Anti's get their way in Montana

[Pony Soldier]

Frankly I don't care. This is bucket biology. The native wolves were exterminated by these invaders. The prey species have been nearly exterminated by these massive unmanaged packs. My ranch is at risk every day by this plague. I live here and have to survive this mess. The majority of you are visitors. When you start taking a wolf with you when you go home, I will think about it.

 

[nodakian]

Does strychnine constitute hunting or trapping? It apparently worked in the past, and modern wolves probably aren't immune to it.

 

[bsnedeker]

Frankly I don't care. This is bucket biology. The native wolves were exterminated by these invaders. The prey species have been nearly exterminated by these massive unmanaged packs. My ranch is at risk every day by this plague. I live here and have to survive this mess. The majority of you are visitors. When you start taking a wolf with you when you go home, I will think about it.

Where is your ranch? If you're up near glacier I would happily set some traps for you!

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[Pony Soldier]

I appreciate that. I'm between Butte and Helena but after the pack ate 36 of the neighbors calves they brought in the government trapper and elimonated all but two. Two means the problem will be back in a couple years. I have lost horses from cats as well as a flock of turkeys. None of the cat chasers will participate in the area because of the wolves. Our peaceful life is gone. Now we are armed all of the time - in vehicles or on horses. Thank you for the offer!

 

[Seeknelk]

I appreciate that. I'm between Butte and Helena but after the pack ate 36 of the neighbors calves they brought in the government trapper and elimonated all but two. Two means the problem will be back in a couple years. I have lost horses from cats as well as a flock of turkeys. None of the cat chasers will participate in the area because of the wolves. Our peaceful life is gone. Now we are armed all of the time - in vehicles or on horses. Thank you for the offer!

You lost horses cuz of a flock of turkeys!? Cats I can see but man...

 

[North country]

How ridiculous

 

[Pony Soldier]

Nope. Cats killed and ate two of my horses in the 90s and at a later date ate 5 - 45 lb turkeys in one night. Mtn lions like horse meat especially foals.

 

[WCB]

I appreciate that. I'm between Butte and Helena but after the pack ate 36 of the neighbors calves they brought in the government trapper and elimonated all but two. Two means the problem will be back in a couple years. I have lost horses from cats as well as a flock of turkeys. None of the cat chasers will participate in the area because of the wolves. Our peaceful life is gone. Now we are armed all of the time - in vehicles or on horses. Thank you for the offer!

Strange no cat chasers will hunt in your area...maybe get linked up with a Wisconsin hound club somehow...During their last wolf season the WI guys literally chased packs of wolves with dogs and cleaned them up pretty good. Might be able to get a NR hound guy to come over and take care of a cat or two.

 

[bsnedeker]

Strange no cat chasers will hunt in your area...maybe get linked up with a Wisconsin hound club somehow...During their last wolf season the WI guys literally chased packs of wolves with dogs and cleaned them up pretty good. Might be able to get a NR hound guy to come over and take care of a cat or two.

Wolves vs Lion Hounds: Attacks Rising in Montana and Idaho

This lion hound, named Sadie, was killed by wolves on a hunt near Libby, Montana on February 2. Left: Owner, Ryker Hittle, and his father, Todd, with Sadie and her last bobcat before the wolf attack. Photos courtesy of Phil Soucy. On the morning of February 23, Hamilton, Montana, outfitter Tom...

www.fieldandstream.com

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[wind gypsy]

Plenty of hounds get killed by the great lakes wolves. The impression i got was that the houndsmen hated them enough that they were happy to send hounds after the wolves to get wolves killed though.

 

[wytx]

Does strychnine constitute hunting or trapping? It apparently worked in the past, and modern wolves probably aren't immune to it.

Not very target discriminatory though. What else might it kill besides wolves?

 

[nodakian]

Not very target discriminatory though. What else might it kill besides wolves?

I was attempting deadpan humor, certainly not advocacy. That stuff would definitely cause collateral damage.

 

[dtrkyman]

Anyone here killed more than 5 Wolves in a season? Legally!

 

[Wolf_trapper]

Plenty of hounds get killed by the great lakes wolves. The impression i got was that the houndsmen hated them enough that they were happy to send hounds after the wolves to get wolves killed though.

In wi they cut fresh tracks heading into a small island of timber and turn dogs out and shoot the wolves as they come out the other side. Wouldn't work at all in large roadless areas like northern MN or Montana. Hounds would either get out ran or killed.

 

[bcv]

More like you don't need hunters if you have wolves... that's the 30,000 foot view

 

[Pony Soldier]

Interesting technique. In our country of mostly timber and a few parks it would be tougher. Last year 12 wolves swept through 5 miles north of my house. Not a point but the entire 5 miles and ran everything out to below the snowline. A great deal like a flock of sheep dogs stripping the country of sheep.

