Anti Preditor Forest Service Attempts to Ease Limits on Control

[Ten Bears]

S. S.,

....Do you and Ten Beers really think your woof tags are going to do much to manage the population in wilderness areas like this? I've done a bit of hunting in both the wolf states and Canada and have yet to have one in range other than in Jellystone and that don't count. Once they get hunted for a year or two, they will be tough to hunt. And that's no B. S..

I believe that hunting/trapping pressure could be used to manage woofs in the wilderness, just like it will outside the wilderness. Better to bank the future of our elk herds on hunting and trapping than on some crackpot plan like WY.

 

[shoots-straight]

BHR,

I was born and raised in Hamilton Montana, I'am 45 now, hunted 35 years of that. Mostly in and around the Wilderness that surrounds the Bitterroot Valley, actually a 5th generation Bitterrooter. So not many areas around here haven't seen my moccasin tracks in them. I've been on the tallest pks in the Selway,it's 1 million acres so I still have some traveling to do. all the Anaconda Pintlers, Allen MT wilderness. ect.
I've killed Goat , Bear, lion, Deer and Moose in the Selway.Elk, Deer,lion,moose and Bear in the AP. Sheep out of AP, but close. Bobcat in both. Pics are on film as I just got into the digital age 2 weeks ago. I would have to scan and dick around awhile to get some pics to you. I don't know what difference that makes. I have havested countless predators.. Use to go trapping with my uncle when fur prices were werth a shit.
He caught,Lynx,wolverine,bear,coyote,fox,badger,bobcat,fisher,martin and beaver. I know how easy it would be to trap wolves. Trappers that know their shit would have no problem. Ask any of the gov trappers working for the WS. They trap one @ell of alot of them right now.
The don't do it with chopers. They locate the packs that they have fitted with collars using the choper. They don't need the choper to get the wolf in a trap. Rightnow as we speak the feds are in the F C trapping woof's so they can put collars on em. They wanted to fly in but weren't allowed to. They hiked or rode horse in and are working that way.

How long have you been in the Rocky MT area? Do you know what the original name of the F C was?
Hunting one sheep in the FC hardily makes you an expert. Insight yes, but no expert.
FYI I've been here longer than the wilderness designations.

The last of the long line trappers lived his life out here, I use to sell my hides to him. His name was Laurence Humble. He told me how he and another 9 long liners use to trap the Selway for a living. Trapping Griz, and Wolf and Lion, small stuff to. Anyway he told me that out of the 10 guys in there, they were trapping on an average of 10 Griz a piece, a year, 25 Wolf a pc a year, numerous lions. Do the math, those guys single handedly whipped out both species themselves. By the 1930's he didn't find anymore wolf, or griz. By the way no Helicopters.
So you can fantisize about how elusive the wolf will be, but we still are on the top of the food chain.

 

[cmiddleton]

i think they are getting rid of the rule you can't shoot from a vehical on national forest, they also have other rules, you can't shoot in or around a camp ground is one or you can't shoot on or across a road. the forest service does have rules about shooting.

 

[guppie9]

Remember in Alaska when they used plans to kill woof's, The Greenies boycotted the state a the gov. licked their wounds for years to come.

Ummmm....you might want to get your info straight on that one. What actually happened was, the greenies boycotted, nobody cared, the governer/ADF&G ordered aerial wolf hunting and it is currently in place in several units in Alaska. Just thought you might want to know what's going on up here.

 

[shoots-straight]

Thanks For the insight guppie9, the ariel hunting I was talking about happened over a decade ago. It was big news then.The Govener at the time cowed to the grenies and called the hunt off. Time has passed and Alaska did'n't quit though unlike some gov. Get the foot in the door first then we'll talk. They shot for area's where the moose pops have taken a beating. Also I believe area's that are inaccesable. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[guppie9]

I guess it depends on what you consider accesable. The units choosen are units where the moose poplulation is in decline. They want to reduce the wolf population to increase the moose population. They do this so that hunters/subsitence users will have moose to eat. So, the areas are not really inaccessable. Click here for a great link to the ADF&G website that talks all about wolves in Alaska and the steps being taken to control them. Also, here is a map of the areas that are currently using aerial/same day hunting.

 

[shoots-straight]

BHR,

Doesn't appear that the huggers have halted any control methods in Alaska.
I guess all we really have to fear is the threat itself.

I've been in 19A it doesn't have any access other than air. Might get there with snowmobiles from McGrath. If it's within 100 miles then it's accessible.
The countries mostly open, didn't see any wolves, but did see Griz and Black bears along with wolverine.

 

[BigHornRam]

Guppy,

I thought the huggers sued to shut down the McGrath control unit a while back and were sucessful. Did they get it started back up again?

S. S.,

Still live in Hamilton? Small world then. You should be familiar with my "locaction". It's the title of a book by a deceased author from Corvallis. Ever meet him? So who's doing the trapping and collaring in the "River of No Return" wilderness, and who's funding it? Feds or State? I would have to agree with you that trapping will be much more effective than hunting to control wolf populations. I see some problems with it however. One it will be even more contentious than hunting. If they ever have a season, it will most likely allow only one wolf per trapper per season. And with fur prices not worth a damn, it's doubtful many skilled trappers (of the few that are left) will bother going into places far from the road in the dead of winter for one wolf pelt. Maybe I'm wrong.

Also Alaska is a perfect example of why we shouldn't play patty cake with wolf control in Idaho like you propose. Whether Idaho culls 4 or 50 it will make national news. Don't have the stomach for it, don't waste your time putting it together in the first place. Don't think the urbanites from the rest of the country will boycott french fries for too long over the deal.

 

[shoots-straight]

BHR,

Yes. Arrow Hill's nice. No.

The WS is in the process of trapping and collaring the wolves in FC. I'll check to see who's funding it. The Wolves will leave the sanctuary of "The Salmon River Breaks the River of No Return Primitive Area". They will need to follow the elk and deer down witch mostly winter out of the wilderness. When they do they will be somewhat vunerable. They'll have to give more than one tag for controll. The trophy in itself will give enough people the desire to hunt and trap them. Hell I know guys that got wolverine this year and didn't sell. Coyote hunting's getting more and more popular every year without any fur price to speak of.
Outfitters will have another animal to add to their list, should be similar to lions in quality of trophy. The state F&G's just need to know that without lots of opportunity the general public won't be able to control the numbers.

It appears that the Nez Pearce Tribal memebers are doing the trapping in there. I'm guessing that the Feds are paying For that.

 

[BigHornRam]

Arrow Hill is nice and will probably turn out to be a good investment when I sell out. It's too stuffy for me to really fit in if you know what I mean.

Most all the outfitters in Canada and Alaska encourage you to shot a wolf or two.....at no charge. Pretty rare when a client does. The winter wolf hunt's from blinds over bait are more productive, but are not a sure thing. They also have a hard time selling these hunts. I don't think wolf hunts will be very lucrative for wolf state outfitters if we ever get to that but they will probably be popular for awhile if they can do so. A fair faction of hunters will most likely grumble about the "commercialization" of wolves.

 

[Ten Bears]

Sell me a woof tag. Commercialization he77, I wants to kill some woofs.