Wolf researcher on Meateater

[hossblur]

If you think Fin has an accent, this lady is practically Canadian she's so Northern Minnestooooda.

In the beginning I was thinking "oh great another mindless lover". By the end, I thought she was great. Good discussion on social vs science in wolf management.

As a Utahn I was again reminded how much BGF is screwing us when she pointed out how Yellowstone wolves wander in and out of Utah/Colorado all the time(Benson's magic forcefield seems to be failing).

Good listen if you haven't yet.

 

[wistowy]

She had an accent, I hardly noticed eh!! I also thought she was in the wrong place at the start but came away pretty impressed.

 

[375H&H]

I thought she was better than the podcast Randy did with heffelfinger (she totally shot down the super wolf theory).

She danced around a lot of topics without stating an opinion which is good for her, but frustrating as hell to listen to.

I would love to listen to a pod with her and buzz talking about elk management in Montana...

 

[Deleted member 38069]

I liked the bit about her dog's first encounter with a wolf! Ive been to Como Zoo many times and the wolves are always my favorite stop.

 

[Ben Long]

I first met Diane in 1987 or so. She is the real deal. A true scientist, but with rock-solid values. She knows her stuff.

 

[TLowell02]

I might have to try listening again. That was only the third Meateater podcast I couldn't listen through its entirety. Everyone sounded very awkward.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

What a great listen. I really appreciate her pragmatism. It would be fascinating to have a beer and shoot the bull with her.

On a slight tangent, but similar to this podcast, I spent about two hours one rainy morning in the Gravelly Range sitting under a big fir tree by a fire with Ed Bangs and a couple of his hunting buddies. It was fascinating conversation.

 

[huronmtns]

What Meateater episode # was this one?

 

[hossblur]

I was frustrated as well by the dancing around when it seemed like she had a definite opinion. She is a state employee however

and I'm not aware what she's legally allowed to say on a public platform.

I'm a subcontractor. I have definate opinions on hack contractors or horrible subs. But if I was on a homebuilding podcast it wouldn't be the place to expose them.

I'm actually glad she kept most of her opinions out. We can hear all the "wolves are magical creatures" or "wolves will spawn the apocalypse" narratives anywhere.

 

[Tradewind]

What Meateater episode # was this one?

#166 hunting with teeth

 

[huronmtns]

#166 hunting with teeth

Thank you. I will dial into this episode.

 

[Jape]

Yeah, really good and interesting. Appreciated her opinion since she is also a hunter.

 

[MTGomer]

I made it through her boring, pointless name dropping at the introduction and started to think it was interesting, then she took up being an expert on what great elk hunting Montana has and totally lost me.

She should take a wolf pack dispersion map and then point to the portions of Montana where her statements about how the elk are so overpopulated and the hunting is so good are correct and see what kind of correlation she comes up with.

I mostly blame season structure more than wolves, acknowledging that wolves are a factor that would be less of a factor with better elk management and regulations in R1, R2 and NYellowstone’s resulting low numbers, but the statements about excellent elk hunting occurring in these places is patently false nonetheless.

Since I’m sure she knows this it leads me to think she’s being intentionally misleading which calls into question the validity of everything she said, in my opinion.

A liar with a PhD is still a liar.

 

[MTGomer]

Rinella’s most recent one with the grizzly bear researcher that was mauled is pretty good on the other hand.

 

[Bowhunter65]

I have been around Diane Boyd for the last 30 years, she is very pro-wolf. I am not a fan. She does not like any conflict when it comes to the wolf and will often change the subject. She will recommend low quotas and is not hunter friendly but anti friendly. She is one of the main reasons for the over population of wolves we have in Montana. HD 101 here in region 1 harvested 52 wolves, I think we have a wolf problem, that includes Diane Boyd.

Terry L. Zink

 

[mtguy]

I made it through her boring, pointless name dropping at the introduction and started to think it was interesting, then she took up being an expert on what great elk hunting Montana has and totally lost me.

