To Catch A Wolf – Part V

Links to Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV

If we are ever to consider “catching” a wolf, we need first to understand it. This has become a difficult task, especially here in the United States because most who advocate for wolves, seemingly those with all the money and resources to do so, aren’t at all interested in telling the truth about this animal. Why is it that in efforts to discover the truth about this large and sometimes vicious predator, advocates mount bigger campaigns to counter those truths with lies, information designed to mislead the public?

In the West we love our stories about Nikki: Dog of the North and Jack London’s other creation of Call of the Wild. In our romantic fantasies we want to be friends with canines that are portrayed as our best friends, cute and cuddly. The reality is wolves are none of these and there are many other myths that we have been programmed to believe as true. Read more

To Catch A Wolf – Part IV

Links to Part I, Part II, Part III and Part V

Before we venture into some of the Scandinavian countries to examine how they dealt with wolves and wolf problems, let’s visit for a moment right here in the United States. It is believed that several subspecies of wolves inhabited much of the U.S. at one point in time.

Teddy Roosevelt went to great pains in some of his writings of the late 1800s in describing the different kinds of wolves he encountered all across the nation. He related colors, sizes, characteristics and habitats of any of these predators he came in contact with. One thing Roosevelt tells us is that even though he believed that man’s efforts to get rid of wolves certainly had a significant affect, he was convinced there was something more than man’s effort at hunting, trapping, poisons, etc. that wiped out wolf populations. Read more

To Catch A Wolf – Part III

Links to Part I and Part II and Part IV and Part V.

We have learned greatly from the previous writings that wolves were not only a real problem for people in many parts of the world but also the animal was despised and feared, mostly for justifiable reasons. We’ve discovered that often it was only the wealthy barons owning the resources to take up the hunt for the wolf, while the peasants were left to their own devices, sometimes their lives ending in death from wolf attacks against them.

They say necessity is the mother of invention and often out of the desperate act of survival the peasants created some ingenious contraptions to capture and kill wolves. Read more

Wolf-Killed Elk – Winter 2009

Steve Alder, Chairman of the Clearwater Chapter of Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife Idaho, compiles a field study, with graphic photos, of some of the carnage cause by wolves so far this winter in the Lochsa River area. The Western Institute for the Study of the Environment logs the story for us.

Tom Remington

Wolf Reintroduction Poor Investment

The state of Idaho estimates that of their 824 wolves (not many believe this estimate to be nearly high enough), they kill 9,517 deer and elk annually at an estimated cost to the state of around $24 million.

Tom Remington

To Catch A Wolf – Part II

If you missed part one of “To Catch a Wolf” you can find that at this link. Find Part III here and Part IV and Part V.

As I mentioned in Part I of “To Catch a Wolf”, wolves are not easy game to hunt. As I surmised also, had Russia been interested enough or financially capable to employ a steady dose of decent wolf management, perhaps some of the tactics used by wolf hunters wouldn’t have become necessary. I’m referring to tactics that resulted in mass killings of wolves.

Needless to say, some day into the future, I’m sure that one way or another, the United States is going to be faced with a dilemma on what to do about too many wolves. Initial plans are being made in some states (I mentioned Idaho in Part I) as to what rules will govern the wolf hunts if they are ever removed from protection. As in Idaho’s case, the rules essentially ban every means of hunting except for a man and his rifle. Historic documents tell us that this will not work. Initial wolf hunts may see some results but once the crafty canine discovers he is being hunted, one man and one rifle will not be any challenge to the wolf. Read more

To Catch A Wolf – Part I

Link to Part II
Link to Part III
Link to Part IV
Link to Part V

To be frank, there exists today very few people who have first hand knowledge on how to hunt a wolf. Wolf hunting many years ago became quite popular for a myriad of reasons, from the thrill of the adrenaline pumping danger to a matter of survival.

Today in America we talk of when the day comes, if ever, that the wolf we be taken off the list of protected species and man will once again be able to hunt this animal. We, including myself, often speak of the “Disneyesque” perception people today have of the wolf. I think the same can be said, at least to some degree, about how sportsmen are going to “hunt” the wolf when the time comes.

As a game management tool, specifically a population control measure, hunting has been a socially acceptable and scientifically viable means of accomplishing that task, however, I’m not so sure that we understand the difficulties we will be presented with in hunting this intelligent and highly adaptable beast. Read more

Idaho Wolves Killing Each Other

2Newstv.com is reporting that Idaho Director of Fish and Game, Cal Groen, says the wolves are getting over crowded, are reducing deer and elk herds by 15% and that the wolves are now beginning to kill each other.

He says big game populations are decreasing by as much as 15 percent a year. Without the wolves, Idaho’s deer and elk herds would be increasing 7 percent a year.

Groen says the wolf packs have become overcrowded and wolves have begun to kill each other.

Now, that statement by Groen is sure to become a burr in some people’s undies as this is information they don’t want to hear. Read more

Put Your Request In For An Idaho Wolf

It’s now official. A bill in the Idaho legislature that would allow for anyone wishing to take a wolf home to supper has passed 31-1. (I wonder who the lone-wolf dissenter was? Sen. Langhorst is gone.) On Monday it was announced that Sen. Gary Schroeder had sponsored the bill to make sure they checked around to see if anybody wants a wolf or a hundred, before the state shoots them.

Here’s your chance! For all those people who are in love with wolves and know more about them than the scientists who study them, put in your request now and perhaps you can have your own pack of wolves in your backyard before summer green-up!

Idaho seems to be getting in the spirit of things since election day by offering to spread their wealth. We should all take an example. Kumbaya! Kumbaya!

Tom Remington

Idaho Asks Obama To Delist Wolves

Idaho’s Governor Butch Otter, along with U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch and U.S. Congressmen Mike Simpson and Walt Minnick, sent a letter off to President Barack Obama asking him to speed up the process and allow for the posting of the Final Rule that would remove the gray wolf from federal protection and place management of the animal in the hands of the state. You can read that letter here.

Not that common sense ever got in the way of a good environmental obstructionist lawsuit but one would think that with the Idaho governor and all four Congressional delegates on board with seeking federal delisting of the wolf, President Obama and his administration would catch on! Read more