Wolf delisting

[sagebrush]

I read an article that has a small mention on the delisting of wolves. It is about half way down the page.
Gary

 http://thehill.com/homenews/house/155421-six-month-spending-bill-unveiled-whats-cut-and-whats-not

[nightowl1]

Wow, thanks for sharing that. Going to be interesting to watch how that plays out.

[twitchstick]

[mountain trapper]

They are already selling wolf tags here      I was in Elk City this past week bear hunting and camping, didn't see any elk tracks that didn't have a set of wolf tracks to go with them  :mad:   I had a pack of wovles 300 yards from camp one night.  I also didn't see any bears, I talked with a couple of forest rangers in Elk City and they said that they thought the wolves were killing the cubs, I've heard that from several credable people now.  In the Lolo units (10,12) Fish and Game is allowing the outfitters to kill all the wolves they can during the spring bear hunt.  The goal is to reduce the numbers down to 20 in those two units.  The elk count in unit 10 in 1995 when they relesed the wolves was around 16,000 and now its down to about 2,000!!!

[k9bowman]

My only question is: Why are we allowing politicians to manage our wildlife resources and not the biologists.

[Winterhawk1960]

Originally posted by k9bowman:
My only question is: Why are we allowing politicians to manage our wildlife resources and not the biologists.

Very good question........Robert. The politicians nowadays seem to think that they know more than any expert that went to school and learned how to properly "manage wildlife". The founding fathers would turn over in their graves if they could see what has came to be.

Far be it for anyone to be smarter and to know better than an "elected official". It's time for a real house cleaning.........in my opinion.

Winterhawk1960

[snag]

Because the biologists have no power! Plus they are worried about rocking the boat and loosing their retirement.

[Fallguy]

That maybe Snag but that is because we let the politicians control the out comes. We allow them to appoint department mangers with no resource management back round to run the show. And in true political fashion they play ball with there politician buddies and cow tow to demands made by them. In MN we have the largest wolf population in the lower 48. They have not eliminated the deer population the only thing that drives that number down is mother nature. Now the elk have not had to live with the wolf for close to 100 years that is why they are now on the short end of the stick. If they have sufficient habitat they will relearn the skills they had 100 years ago to evade the wolf. They will be tougher to hunt by us because they will be pursued 365 days a year. The number may not reach the all time highs but was that a realist number based on carrying capacity of the habitat?

[stujay]

Wasn't it politicians that decided we needed to populate the west with wolves in the first place.

[ScottL]

I absolutely agree that we should have brought back wolves. The problem is that they are an invasive species and not the native one that once roamed those areas. These wolves larger and more aggressive than the native species. I also can not wait to get a chance to hunt them. And the politicians need to leave the land management to the professionals.