of the states. And my friend in MTV got a NICE bull this year. Normally he tries for a spike... tender

ETA: Found ya!

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
& there's yer problem...policy makers, judges & lawmakers are going to appeal to reason & not emotion & hyperbole...

....Huh? So....we want to follow our emotions and hyperbole in this case, or....? I guess I'm missing how following reasonable logic is a problem.

 

[gogoalie]

Anarchy, yer statin' that you'd blow the wolf issue outta proportion (least, that's what I took from yer post...) & just like what ranchers & hunters are doing now (use of hyperbole, & appeals to emotion) lawmakers, judges & policy makers aren't going to listen to that...they need to listen to REASON...SOUND SCIENCE...not hyperbole & appeales to emotion...

 

[turbo13]

I Live In The Idaho Panhandle.hardly A Day Passes That The Press Here Does't Run A Story About ''The Big Bad Wolf''.It Don't Pay To Be A Wolf Here.even The Gov.could Not Wait For The Wolf Season .he Said ''I Want To Be The First To Shot One''leave The Wolf Alone.the Hunters Are Afraid Of The Competition.the Ranchers Are In Wolf Territory .JUST WHERE ARE THE ANIMALS TO GO?