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[CHD]

Wolves: An Outfitter's View

 

An outfitter's view on Wyoming's wolf reintroduction plan

 

By

Maury Jones

Wyoming Wildlife Magazine

 

 

Most Wyoming hunters opposed the introduction of the Canadian Gray Wolf and continue to oppose its protection. The primary reason for this opposition is very simple; wolves compete for the huntable surplus of game.

 

Historically, more animals are born than are needed to replace natural mortality. This recruitment enables the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to issue permits to hunters, producing revenue to pay for game management. Game populations are kept in balance through regulated hunting and Wyoming hunters are able to get meat for the freezer to help feed their families. This system has worked for several decades.

 

Many outfitters don't believe wolves only kill the weak, sick and old of a herd.

 

Enter the Canadian Gray Wolf, courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service and those who push the anti-hunting, pro-predator agenda. They introduced this non-native wolf under the guise of "restoring historical balance to the Yellowstone ecosystem", even though strong evidence shows that wolves rarely entered Yellowstone in the 77 years prior to 1913 (National Park Service Documents, The Wolves of Yellowstone" Weaver 1978).

 

Also, an official government document, Yellowstone Animal Census, 1912, lists various animals and their numbers, but under Gray Wolves the total is listed as NONE (Hornaday, Our Vanishing Wildlife, pg 336).

 

The science used to introduce wolves was dubious as stated by Dr. Charles E. Kay, in his Independent Policy Report. "The Federal Government and other wolf advocates have taken liberties with the truth, with science, and with the Endangered Species Act. Wolf studies regarding possible impact on big game are arbitrary and capricious. They represent not science but a masterful job of deception."

 

Canadian Grays are NOT the original wolf that was in Wyoming. The original Rocky Mountain Wolf was much smaller and did not run in packs. The only conclusion we hunters can make is that ending sport hunting is the major objective and not the recovery of an endangered specie.

 

We believe the Canadian Gray Wolf is a MAJOR wildlife disaster in the making. Our Wyoming big game populations are not evolved to deal with the predation of this huge non-native wolf and it shows in the impact the wolf is making. The Dunoir Valley, north of Dubois, was the home of approximately 80 Shiras moose. They are completely gone. The Spring Mountain Elk Herd near Dubois is in serious jeopardy. The Jackson Hole moose herd, north of Jackson, was numbered at 830 in 2000. In 2002 the count was 489.

 

Elk calf:cow ratios have dropped significantly in areas frequented by wolves. Very low calf:cow ratios in the Gros Ventre, where wolf predation is high, has Wyoming elk hunters greatly concerned.

 

A Yellowstone study on elk calf mortality from wolf predation showed in December there were 46 calves per 100 cows but by May it had dropped to only 3 per hundred. The following year there were 38:100 in December but 9:100 in May. (Rosemary Jaffe, Montana State University, Wolf Predation in the Firehole and Madison River Drainages).

 

It is significant that both Alaska and British Columbia, which have thousands of wolves, have recently initiated wolf reduction programs in some areas to "increase numbers of ungulates for subsistence hunting".

 

Wyoming hunters don't necessarily hate wolves, but many of us strongly object to any efficient predator being imposed on our wildlife without adequate population control.

 

Much misinformation has been promulgated about the Gray Wolf, such as "only the Alpha Female will breed and have pups". That is NOT TRUE.

 

Autopsies of 2,000 female wolves by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game show that more than 90% have pups. There have been several observations in the "Yellowstone wolves" of more than one female of a pack having pups in the same year.

 

Other misinformation says a wolf will kill only the weak, the sick, the old, and will only kill what it needs. Facts refute that claim. On the Camp Creek Elk Feedground in 2002, a lone wolf killed five calf elk in one night, eating less than ten pounds of meat. Quite a number of elk, including some large bulls, have been killed on the Gros Ventre feedgrounds and many of them have had just the lips and noses eaten. Wolves have not returned to these kills no matter how little they have eaten of the carcass. Several mutilated elk have had to be put out of their misery.

 

Some claim the wolf is filling a vacant niche in the ecosystem and wolves will self-regulate their population to stay in balance with the prey base. Wyoming hunters don't believe it. Wolf populations will expand as long as they have something to eat. Wolf populations will not decline even when their prey base is scarce because then they will prey on livestock. Big game populations will soon be below the surplus level needed to sustain our historical hunting opportunities.

 

The wolf population is growing approximately 30% per year, according to USFWS figures. Biologists tend to be cautious (deceptive?) regarding wolf impact by just counting the numbers of wolves and the prey they consume; the results are becoming painfully obvious.

 

Using official USFWS statistics, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem has approximately 271 wolves as of December 2002 and each wolf kills approximately 1.9 elk per month. Therefore, about 514 elk are killed each month, more than 6,000 elk killed each year by wolves. These are the figures given by those in charge of wolf 'management' (NOTE: Monitoring wolves does not constitute 'management'. Population control to keep them in balance with their prey base would be management).

