Boy cries WOlF.......

[gator378]

Your statement doesn't hold water. I know quite a few people who live here who don't give a rats behind about elk, deer, or even cattle- they like wolves. The fact that they are carnivores and sometimes enjoy a steak dinner doesn't seem to connect with those folks.

You can never fix stupid. I have tried.

 

[muleskinner1]

Seems fairly obvious that if elk (or any species for that matter) had no predator animal or human then the population would continue to expand until the habitat could not sustain it. So population is controlled by either starvation or predation. To keep the population in check a certain number are removed each year. If to many are removed then the population declines if this continues long enough then it finally disappears. With the reintroduction of wolves, humans and wolves must share in removing the correct number each year, so for every elk a wolf kills humans have to give up one of their intended kills so that the number removed remains constant.
So I hope wolves never come to Colorado because I don't like sharing.

Are you sure they are not there yet?

 

[muleskinner1]

Well I haven't read this entire thread, I've seen coyotes with a curved tail, I've only seen 8 or 9 wolves in my life and I've never been able to kick one in the head, but I'm gonna go with coyote or perhaps a hybrid, what was the weight? I've killed over 300 coyotes the biggest one weighed a even 45 pounds but had the frame to be even larger, it was in 1981 at a elevation of over ten thousand feet in a wilderness area in California , I'm pretty sure it was not a domestic coyote gone back to the wild or had been dumpster diving, I packed it out and weighed it a day latter, it's been a long time but this one sure reminds me of that coyote.

Must have been in the Sierra Nevada's

 

[Stringstalker]

When in doubt just call it a coyote !!!

 

[Aussie Hunter Steve]

This is one of the most educational and funniest threads I've ever read. Nice to see everyone giving it their best shot!

 

[longrangehunterII]

I was absolutely not calling your marksmanship, into question. You brought up the scenario, of a "snap" decision. I was curious about the particulars of the shot, ie. distance, set-up, time of day, etc. If it came out like I was putting you down, that certainly was not my intent.

No Worries Sir, sometimes I think people question my abilities and after a lifetime of perfecting my craft I can only let the outcome speak for itself.

It was actually 20-30 minutes before legal shooting hours as per Mark Rhodes the Senior IDF&G Warden! I just look him in the eye and said "I wasn't hunting, I was removing a animal predating on my property that posed a risk of possible danger to the health and welfare of my girlfriend and our dog"!

It was my Dog that alerted me to it in the first place in the pouring rain like cats and dogs! The second her nose hit the air from the front door being opened she barked, I told her to hush and looked up the driveway to see this animal drinking from a pothole filled with water as it looked back at us!

I had already seen this animal for the last few days, I watched one, or it chase off four Turkeys from my back porch door four days prior. I was watching the Turkeys feed in back, and when I placed my dogs water bowl to the ground I looked up to see them running away and caught the animal running in from the left corner of my eye! This one looked a lot bigger, I ran out with my AR only to miss it from the bullet hitting some thickets covering my field of view and my only sight picture was of its head as the bearm covered it's body from the head down. It ran past me like greased lightning and I didn't lead it correctly and missed again only to hold off as it ran past my 1000 gallon propane tank.

So after I hushed up my dog I told her to get back in the house and ran upstairs to where I had my rifle already waiting for me to get lucky. I'm more of an opportunistic hunter now, which is nothing more than what this was, but having seen them for the past few days made it preplanned too.

Shooting out of a two-story building thru a open window is not what I call hunting, and this wasn't any different. The law clearly states that pointing a weapon, laying in-wait, chasing quarry, etc etc etc is stilling hunting, which has zero to do with my intentions and/or purpose regarding this incident.

It was cleanly put down in less the 15 seconds which is more humane than what it did to live out its life and survive. I just don't agree with this experiment.... or the idea to push out using humans to manage wildlife populations. What hunters did for the various populations of Wildlife was a symbiotic relationship that worked well IMO!

What I miss most is seeing the Wildlife, i.e. the Elk and Deer I once loved spending hours watching! I spent more hours in the field watching Game animals then I ever spent behind the gun by one hundredfold. It was what made it worthwhile to be out there in the first place and the exercise to boot. I can hike a five mile radius in the Panhandle NF right out my back yard and still not see any game most days now. That is not why I loved living here and being out in the Forest, and it's clearly not what I would call a well thought out game management plan!

