This is just simple math and very sad... Even a half starved wolf will eat every three days, that is 122 dead elk per year...for 3000 wolves this equates to 366,000 (That is three hundred,sixty-six thousand) dead big game animals per year minimum!!!! Anyone that says they don't kill for fun must not have a dog or cat. (ever see what a grizzly will do to a flock of sheep...they will kill hundreds all at once, just cause it is "just so dam much fun"..LOL)

Give me a break!!! This is the begining of the end to all hunting and woodland freedoms as we know it.

The worst part is that these HUGE Tundra wolves are not the same species that once roamed the western mountains.

The native elk were all gone (miners and western expansion saw to that). The elk living here now were reintroduced by our grandfathers and their HUNTER DOLLARS so that we could have something to hunt. They do not belong to the wolves, they were bought and paid for by the HUNTERS....NO ONE Else!

Montana puts a $8000 restitution value on an elk... that means wolves are taking $2,928,000,000 dollars worth of OUR elk every year!

The POO-Bah may know science but not so good at math. I've lived around wolves most of my life;{I'm 58 tears old}. They are stone cold killers; not just for food either. Running, howling killing machines. They have a place in nature; about six feet under ground.

Joe W

I agree with Vance - have never heard of a charging wolf. This story kinda reminds me of a friend on a deer hunt a few years back that returned with a little yearling. When we asked why he shot such a little deer, his response was that "It attacked me." Always a good excuse. Unless she has reliable witnesses I would be a little concerned that USF&W would consider prosecution.

I don't have nay problem with the reintroduction in the Yellowstone ecosystem. That said, the reintroduction has been allowed to get out of hand. If they had stayed with the original recovery goals, it would have been fine. They are probably at 5 times those numbers now.

Wolf populations do not work on a balance of nature basis. Since they target the weak, they kill not only the old but also the young. When wolf populations increase as a result of high ungulate populatons, they force the prey into a predator pit. The herd will be relatively strong for a number of years, but the almost total predation on the young results in very low recruitment. Then the game population ages out of their reporductive prime. Since there are no young to replace them, they become the weak and the prey, and the population falls off a cliff. This happens with caribou regularly in Alaska in the absence of predator control. It will happen in the northern Rockies if they don't allow the hunters and trappers to keep the number in check.

I thought wolves hunted in packs? I did not realize that each and every wolf in a pack, including the pups, killed there own elk, every 3 days. You're assumptions are flawed.

Hunters do not own game animals, especially if they don't own the land where the game animal is. And I hear there's a few people out there that hunt elk on public land.

I am through with this argument. If you are actually concerned for the future of hunting then you will do you best to work on the image of hunters. A lot of effort went into building the image we currently have, and reversing that hard work will not do much for our future.

This may well be true, but I do not understand what this has to do with the discussion at hand.

Just remember GOD put man on earth to rule over all animals.

If we want the quality of hunting to improve man must regulate how many of the lesser animals die each year to keep the system in balance.

The money lost by states issuing less permits, because there are less elk and deer can be crippling. The money from outdoormen is what keeps wild life in balance.

Yeah Clayton, I'll tell you I DO hunt only for food. I couldn't care less about "getting the big one" as you call it. Ask anyone who hunts with me, I take the FIRST LEGAL one that I come across. My tag is ALWAYS an either sex tag just for that reason! If a cow or doe is the first to present a shot, I'll GLADLY take it. I don't go after trophy elk or deer, I go after food, and take the first clean shot that is presented to me, no matter the sex.

There are more that think like me than ya think, so don't make such a quick statement that we are all after the big one. Yeah, if a "big one" is the first legal one I see, I'll gladly take it, but I'm not ABOUT to pass the first legal one I see in hopes of finding a big one. I MUCH prefer the food in the frreezer than a rack on the wall. And yes, I too am one that thinks introducing wolves was a HUGE mistake. Stupid politicians...

Your statement got to me Clayton, and to me and my family, that was over the line.

The people DO own the animals they hunt; private or public land. This is not Europe, the land owners do not own the wildlife; it belongs to all of us.