She should take a wolf pack dispersion map and then point to the portions of Montana where her statements about how the elk are so overpopulated and the hunting is so good are correct and see what kind of correlation she comes up with.

I mostly blame season structure more than wolves, acknowledging that wolves are a factor that would be less of a factor with better elk management and regulations in R1, R2 and NYellowstone’s resulting low numbers, but the statements about excellent elk hunting occurring in these places is patently false nonetheless.

Since I’m sure she knows this it leads me to think she’s being intentionally misleading which calls into question the validity of everything she said, in my opinion.

A liar with a PhD is still a liar.

I agree with you on her elk talk. She sure seems like an advocate for shoulder seasons. I think she mentioned it 15 different time's.

 

[huronmtns]

I first met Diane in 1987 or so. She is the real deal. A true scientist, but with rock-solid values. She knows her stuff.

For the most part, Diane is consistent with the other wolf biologists that I have known, worked with, and spoken too. In this podcast she states that there were no wolves in Michigan until the early 90's. She was wrong. A very close family relative who I have worked with on a few graduate wildlife studies was the professor that was in charge of this project and study.

https://ia800303.us.archive.org/3/items/anexperimentaltr35006gut/35006-8.txt

. The information in this study contradicts her statement of wolf population in Michigan.

 

[Sytes]

I've had a few opportunities to speak with Diane. As one article relates to her as the, "Jane Goodall" of wolves, she is very supportive of wolves. I've learned many aspects about wolves from her. I respect her extensive time involved directly with the very packs I despise. I'll kill one of these bastards hopefully sooner than later though the challenges faced hunting wolves in the NW thick overgrowth... It's a meaningless drop in the bucket towards managing the "minimal count" horse crap wolf numbers. Each year I hear more and more howls vs bugles during archery. Last year no bugles. Used to be laying on my sleeping pad the night before, getting amped over bugles here and there for the next AM hunt.

Overall, the information I've learned from her as a biologist intimately familiar with my backyard wolves has been valuable though to think of her without a pro wolf bias is naive, at best.

 

[BrentD]

For the most part, Diane is consistent with the other wolf biologists that I have known, worked with, and spoken too. In this podcast she states that there were no wolves in Michigan until the early 90's. She was wrong. A very close family relative who I have worked with on a few graduate wildlife studies was the professor that was in charge of this project and study.

https://ia800303.us.archive.org/3/items/anexperimentaltr35006gut/35006-8.txt

. The information in this study contradicts her statement of wolf population in Michigan.

I think the paper you cite supports her claim of no wolves in Michigan at that time. Generally, when a biologist says there are no xyz in Somewheresville, he or she generally means there is no breeding population.

While a mountain lion roams downtown Des Moines Iowa at the moment, showing up on various security cameras, there are no mountain lions in Iowa. Yes, I know it sounds like a contradiction but an individual does not a population make.

 

[ImBillT]

She was obviously very knowledgeable, and more supportive of individual wolf harvest than most on the pro wolf side. I was disappointed that she never acknowledged or promoted hunting as a management tool for deer/elk. She frequently cited the fact that wolves reduce prey populations to more sustainable numbers and that those population number ebb and flow with weather and habitat, and that wolves don’t eat ALL the game etc., but never suggested that hunting deer/elk could/should be a part of that population management.

An argument I never like on the pro predator side is that the predators were here in Lewis and Clark’s time, and there was plenty of game. Well yeah, but there were no people here. Today we raise cattle and sheep and every pound of feed they eat is a pound of feed that a deer or elk cannot eat. Every deer or elk harvested is a deer or elk that a wolf or grizzly cannot eat. Humans have replaced a certain number predators by eating wild game, and replaced a certain number of game animals by raising domestic animals, and by eating vegetation ourselves. The fact that predators and game existed in abundance during Lewis and Clark’s time/pre-European etc. is not evidence that those same numbers could be achieved with human presence.