 

[Browning300]

Find any post where I stated wolves do no harm. Waiting... mtmuley

Never said you made any such posts just seems that your playing devil's advocate here. I thought maybe you'd actually come up with some study or something that we could poke holes in.

 

[GunHawk]

Who was managing the wolf population before 1494? I heard somewhere that game was abundant (practically inexhaustible) back then. Probably fake news.

 

[26Reload]

MilepostWell-Known Member
NewThe wolves are now in Washington, Northern Idaho, and Utah...

Well..you are a portion correct....
but exponentially incorrect...
The number of wolves have spread as far as mid Utah and in to Nevada....also their are packs of wolves throughout Oregon and northern CA......and to say northern idaho....well...southern has been feeling them for several years....my guess...the elk that split from Jackson wy drew the packs down along the Wyoming borderlands and eventually they spilled into idaho...and have been heading westerly every since.....and no idea where they will stop...

 

[Ol' Red]

Well since I live where they reside, and the small herds of ELK that once used to be here, and by that I mean in on my property that I coined the term "Ranching for Wildlife" and allowed them to use my 40 acres as a sanctuary to raise their young, eat, and drink from the creek, and not be molested by anyone on my property I take offense to that whole idea........ Now that they are non-existant and down to such low numbers around me I stopped hunting Elk, and Deer! The sheer loss of game animals is unprecedented in this day and age for an animal like the Wolf that can't be eaten, will never put food on my table or any other poor person that used to supply his family through the Winter! It was a way of life taken away, but hey you don't live here, no one wants to come hunt here or Montana anymore in the numbers that once was so you're barking up the wrong tree!

Motels, bars, restaurants, butchers, taxidermist have all suffered from the fallout from this huge mistake which has cost Millions of Dollars in lost revenue that will never come back in my lifetime! It was a Sick Joke to eradicate humans from managing wildlife populations....... But Hey, I never killed a fawn, a doe with her yearling, a Cow with it's young or anything like that....... But who cares right, the Wolf doesn't know any better, or feed off just the sick and old, nope I'll show you what happens when a WOlF bites a animal and doesn't kill it. I dies a slow death until it can't take another step and falls over from starvation!

I always thought a few should transplanted to Central Park, LA and New Jersey. I'm sure they can thrive there, and the people can see them every day.

 

[26Reload]

Ah....but then you be putting city people in harm's ways....dont they do enough to stop all the drug offenses and felons from ruining our freedoms......oh..i do not mean to be picking on the democraps here...
But all those druggies and felons can't all be state representatives....isn't that correct obama administration....not one heinous crime.....but many....including killing an American on American soil.........wolves of money in sheep's clothing....

 

[PNWdude67]

I'm posting this because after reading a previous post I'm wondering in the heat of the moment and depending on how long or short you may..... or may not have (a few seconds or more, and/or in a few nanoseconds) could you tell what you see here in a few seconds?

Be honest too, what's on the ground? Anything in the photo that seems odd?

Most of the time you might only get a quick second or two....... maybe a little more depending on the Timber or whatever small openings there are at the time until your quarry runs off.

So what is it?



View attachment 163579

hybrid? Wolf/coyote/feral dog??

 

[muleskinner1]

And the Impeachment is not having an effect

 

[Swamphunter]

Interesting topic. I hunt and spend a lot of time in northern Minnesota. Wolf central in the lower 48. We have always had wolves here, lots more since the deer herdexploded in the nineties do to some very mild winters. We however can't hunt them like you can out west. There are 3 main wolf loving organizations out there that cause most of the trouble for getting the wolf delisted. The humane society, the center for biological diversity, and howling for wolves. There are many others that also fight to keep them as, "endangered" and all these organizations do is file lawsuits. We as hunters spend our money on hunting, Guns and habitat while they just file lawsuits. Lawyers are ruining this country. The argument that we don't want the wolves killing the wildlife so I can kill is a lame argument and gets nowhere with the general public. I don't care if a Wolf kills for a living, they have to eat, but we need to be able to control the numbers so that hunting doesn't lose more people, (another thing theses do gooders would like to see eliminated). Many people in the north have decided to take matters into their own hands and deal with the problem privately.