Wolves in Colorado

[pumatom]

state

I stand corrected
But every one I

Does not surprise me
Co

That doesn't surprise me
Cobalt was the most crooked fish and game director in the state

Should say Conaly was the most crooked Idaho fish and game director

 

[wymtnpounder]

No good will come from wolves in Colorado

 

[MtnOyster]

Man...………………….ya'll need a few more rednecks out there! I can't believe people let these things get this bad out of hand no matter what the laws say.
A pack of released wolves wouldn't last 15 minutes here in Kentucky.

 

[bummer7580]

I suspect the large number of wolves in MN won't be controlled until they have eaten all the deer and moose in northern MN. The wolf crash will then come as they succumb to starvation and probably mange. A few years ago our DNR blamed the moose decline on "climate change". No mention of the 3500 wolves in MN. Hmmm- not sure what most thought of that.

 

[BCSojourner]

That being the case, how did a federal judge decide the grizz hunt will be on hold?

R

Federal Judges do indeed rule on TES (Threatened and Endangered Species), like the grizzly, which are under the US Fish and Wildlife Service purview; however the Feds do not 'dump' reintroduced species onto public lands. These animals are typically reintroduced by State Fish and Game agencies in coordination with the Feds who manage the habitat. If the wolf was reintroduced in CO (& there has been some talk about it over the past several years) it would be done by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. They are the ones that have sent out surveys, questionnaires, etc. in the past, not the Feds. A lot of misunderstanding out there about who manages what. Just trying to clarify that the Feds (BLM and USFS) manage the public lands (i.e., 'habitat'), and they work very closely with State Fish and Game agencies who manage the wildlife. Wildlife is technically State-owned. You don't purchase a hunting or fishing license through a Federal agency. If you hit an animal on a highway you don't call the Feds - you call a State Trooper or Game Officer. When a wolf was mistakenly shot by a coyote hunter near Kremmling a couple of years ago, it was investigated by CO Parks and Wildlife.

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

Looks like the genetic “super wolves”notion is completely false

 

[pumatom]

Man...………………….ya'll need a few more rednecks out there! I can't believe people let these things get this bad out of hand no matter what the laws say.
A pack of released wolves wouldn't last 15 minutes here in Kentucky.

Why's that
U going to chance jail time
And U have no idea how vast and isolated the country is out here

 

[bailey214]

So long as your Fish and Game dept. asserts that, just keep shooting all the "big coyotes" you can find...

I was thinking the same thing. LOL

 

[mtmuley]

Why's that
U going to chance jail time
And U have no idea how vast and isolated the country is out here

Must be a Kentucky thing. There was a guy from there on another forum that claimed his dog could hunt down and kill a wolf pack. Grizzly bears too. Funny stuff. mtmuley

 

[Birdman88]

Must be a Kentucky thing. There was a guy from there on another forum that claimed his dog could hunt down and kill a wolf pack. Grizzly bears too. Funny stuff. mtmuley

Would love to see that

 

[MtnOyster]

Would love to see that

yea me too

 

[MtnOyster]

Why's that
U going to chance jail time
And U have no idea how vast and isolated the country is out here

i'm out there every year...…………...I know exactly how vast and isolated it is.

 

[pumatom]

Would love to see that

His dog better b a 200 pound pit bull

 

[pumatom]

His dog better b a 200 pound pit bull

And he probably will need a few of them

 

[woody6899]

Federal Judges do indeed rule on TES (Threatened and Endangered Species), like the grizzly, which are under the US Fish and Wildlife Service purview; however the Feds do not 'dump' reintroduced species onto public lands. These animals are typically reintroduced by State Fish and Game agencies in coordination with the Feds who manage the habitat. If the wolf was reintroduced in CO (& there has been some talk about it over the past several years) it would be done by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. They are the ones that have sent out surveys, questionnaires, etc. in the past, not the Feds. A lot of misunderstanding out there about who manages what. Just trying to clarify that the Feds (BLM and USFS) manage the public lands (i.e., 'habitat'), and they work very closely with State Fish and Game agencies who manage the wildlife. Wildlife is technically State-owned. You don't purchase a hunting or fishing license through a Federal agency. If you hit an animal on a highway you don't call the Feds - you call a State Trooper or Game Officer. When a wolf was mistakenly shot by a coyote hunter near Kremmling a couple of years ago, it was investigated by CO Parks and Wildlife.