Joe W

Clayton, I too hunt for food, as my screen name implies I love elk hunting and I've killed a bunch and the biggest one I've killed was a 2 1/2 yr old 5x6. When I mule deer hunt I can shoot spike or bigger so I do have a self imposed limit of forked horn or better but I've never killed anything bigger than small to avg 4x4's. Blacktails are the same thing, my wife has killed three bucks bigger than anything I've killed and all between 5/8th's and 4" of making the net book minimum and the biggest blacktail I've killed was 3x2 and I've hunted them for 30yrs. I'll shoot forkies all day long, they also generally taste better. 90% of the meat my family has eaten over the past 12 months has been elk and it's that way every year the tags get filled. I always tell myself when I draw my mulie tag that I'll hold for a big one but the meat hunter in me always takes over since that is the way I was taught to hunt. I could have shot two of the three trophy blacktails my wife shot as well as the 26" wide mulie forked horn but I get more of kick out watching her kill animals bigger than some hunters ever get, especially when it comes to blacktails. I've shot two trophy animals and they were both butchered. I paid to hunt an exotic ranch and took a 69" Aisian buffalo which was still 6" short for the SCI books and I shot a Gold Medal hog that weighed between 700 and 800lbs but I wouldn't pay the fee to have him entered.

Anyone that has lived around and especially worked cattle operations want these predators reintroduced and that goes for any livestock. I have a side job destroying predators at chicken ranch which includes killing red tailed hawks which are my favorite bird but I'll still do it to protect the livestock. I've shot at domestic dogs harrassing cattle when I worked and lived on a cattle spread. The egg ranch is now having problems with what the believe to be a feral dog and he's next. I've killed feral cats for coming in my cat door and eating my cat's food. There is a place for these animals but it isn't around people. Like I said if you remove the people nature will restore it's natural order but that isn't going to happen so we have to manage and regulate the numbers. I just killed my second porcupine in a week while deer hunting because they kill trees and the forest service says they need to be thinned out. It was just a dozen or so years ago they were protected here. I have nothing against porkies but they are destructive, hell I even think they are kind of cute little buggers but if you've ever seen and evergreen forest with a porcupine infestation you'd understand why it's necessary.

Here in Oregon you can already only kill one deer unless you draw an anterless tag. In the west side of cascades to the coast the success rate is already only 12% and elk is 8%, fortunately my numbers are much higher even since becoming disabled. Part of the problem is predation since they stopped the use of dogs for cougar and bear. I can't imagine what will happen when the wolves get over here. They have already dropped most controlled hunts to half the number of tags they used to have for mule deer because their numbers are dropping across the entire west, what kind of affect do you think the wolves are having on that problem. You mentioned sarcastically about the young the wolves, well that does actually make the problem worse because the mother and pack then have to kill that much more to sustain the young which unlike most animals they come into heat multiple times a year and can have multiple litters causing the population to grow exponentially. Not to mention as mentioned before this breed of wolf is much larger than the original breed that was here.

As far as a threat to humans, there are next to no records of human kills but that is believe to be because most attacks have taken place in areas where the people were presumed lost and dead and no cause of death could ever be determined. There are howeved many recorded human deaths from coyotes and they are much smaller and less agressive unless they are hungry.

I just can't see how any true hunter that spends his time hunting on their own on public land or anyone that has a clue about livestock could think this is a good thing. I've lived primarily in three counties in Oregon and in every county there have been horses killed by cougars, if a 100-150 lb cat can take down a 1000-1500lb horse which makes the horse 10x the size of the cat think about what a pack of wolves could do the horses. I hadn't even mentioned house pets to this point, I've lost a cat to coyotes where I live now and I've known dozens of people in CA and OR that have lost livestock and pets of all kinds to coyotes and cats.

Personally, I have no love whatsoever for the wolf.
Once it becomes legal to hunt them here (if it does), I intend to take one, and more if I can.

This is what came in the email I got. I do not know her or her son. Happened not far from where I live. The problem is way worse than what the media is saying. It is a slaughter out here. The deer and elk are dead by the thousands. They are aggresive towards people. We are hearing many stories about it from the locals but you will not hear about it in the media. Enough BS already.

Email,
This email should be read by anyone who hunts, camps, or spends any
amount of time in the woods in northern Idaho. Last night I received a
phone call from my mother who lives in Headquarters. She informed me
that on Sunday while bow hunting she was attacked by a wolf. A few of
you know that she is not your typical mother or grandmother. She has
worked as a professional hunting guide for many years, so she has spent
many hours in the woods. She has seen wolfs on many occasions and this
is the first time one came at her. She said as soon as the wolf saw her
it charged.She was able to drop her bow, draw her 44 mag out of its
holster, and put 1 round in the wolfs head at a range of a few feet.
Please let any of your family and friends know of this so they can take
whatever precautions needed while out in the woods. If any of you have
any questions please feel free to call me. Thank's