 

Those 6,000 elk could have been "sold," via hunting permits, thus generating millions of dollars for game departments and yielding over one million pounds of elk meat for families of hunters. Wyoming hunters feel it is unacceptable to feed that resource to non-native wolves. This 'experimental non-essential population' of wolves has already reduced some of our hunting permits, contrary to projections, and will probably eliminate some hunts.

 

In conclusion, Wyoming hunters don't necessarily hate wolves, but many of us strongly object to any efficient predator being imposed on our wildlife without adequate population control.

 

 

Outfitter Maury Jones has run a hunting camp in Wyoming since 1978. Prior to moving to Wyoming, he operated an outfitting business in Arizona and Colorado. Today, he operates on the Greys River south of Jackson. He has served as the president of the Jackson Hole Outfitters and Guides Association and is currently on the board of the Wyoming Oufitters and Guides Association, where he serves on the wolf committee. Jones and his wife have six children and seven grandchildren and live in the Star Valley.

[KGAINES]

The only people that would benifit from this is the anti-hunters, nobody else. The game and fish dept. would lose millions eventually on the tags that they would have to give up, not to mention more people they would employ to monitor the wolves. I also think that something very drastic would have to happen before they allowed the wolves to be hunted. I find no good in this as a hunter.

[wetmule]

Griz,

The deer , elk, pronghorn, bighorns, moose got along fine with the bears, as do I.

My problem is with the wolves that are capable of decimating entire populations of big game ( which is what is going on right now in Wyo., Mont., & Idaho ) There is a reason why there use to be a bounty on them. They are going to kill all the wildlife in those parts, when they are done with that they will destroy the ranchers herds.

My beef is with the feds and the Sierra Clubbers that forced this wolf crap down our throats and told us to swallow, and by the way made us pay for it. It's going to be wolves or other big game species before too long, not both. When big game species plummett further and wolf numbers grow larger, then the govt. will say yea maybe we have a problem that we need to deal with.

[rimhunter]

THE WAY I SEE IT OUR DEER AND ANTELOPE HAVE BEEN DEVESTATED BY THE OVER POPULATION OF COYOTES AND LIONS SO LETS THROW A FEW WOLFES AND BEARS TO CLEAN UP WHATS LEFT . AND THERE BE NOTHING TO HUNT .JUST WHAT THE TREE HUGERS WONT . TO KEEP YOU LOCKED OUT OF THE WOODS

 

IS THIS WHAT WE ALL WONT ?

[.270]

first off, the mexican gray wold is extinct and has been for a couple decades. every animal that the usfws is trying to reintroduce is part dog. every one of em. when they started their breeding program, there were no wolves left and they started with some animals that all had dog DNA. some were half dog. that's a fact. it's hidden deep in their propoganda, but it's there. i've made a couple of the wolfers admit it to me and have had a azgfd biologist tell me the same thing and he's the one that showed me the data in the program. all this wolf introduction is, is a wolf/dog cross, introduction. you can't "re-introduce" something that never existed in the wild. i still don't think establishing a population is the goal. it's a tool to eventually stop ranching, logging and hunting on federal land. the reason the wolf reintriduction worked well in wyoming and montana is because they had real, live, wild animals to start with. they just took them from one place and started them up in another that had the same elevation, flora, fauna, climate, etc. the reason this crap in Az. and new mex is such a miserable failure is because they started out with pen raised, domesticated, wolf/dog crosses that a buncha hippies tried to "teach" how to be wild animals. and when one does become sorta wild, they shoot it, because it won't stay put and just eat wild animals. the whole program is a waste of money and a burden on the folks that live in those areas. if you accidently shoot one, because you think it's a coyote (and they look just like a coyote) you will go to prison if you're caught and you'll be a convicted felon for the rest of your life. even if it was a complete accident with no intention of breaking a law. as far as re-introducing grizzlies, they're extinct too. they ain't the same animal as lives north of here. the sonoran grizzly was a different animal. same genus, different sub-species. be the same thing as trying to introduce eastern whitetail and callin' em coues deer. if you think taking an animal from the high country of the north and putting it in fringe desert like we have here is gonna work , best think again. it'd be just as big o' fiasco as this wolf/dog deal is. Lark.

[Idahocoueshunter]

Take it from me, fight the reintroduction of the wolf tooth and nail. Here in Idaho, the Feds and the Nez Perce Indian tribes shoved the wolves down our throat, with little or no chance for public input. Reintroduced wolves put in the Salmon River-Frank Church wilderness, have expanded well into surrounding areas, causing havoc with both sheep and cattle ranchers. One "Idaho wolf" showed up west of the Bule Mountains in Oregon. Washington and Utah both had visits from Idaho wolves. One pack had to be destroyed because it had settled too close to civilization. Elk patterns have changed. Less deer have been seen. I'm sure forest restrictions are pending. Idaho Fish and Game have very little input on the management of the wolves, but they were sucessful in making them a game animial, although there is not current season on them. There is talk of Grizzly reintorduction as well, but Washington DC dosen't realize Idaho had wolves and grizzly bears all along, just in managed numbers.

Arizona could be next. At least fight for some input, even the feds need some checks and balances.

 

Craig.