The area they had cleaned was about 15 sq miles in a night. The next place I cut their tracks was roughly 16 miles east of there about 10 hrs later. You have to get fairly serious to catch up with these packs.

 

[Shorthunter]

As hunters we need to organize better than we are now. We need to stop bickering between each other and start putting our time, voices and money together. The anti-hunting crowd has won the hearts and minds game so far and fundraising game. Most of us that hunt and harvest timber are also not the type that want to make the Fed agencies pay back the cost of our court costs. It also doesn't help that the majority of the US population now lives in cities and is never exposed, in anyway, to hunting, wildlife and timber management.

One of the best ways to support our cause is to support the organizations who have lobbyist fighting our cause and to get into the ear of those lobbyists. Think RMEF, Pheasants Forever; they have groups across the country and in Washington DC fighting for hunters and conservation. It's sad that we need a lobbyists to fight our fight, but that seems to be the best way to get shit done

 

[Coldtrail]

In wi they cut fresh tracks heading into a small island of timber and turn dogs out and shoot the wolves as they come out the other side. Wouldn't work at all in large roadless areas like northern MN or Montana. Hounds would either get out ran or killed.

It's possible to kill wolves in the big timber with hounds by looking for the 1-2 travelling together, but as a guy with hounds no way I'd be putting any tree dog I value on a wolf chase, I'd be worried 1. That i'd get a good dog killed over a stinky wolf which is about as big a trophy to me as a woodtick or mosquito and 2. That I'd turn a respectable cat dog into a wolf combo dog whenever I hunt wolf country & need to verify every race to make sure I'm still on the cats and not a wolf. Obviously opinions will vary.

Be careful what you ask for with houndsmen dealing with your wolves, nobody wants to admit it, but WI is like little California the past few yrs with groups trying to end hound hunting. By adding large groups of hound hunters armed with AR's, go pros, tracked UTVs, and hounds along with a quota overharvest, and social media videos/pics of kills everywhere...all done while under the anti hunting microscope is what ended ALL legal wolf hunting/trapping in WI. Nobody likes my opinion, but if WI hunters want to complain about not being able to hunt wolves, look in the mirror and at the image that was put out there during the last season.

That being said, from a common sense management perspective, if you opened the hunting/trapping season like coyotes and let everyone have at it, I am a strong believer that a "legal" harvest would never eliminate wolves & allow the more fearless or domestic animal conditioned ones to be addressed in short order, only twos "S's needed instead of the usual 3.

 

[MTSasquatch]

This is exactly right.

Couldn’t agree more. I say this same thing to folks who call me about how to hunt wolves in my neck of the woods. They invariably invoke the loss of elk, moose, and deer, which in some places is very real but in other most certainly not, as the hook to why wolves need to be managed. They do need to be managed. But very, very few people actually take it seriously enough to get the job done. If we handed out 5 bull elk licenses for folks to use every season, we’d be out of bull elk in a few years. When we give out 5 wolf tags a year, most folks don’t buy a single one, let alone fill one. Are they difficult to hunt? Yes. Are public land bulls difficult to hunt? Yes. But most of us on this forum who are dedicated elk hunters manage to kill a bull every year. I know very few people who have even killed a wolf, let alone gone hunting for the sole purpose of trying to shoot one.

The whole situation is a true head scratcher! We should all not only buy tags, but use and fill them. That’s how management via hunting works. It doesn’t work unless there is participation commensurate with the management goal. Complaining about wolves is irrelevant to actual wolf management.

 

[Wolf_trapper]

Couldn’t agree more. I say this same thing to folks who call me about how to hunt wolves in my neck of the woods. They invariably invoke the loss of elk, moose, and deer, which in some places is very real but in other most certainly not, as the hook to why wolves need to be managed. They do need to be managed. But very, very few people actually take it seriously enough to get the job done. If we handed out 5 bull elk licenses for folks to use every season, we’d be out of bull elk in a few years. When we give out 5 wolf tags a year, most folks don’t buy a single one, let alone fill one. Are they difficult to hunt? Yes. Are public land bulls difficult to hunt? Yes. But most of us on this forum who are dedicated elk hunters manage to kill a bull every year. I know very few people who have even killed a wolf, let alone gone hunting for the sole purpose of trying to shoot one.

The whole situation is a true head scratcher! We should all not only buy tags, but use and fill them. That’s how management via hunting works. It doesn’t work unless there is participation commensurate with the management goal. Complaining about wolves is irrelevant to actual wolf management.

I get what you're saying and agree with most of it, but the basic biology of wolves v bull elk is very different. Wolves travel 15-20mi a night just because they can while bulls will hang out in the same drainage for days at a time. Not to mention there are far more elk than wolves thank Christ. Much easier to consistently kill bulls.

Another thought I have often is that I'm glad not every elk hunter goes out and tries to kill coyotes and wolves. It makes it much harder to get them killed after they have been screwed with. More is not always better.