Wolves in Colorado

[pumatom]

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

 

[Poltax]

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.

 

[pumatom]

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.

Yeah I believe that
My buddy shot one here in southern Idaho couple weeks ago
It had traveled from very northern Idaho

 

[RancherJohn]

I saw a wolf south of Steamboat CO about 6 years ago near Sarvis Creek, and have talked to wardens that have dealt with roadkill wolves in the I-70 corridor. Meateater podcast Man Of The Law interviews the head warden for the Upper Eagle Valley and they reference wolves in CO, as well as the live podcast in Denver. As far as I know, there are no plans to import wolves, but if/as they appear here on their own it is what it is.

 

[TraderMike]

I am afraid you are misinformed. We don't have wolves in CO, just the occasional big coyote

 

[BCSojourner]

There was a documented kill of a wolf by a coyote hunter a few years ago near Wolford Reservoir. He shot it at a distance thinking it was a coyote and turned himself in immediately. It was sent to a forensics lab and verified to be a wolf. The hunter was not charged. This incident is not far from Sarvis Creek and may have been the same animal seen by WTFJohn. I also ran into an archery hunter (logger by trade) in the Sarvis area about the same time from Wisconsin who had seen lots of wolves, and claimed he had seen one near Rabbit Ears Pass. They are undoubtedly in CO, probably lone males and just not in documented packs yet.

 

[mncoolbeans]

I'm from MN and we have a Ton of Wolves. I've been deer hunting the last 6 years up by Luntsen, MN the NE Corner of the state about an hour drive south of the Canadian Boarder. Every Deer Season we seen Wolf Tracks and fewer Deer each Year. Hunters can NO longer Hunt Moose in our state any longer either. This past deer season I had my first Wolf Encounter I was walking out early AM to my ladder stand, it had just snowed about 6" the night prior and it was really crunchy so I was going as slow and quiet as I could to not make noise.

After my mile walk to my stand I took off my backpack and placed my rifle down against the tree and this wolf comes out off of my left running full bore right at me. He stopped 10-yards from me once he saw me (I think he heard me slowly crunching/walking in the snow) thought I was a deer approaching. We both saw each other at the same time and both went "OH-SH#T"....lol He took off and ran the same way he came in. My deer hunting buddy texted me later that he had a Wolf come by his stand about 1.5 hours later. He got cell pics of it. They send scouts out for the pack to find food and once they do, howl to get the pack in.

The Wolves have decimated our Moose population and also our Deer Herd in the Northern MN Portion as well. On the MN DNR site you can see Wolf Population Statistics since the early 1980's and it's always been from 2000 to 3000 wolves forever....A private group of 4 Biologist did their own study for 3 years strait and came up with about 13,000 to 16,000 wolves in our State. More Believable with the Hunting Community VS. MN DNR stats...Liars Wolf sightings all over our state now are more common even into Northern IA now.

We still can't touch them until they are De-listed again off the Fed Endangered Species List but we have way more Wolves now in our state than ever in it's History. They are taking Snatching Pet Dogs right off leashes in City Parks now, Broad Daylight. Maybe it will take some $1K Purse Dogs snatched or go missing in the Twin Cities Metro to get some real attention here to assist in De-Listing again.

Anybody can go to the MN DNR site and just take a look at how many Moose Calf's get killed every spring by wolves alone that were radio collard for study. Think it was like 40-50%. The Moose population can't grow and expand.

I don't want the wolf to disappear but every animal in my mind needs to be managed but when they are the TOP Predator something has to be done. They are a really neat animal to see in the wild but they need to be managed.

A pack of 5 Wolves to stay healthy and grow needs to eat 2.5 deer a week...Do the Math

 

[bigdesert10]

I am afraid you are misinformed. We don't have wolves in CO, just the occasional big coyote

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

 

[jmden]

Wolf 'reintroduction'... How can bringing in a non-native invasive subspecies that kills off the small native population of Rocky Mtn. wolf be considered 'reintroduction'? The introduced wolves and the constant legal wranglings by extreme environmental groups (NEVER call them conservationist groups. That's a complete co-opting and completely wrong use of the term conservation.) to not allow their much needed management supports my theory that the introduced wolf is little more than a bio-political tool of the left.

Watch:

Please join and support F4WM:

https://www.foundationforwildlifemanagement.org/

 

[mncoolbeans]

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

LOL There a "Good-old-Boy" Saying in Northern MN.
The 3 S-Rule
Shoot
Shovel
and Shutup!

 

[mncoolbeans]

Wolf 'reintroduction' (how can bringing in a non-native invasive subspecies that kills off the small native population of Rocky Mtn. wolf) be considered 'reintroduction'. The introduced wolves and the constant legal wranglings by extreme environmental groups (NEVER call them conservationist groups. That's a complete co-opting and completely wrong use of the term conservation.) to not allow their much needed management supports my theory that the introduced wolf is little more than a bio-political tool of the left.

