Convince me to hunt Wolves

[ThreeOhSeven]

Like the title says...

I've always hunted for meat. I've never considered predator hunting until this season. I had a good, actually great, fall and harvested my biggest bull and second biggest buck to date. But this year, I've been seeing more wolves than ever before and the packs are a healthy dozen plus.
I tagged out early and decided to take a buddy into a late season honey hole. We saw and heard a few elk but right at sunrise the howls began and the woods became silent.
I'm teetering on th fence. Push me over the edge.

 

[Ross]

The simple fact is they kill whatever is in their path for an opportunity. It is not only the sick or old. Consider what a large pack must eat to sustain itself. They need managed, plain and simple and you save your future hunting opportunities with each one you kill. I have found kills in September on mature prime age bulls, prime age cows in October, prime age cows and calves mid summer and many after a good winter when they simply run them into deep snow. They chase and hunt 365 with no limit. Good luck.

Added a few more, just because I remember when I found her, the brutal seen of blood all over as they grabbed her front and back, ripping out her rear. She was still warm like the bull above. Just think she may have produced several bulls you would hunt over a decade or further cows to enhance the population. They literally wiped this mountain of elk over 5 years that they lived on it prior to moving off and now roam by. I go by once a year, but don’t hunt it like I used to.

 

[TheYukiYama]

It is fun. The hide is cool. Nobody said you have to hunt for only meat. Lots of bear taken in coastal areas for the hide too. Do you look down on trappers that take fox, coyote, beaver etc for the hide? Why not get a wolf, and make yourself a cool coat or something.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Read Alaska’s wolf man. Dude lived and hunted along side wolves, bred them with his sled dogs and probably had more experience with the animals than any modern person. He outlines what they are and what they are not. If that dude was down with killing wolves I think just about everyone should be. Wolves have been elevated to some weird position among North American mega fauna. They are not different than a coyote and should be treated as such. Yes they are cool animals but left unchecked they will absolutely destroy ungulates to the point where they will starve. So try to keep them in check

 

[Pescetism]

Well...wolves are made of meat

Seriously though, their expansion in range and population have far exceeded the boundaries identified before their reintroduction. Not to mention that a single wolf will eat more elk in year than I'll probably kill in a lifetime. Just having another open season would be enough reason for me to chase them.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

You need convincing after all that? They're predators and the state wants them managed with help from hunters. Should be enough of a reason right there.

 

[RockAndSage]

If you hunt for meat, help make sure there's more meat, by killing wolves.

If unchecked wolf expansion keeps going on, the days of you getting tags every year, let alone multiple tags a year, will be long gone and dead not just to you, but to your kids, and your grandkids as well.

It doesn't take many generations of sporadic tags to kill off hunting culturally. It's exactly what happened in California with mule deer and the banning of hunting mountain lions. People are lucky to get drawn once every 4 years. How many years do you have your kids at home, of hunting age? That's where unchecked wolf expansion leads.