Pretty hard to "hijack" a conversation, when the content is germane to the initial post. Just because you don't like the view point, doesn't make it irrelevant...
If someone wants to try and eradicate the wolf population, good luck, have fun. It's just not a smart way to go, in managing wildlife. That's my only point.
Carl, Hunters were doing a great job of managing Wildlife prior to the reintroduction of Wolves! We had very healthy Deer and Elk herds except in Yellowstone NP were this got a foothold. Then someone got the wild idea to take out the human aspect of Game Management and reintroduce Wolves all over the Rocky Mountains. But there's a issue with that:
Trust me, I can tell you it would take expert Marksman on the ground and in the air on a large scale that would have to be so well executed to eradicate the Wolf! And it would take on the looks of a full blown Military action of all out War to ever eradicate all the Wolves! There is not enough Trappers, and Hunters to ever take that on in a meaningful way.
The problem is they are too efficient, they have to hunt everyday to survive, and wound game in doing so! Plus they stress out female Deer and Elk to the point that very few are born now compared to previous years. Even the Mountain Lions are having issues competing! Mainstream Americans don't need too hunt to eat, those that do use it to supplement their protein meat source for a low fat alternative for the cost of a Tag, and their time off in the surrounding area they LIVE! The majority of hunters don't have the time and energy to even make the smallest dent in what has now grown out of proportion.
I've spent 60-90 hours a week to track down and hunt a Wolf, my chances of success is still less than 50%! You seem to think it's easy..... Even my friends in the Military have gone home empty handed after a week of hunting! There is no way for hunters to keep their population in check when there is very little effort to go hunt them in the first place! For most out of State people it's One and Done! What you think people need ten mounted Wolves in their living room? Who has that much time or desire, and the funds to make a dent in what they can do to the local population of Deer, and Elk? There's no bounty for them, you can't eat them either!
You're also missing the another point! My closest neighbors don't make over $40K combined! One Parent has to take care of their baby girl unless their grandparents can, and they live in their great grandparents house, that grew up in a house right next to that home! Like a lot of hunters in the U.S. they are not rich, their parents worked in the local Sunshine Mine for $9.45/hr base pay in up until 2000, only to get laid off due to the price of Silver. The average miner is now only making $16-20/hr.
This is logging country, not the Bay Area, Chicago, Detroit, LA, NYC, Seattle or Washington DC. It's not even the Grasslands that is now known as Kansas that has great soil for farming as far as the eye can see! It's steep country with lots of trees, which means lots to trees to hide behind, and steep canyons that even the best of the best couldn't run up and down after a Wolf!
Maybe you should start a thread this week on how many have gone Wolf hunting, how much time they spent in a single calendar year doing that, their average cost to do so, and their success rate!?!
I just got off the phone with that Grandparent, he is still hunting for a Cow Elk and has been since the season opened for him months ago! Sure he's old, (68) he worked for peanuts as a miner his whole life, his Father was a logger that went to a one room school down the street from me. You may think your views are the correct way to manage Wildlife here in Idaho..... But at last check you're roughly 1,400 miles away, you don't pay taxes here, you don't support the community, you don't help a single soul in the State of Idaho for anything! So why should the sport we loved doing, and the lifestyle we were used too suffer from Your Point of View?