Watch:

Agreed, The Federal Judge that put them back on the Endangered Species List again ruled that they can't be taken back off until the Whole Natural Wolf Range has been Established again which would be from CA to Maine and most of the U.S.

There is a Bill now in Congress to get them De-listed again and have each State Manage it's on Wolf Population but keeps getting shot down by the Libs....

 

[Beendare]

IMO you Co guys need to fight this tooth and nail for obvious reasons. They devastate ungulate populations and take the control factor away from humans. [which is of course what the antis want] Plus it gets us hunters fighting amongst ourselves as there is a segment that thinks- 'wolves are cool and essential'- they aren't!

A rancher buddy in Az told me last week that they have the Antis/Wolf lovers- whatever you want to call them....raising these wolves and then releasing them near his ranch [down near Tucson]

If its anything like what we see with the Wolfies in Mt/Id/Wy...its going to create one heck of a mess in Co.

 

[Rthur]

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

R

 

[freebird134]

Plus it gets us hunters fighting amongst ourselves as there is a segment that thinks- 'wolves are cool and essential'- they aren't!

Wolves are definitely cool. I don’t know what “essential” means, but they are cool.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

Who are we to stop a migration of a wild animal that historically encompassed everywhere in the lower 48? Why do we as humans need the control of wildlife completely? Wolves should be hunted just like any other predator and that’s how we manage but what gives us the right to decimate and stop a population from doing what they are literally made to do which is spread and occupy territory and survive? To say “it takes the control out of human hands” blows my mind. We manage through influence and tweaks to “manage” but when I hear control it makes me think that why wouldn’t you want ecosystems to recover back to the way they were for eons before we came here and wrecked a lot of things? I’m 100% for the hunting and culling of wolves “culling when needed” but to stop them from movement of where they always were because hunting will get a whole lot harder is ridiculous. These creatures were here before us and will be long after us. A hunter should care about healthy natural historic ecosystems...., once again this is MY Opinion and my flag remains planted in rewilding and historic natural ecosystems as well as I’m a huge hunter, not a day goes by that I’m not researching or thinking about my next adventure or hunt but I also can recognize where animals need more thought and interest in their existence than that of only, (well this might mess with my hunting). Hunting is going to still be here it’ll just get harder for a while.

 

[Yotekiller]

I'm from MN and we have a Ton of Wolves. I've been deer hunting the last 6 years up by Luntsen, MN the NE Corner of the state about an hour drive south of the Canadian Boarder. Every Deer Season we seen Wolf Tracks and fewer Deer each Year. Hunters can NO longer Hunt Moose in our state any longer either. This past deer season I had my first Wolf Encounter I was walking out early AM to my ladder stand, it had just snowed about 6" the night prior and it was really crunchy so I was going as slow and quiet as I could to not make noise.

After my mile walk to my stand I took off my backpack and placed my rifle down against the tree and this wolf comes out off of my left running full bore right at me. He stopped 10-yards from me once he saw me (I think he heard me slowly crunching/walking in the snow) thought I was a deer approaching. We both saw each other at the same time and both went "OH-SH#T"....lol He took off and ran the same way he came in. My deer hunting buddy texted me later that he had a Wolf come by his stand about 1.5 hours later. He got cell pics of it. They send scouts out for the pack to find food and once they do, howl to get the pack in.

The Wolves have decimated our Moose population and also our Deer Herd in the Northern MN Portion as well. On the MN DNR site you can see Wolf Population Statistics since the early 1980's and it's always been from 2000 to 3000 wolves forever....A private group of 4 Biologist did their own study for 3 years strait and came up with about 13,000 to 16,000 wolves in our State. More Believable with the Hunting Community VS. MN DNR stats...Liars Wolf sightings all over our state now are more common even into Northern IA now.

We still can't touch them until they are De-listed again off the Fed Endangered Species List but we have way more Wolves now in our state than ever in it's History. They are taking Snatching Pet Dogs right off leashes in City Parks now, Broad Daylight. Maybe it will take some $1K Purse Dogs snatched or go missing in the Twin Cities Metro to get some real attention here to assist in De-Listing again.

Anybody can go to the MN DNR site and just take a look at how many Moose Calf's get killed every spring by wolves alone that were radio collard for study. Think it was like 40-50%. The Moose population can't grow and expand.

I don't want the wolf to disappear but every animal in my mind needs to be managed but when they are the TOP Predator something has to be done. They are a really neat animal to see in the wild but they need to be managed.

A pack of 5 Wolves to stay healthy and grow needs to eat 2.5 deer a week...Do the Math

Last time I hunted bears near Lutsen I got 16 wolves in one picture on a bear bait. According to the MN DNR that would be every wolf in 172 square miles in one photo! LOL The wolf lovers have infiltrated the division and are trying to hide as many of them as they can.

 

[chasewild]

I've also heard Polis is introducing a wolf reintroduction bill soon. As well as some other large changes to CPW commissioners.