They do dump them on private land without telling the land owner. There was a video going around with a helicopter setting down a griz in a net in the middle of a herd of cows. Metettsee or Clark I can’t remember. I wonder where that video has gone?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[backstrapsaregood]

I think they are already in CO. due to natural migration. They are in UT out on the eastern side, and in WY in the same triangle of the three States. DNR in UT denies but I know people who say they have seen them. My son had one run right in front of his truck driving up American Fork Canyon a couple years back. He said " It just looked to big to be a coyote or large dog" If I remember correctly there was a report on the news of finding a single wolf in No Utah. Tracks around the carcus showed another wolf. So it may have been a mating pair.

That’s what I don’t get. why are they going to waste tax dollars on introducing wolves when they are going to end up there anyway the way things are going. Doesn’t make sense...

 

[Okhotnik]

Gee, never saw this coming...
It's as if they are spreading out because of over population in current areas.

R

No no they don’t. See Buzz’s studies

 

[Rthur]

No no they don’t. See Buzz’s studies

A side effect that was known and desired from the beginning.
I read them.
If the seasons have been modified the kill numbers represent an apples to oranges argument.

R

 

[chukar_chaser]

The wolf creates more hysteria and paranoia than any other animal. Half the shit you read about them makes you scratch your head.

 

[RCB]

Just read a post from Eastman
The liberal politics in Co. R going to bring em in
Wolves will destroy your wildlife populations
Just like they have done to Idaho
Do "anything" to not allow wolves in your state

Your claim that they have "destroyed" Idaho wildlife populations made me look into some historical numbers. The following isn't at all conclusive, but here's what I found:

This link shows that elk harvests in Idaho over the last 10 years have been stable-to-increasing. Other ungulates look about the same: no obvious downward trends. Unfortunately this doesn't go prior to 2008, so we don't know what wolves were doing before then. But apparently the hundreds of wolves in Idaho have not caused a decrease in hunting opportunity in the last 10 years. Perhaps if wolf hunting and trapping were not allowed, it would be a different story.

2018 deer, elk harvests similar to 2017; above 10-year averages except mule deer

Hunters took more mule deer and fewer white-tailed deer in 2018 compared to 2017, while the elk harvest was similar between the two years -- dropping by less than 2 percent from 2017 to 2018. The 2018 elk harvest was about 15.4 percent above the 10-year average, and the overall deer harvest was...

idfg.idaho.gov

I found this paper showing Idaho elk harvest from the 1940s into the 1980s. As you can see on page 2, it goes up and down a lot - which, given the time period, presumably has nothing to do with wolves. The worst was the late 1970s, where harvest was down to some 5000 animals. If you compare the this to the link above, you'll see that the last 10 years were better than any period from 1940s to 1980s, despite the presence of hundreds of wolves now (600 - 700 according to most recent Idaho wolf management report).

https://www.wafwa.org/Documents%20and%20Settings/37/Site%20Documents/Working%20Groups/Elk%20Workshops/1984%20Edmonton%20Alberta%20Elk%20Workshop/1984%20Edmonton%20Alberta%20Elk%20Workshop/Idaho%20Elk%20Population%20Status-Depredation%20Problems.pdf

Note: the paper also says the estimated population of 1981 was 91k. In 1975, 50k. Now, 120k. Now those are just estimates, and it's possible that changing methods of estimation account for much of the difference.

But in any case, I'm not finding any evidence that wolves have "destroyed" Idaho's big game.

Of course, these are state-wide numbers. It is totally possible that elk numbers have dropped in smaller areas where wolves are more prevalent, as has been seen in Yellowstone area. I wouldn't be surprised. If anyone has numbers relevant to that question, do share.

Full disclosure: If introduction does happen in CO, I hope management is handed to the states, for hunting and trapping, as quickly as possible.