Like Cowboy, I am cheering for Wyoming. I still wish their strategy had not held up the management in MT and ID for so many years. Nothing we can do about that now. I still hope they get their seasons.
WY will always have fewer wolves than MT. Just a function of area and habitat. WY did not have wolves coming in from three directions. MT had them coming in from ID, Canada, and YNP.
Idaho had twice as many wolves as MT at this time last year. So, one would expect that Id would kill twice as many wolves as MT. That is what happened, even with the differences in seasons.
I will be in Helena the next two days, fighting (possibly not just figuratively) about the future of wolf management in MT. I want to make sure that all reasonable efforts are made to improve wolf management in MT. We have a lot more options than what we are currently using and I expect the Department to use those options. All indicators are that at these meetings we will hear there decisions to implement more options.
I also want to make sure we stay within the bounds of the plan we adopted through thousands of hours of arguing, from thousands of public comments, and reflects what Montanans wanted in their wolf plan. Or at least what was wanted by the majority of those who took the time and effort to participate in the process.
One thing I am not going to let go by the wayside is something Shoots mentioned. The Elk Management Plan and the effects of HB 42.
How many hunters in SW MT know that we shot over 100 cow elk in "damage hunts" in Madison Valley in December, 2011 and January, 2012? And killed even more in 2010, and even more in 2009.
Yeah, in spite of our herds being migratory and being hammered by over harvest of cows, predation, a killer winter of 2010, we are still hammering the female segment of the population.
Hunters would be up in arms if it was wolves sent out to kill 100 cow elk this winter. Yet, no one is saying a word.
Why are we killing cow elk in late "damage hunts" in the Madison? Why do we have super aggressive seasons in the Gravellys? Why will there be a recommendation to have 450 elk B tags in the Madison for 2012?
Because we have ridiculously low population objectives in our elk management plan for that and other areas. Those low objectives cause us to be at or over objective even now, a time when hunters say they are seeing fewer elk and blaming it all on wolves. Yet, the bigger elk issues go unattended.
We did not fight so hard to get delisting, just to say we have delisting. We fought that hard so that we would manage wolves. We need more aggressive wolf management. Word is that we will hear that same message from the Department this week.
Yet, even if we kill every wolf in Montana, our elk management plan says that in most units in the wolf-infested areas, we need to kill more elk. So, killing every wolf will not increase elk herds until we change the wolf management plan, the objectives in that plan, and the ridiculous directive of HB 42.
HB 42 is the bill known as "the Barrett bill." It was sponsored by Debbie Barrett, a rancher in SW MT. It requires the Department to take all measures necessary to kill elk until numbers are at or below objectives in the plan.
How are we ever going to have more elk under that scenario? Easy answer - We are not.
So, as much as I fully intend to trap as many wolves as will be allowed in Montana in 2012, I am not going to let the Elk Management Plan and HB 42 continue to continue without change.
We will hear the whining and moaning by Fanning, Bridgers, SFW, and the likes. They are all carpet baggers who are Donny Come Lately's to the Elk Management Plan, to the issues of HB 42, and for the most part, new arrivals in the 15 years battle for wolf management in MT.
They want the world to think they have the answers. The same people who tried to kill the bill that gave us delisting, who ignore that we could kill every wolf in MT and not increase elk numbers in MT, want to drive the bus in elk management in this state.
I'm not going to sit idly by and let the fringe elements ride their short bus to Helena and promote their agenda, without trying to point out to the hunters of this state, most of whom are very intelligent guys, that we need to focus on ALL things affecting elk. Not just the trendy target represented by wolves.
I will give the report of how it goes.
Sorry this diverted the thread from the Wyoming plan. I am part of that diversion, thinking it was an MT wolf thread. Carry on about issues related to the Wyoming plan.