A hunter should care about healthy natural historic ecosystems...., once again this is MY Opinion and my flag remains planted in rewilding and historic natural ecosystems as well as I’m a huge hunter, not a day goes by that I’m not researching or thinking about my next adventure or hunt but I also can recognize where animals need more thought and interest in their existence than that of only, (well this might mess with my hunting). Hunting is going to still be here it’ll just get harder for a while.

As good as "rewilding" sounds or restoring "historic natural ecosystems", introducing a particularly effective predator to increasingly smaller and smaller ecosystems is problematic at best and devastating at worst. Introducing a species on the basis of romantic conceptions of what should be on the landscape without any analysis of how the rest of the wildlife will respond is irresponsible. Across the state, we're seeing population declines of elk, mule deer, and sheep (not saying wolf eat sheep, but population declines are systemic). Reintroducing wolves is a way to force out the active management that serves as the basis of the NA Model.

 

[CrzyTrekker]

"These creatures were here before us and will be long after us. A hunter should care about healthy natural historic ecosystems.... "

I agree 100%. But, reintroduced wolves are physically larger than the original wolf that lived in North America: http://www.timberwolfinformation.org/or-canadian-wolves-how-big-and-bad-are-they/

I think hunters as a group ought to be more concerned about supporting a healthy and historic ecosystem than anyone else, but it's a really complex issue.

Maybe the wolves in Wyoming and Idaho (and Colorado, etc.) should be eliminated completely and we should start again with wolves that are genetically correct, if that's even possible.

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

Like I said that was my opinion...... I believe if there is an ecosystem large enough to support wolves Colorado’s areas amongst the continental divide would fit, its large and for the most part very wild. Thank you for the bit on the physical traits of these wolves I had forgotten about that. However how did any mule deer or Elk survive in the first place initially while being around wolves as well as other predators that were way more imposing and successful than wolves, and there were at least a dozen predators at that time, yet elk and deer survived. Genetic memory is a thing and at first as were seeing in Idaho especially, wolves wreak havoc on herd numbers but then what happens? The same thing that happens since the beginning of time animals adapt. Same thing could be said about the bigger wolves.... eventually they will level out to the size their habitat influences. One could argue the lack of abundance of land now can’t foster survival of ungulates but once we colonized the west, there was still elk and mule deer and at that time hide hunting for money was still a thing so elk and mule deer were consistently hunted more than now. During this same time in history wolves still existed and the ungulates still remained. Wolves didn’t go away until we as people got involved and more specifically when we started using strychnine to poison them. I think homeostasis would eventually be achieved. It’s an extremely complicated subject as has been said before which is why we have experts in the field making these decisions that think about this more than any of us do asides from hopping on the Rokslide forum.

 

[elkguide]

Who are we to stop a migration of a wild animal that historically encompassed everywhere in the lower 48? Why do we as humans need the control of wildlife completely? Wolves should be hunted just like any other predator and that’s how we manage but what gives us the right to decimate and stop a population from doing what they are literally made to do which is spread and occupy territory and survive? To say “it takes the control out of human hands” blows my mind. We manage through influence and tweaks to “manage” but when I hear control it makes me think that why wouldn’t you want ecosystems to recover back to the way they were for eons before we came here and wrecked a lot of things? I’m 100% for the hunting and culling of wolves “culling when needed” but to stop them from movement of where they always were because hunting will get a whole lot harder is ridiculous. These creatures were here before us and will be long after us. A hunter should care about healthy natural historic ecosystems...., once again this is MY Opinion and my flag remains planted in rewilding and historic natural ecosystems as well as I’m a huge hunter, not a day goes by that I’m not researching or thinking about my next adventure or hunt but I also can recognize where animals need more thought and interest in their existence than that of only, (well this might mess with my hunting). Hunting is going to still be here it’ll just get harder for a while.

With that line of reasoning, we should not be eradicating diseases like small pox, or tuberculosis, or the mumps or even the measles.
There were wolves here in the lower 48 but it was denied by most F&G departments, possibly as they didn't want to have to manage for them. Now "those in the know" have introduced a new variety of the species of canis lupus. I found it interesting to read an article in several western publications in which "those in the know" were bemoaning the fact that the new wolves had destroyed all of the local wolves. HUH????? The same people that told us how we needed to have the natural balance restored and since there were no wolves we needed to import some that were similar, were now upset because their plan had been too successful and it had had side effects that should have been obvious.
Wolves are an amazing animal and definitely just below humans in the food chain. That said, the American form of game management, with all of it's flaws is still the pre-eminent system in the world. Joe and Jill average citizen can still walk into the corner store, buy a rifle/bow/muzzleloader, a license and venture off hunting. Stopping an invasive species is something that all of us as stewards of the land, should be concerned with. Remember that the long term goal of all of these anti-hunting groups is to stop hunting at all costs and the best way to do that is to get us to fight amongst ourselves.