Elk Kills By Wolves In North Idaho

Home > Elk Kills By Wolves In North Idaho

The following photos were sent to me by a reader. As I understand the story, the son went out shed hunting and discovered this kill. He returned a few days later to check on the kill and nothing had changed.

Notice in the photo you’ll see that the wolves ate their way through the rear end of the elk and took out the fetus. This may or may not have been done while the elk was still alive. The wolves also may or may not return to clean up the rest of the carcass. Wolves are known to “surplus kill” – killing more than they need to eat just for sport.

It appears from the photos that the elk was bitten in the nose as there appears a substantial amount of blood that came just from that area. That is a kill tactic of wolves, to grab the throat or nose and immobilize the animal. Once that is accomplished, others in the pack eat what they came after, often while the elk is still alive and then left to die. Cruel but a fact.

It should also be pointed out that this did not happen deep in the wilderness but only a few hundred yards from the person’s back door who took the photos.

Tom Remington

Greg Farber

Yearling as well..encredible waste going on..
http://www.thetruthaboutelk.org Erin

This is getting to be the norm in these parts. They hang off the nose and others tear at it, it’s like a game for them. Something to do rather than a need for survival.
Can’t wait to see what excuses the wolf lovers come up with…. oh the guy scared the wolves off… oh they’ll be back … oh it wasn’t wolves… oh yadda yadda.
More and more of us are seeing the reality of it and it’s past getting old.
http://BlackBearBlog MikeL

Been 5 days and the ony thing on the kill is still birds and a couple coyotes. They always come back they say, we’re still waiting to see just how long it takes.
josh Woodland

this is just a lot of bull what idaho put them selfs though. the wolves that we use ti have in idaho kill to servive, but these wolves kill of fun and this is just bull.

one of my firends were hunting down near northern idaho hewas hunting a bull elk and after he called a few times, he heared somthing move about 22 yrds away it was not a gaint elk it was a pasck od those wolves about 15 to 25 wolves and he just about shit his pants cause he was so scared.

please do something about the wolves.
josh Woodland

this is just a lot of bull what idaho put them selfs though. the wolves that we use ti have in idaho kill to servive, but these wolves kill of fun and this is just bull.

one of my firends were hunting down near northern idaho hewas hunting a bull elk and after he called a few times, he heared somthing move about 22 yrds away it was not a gaint elk it was a pasck od those wolves about 15 to 25 wolves and he just about shit his pants cause he was so scared.
http://idahogunbroker.com Mike Butler

Okay, sitting on the fence is over. Its time for sportsmen with a conscience to speak up and out. Its time to we all put our efforts together to bring a legitimate management plan to work. We must unite because our numbers are small, compared to those that would rather have a wolf kill all the elk, than a respectful hunter feed his family and friends. The answer is always between the extremes.
We are going to loose our rights in this state if we don’t start sounding off and organized with legal council. I can no longer watch our beloved idaho wilderness be taken away from those that don’t even use the outdoors. I am starting to organize the sportsmen of Idaho to take a stand and be ready to unite in Boise at the capitol when the time comes. Stay tuned!
SUSAN

My husband and I are raising two conscientious hunters and enjoy the fruits of a good hunt. Everyone must remember that all of the wildlife have value. The problem is that we need wolves, elk, hunters, etc. to BALANCE a sustainable natural environment. I just do not understand the fear and greed of so many people. We live in and value a natural environment and want to protect it – WOLVES are a valuable part of that environment. I will be working on a solution and I am certain that one is out there – petty greed and fear be gone!!!
Nature – a force that humans attempt to understand has balance and the birds, coyotes, etc. that benefit from this particular example are better off. The whole issue is that re-introduction (necessary because humans eliminated them in the first place) and new courses of action are difficult and inevitably painful at certain points – patience and management are the key – any reasonably successful person knows this. Why not participate in natural balance in the same way most of us manage our lives and finances? WORK, Some PAIN, and then more WORK and some BENEFIT! The wolves more than deserve our support and perseverance.
Greg Farber

We had the balance you speak of prior to reintroduction of wolves, The predator- prey -man balance was already found and perfected…The wolves were not eliminated, myself and others will soon testify to the Idaho state legislature with photographic evidence of that Idaho native wolf, which was eliminated by this E.S.A reintroduction program.. i personally watched wolves in Idaho back country as a boy in the 70s-80s into 1999 where upon the reintroduction caught up to them and their gone..As well we had the opportunity to perfect this balance with the wolves and proper state management in a timely fashion would have brought forth that success, this management of wolves should have started in 2002, we met all the agree upon requirements at that time, now we must re-introduce elk, deer, come up with wolf free elk calving zones and fawn zones, along with culling wolves which now are saturated and the proof is wolves running around in towns now, with a decimated ungulate population causing the wolves to cannibalize each other..It’s a mess, and it is going to get much worse..before people wake up and realize over protection of a predator leads to only predators…We do not have balance, I live it and see it every day..We don not have correct cow elk to calf elk ratio, we in fact have elk herds in collapse here…The calves are weak new borns and young trying to grow, and the wolves kill them off, that is the future of those elk herds..being destroyed…The Elk , Deer , Goats, Big Horn Sheep, and antelope deserve our perseverance..The wolf has been sabotaged by fools…
http://blackbearblog MikeL

The only thing that ate on this kill where coyotes and birds. My buddy had a picture of wolves on his trail cam at the edge of town last week. We’ve found many kills like this all around the ridges close to the small towns up here this winter. Still seeing quite a few elk this spring but very few calves or yearlings. It’s way past time to de-list. Some around here already have.
wheat

Very important for all of you outdoorsmen, sportsmen, ranchers, farmers, rural private property owners to carry cameras to document the carnage and waste these wolvess have done in our states. IDFG and the USFWS will blame it on any animal, but the wolves. This has been proven many times by people who have reported wildlife killed, including livestock and pets.

Like the Oregon rancher just reported, their F&G tried to blame it on his dogs, until cameras were set up. Everyone out in the field is aware of the decimation of our wildlife, but unfortunately IDFG and USFWS won’t take conscientious people serious, and refuse to report the true damage caused the Canadian Gray Wolves.

Fact is the Canadian Gray Wolf wasn’t endangered. Their numbers exceed the carrying compacity for management control in Canada and Alaska, to protect ungulate herds.

This particular species was intentionally chosen for a purpose, knowing that our ecosystem couldn’t survive such an efficient apex predator. Val Geist predicted this train wreck a long time ago.

This is a political land grab. Lock up our Federal Lands, so sportsmen have nothing to hunt, and make it unsafe for any form of human recreation. Our forests and wilderness areas are now a labratory for a multi-million dollar experiment, that only the Wolf Recovery Biologists are enjoying, and being funded for, with our Sportsmen’s dollars.

Lock up Public Lands, to stop all grazing and put Ranchers and Farmers out of business.

Force rural families to move away, and then you have another form of a Title Grab. Watch Undue Burden, Living with Wolves; about the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery, in New Mexico and Arizona. We need to educate ourselves fast!
Greg F Farber

I’ve been trying for years to get people to read Agenda 21 of the United Nations Charter for the 21st Century, Sustainable Development, U.N.E.P. The Biodiversity Report, Smart Growth, The Rewilding of America ! Do you think they listened ? NOPE.

Modern hunting is UNSUSTAINABLE, any kind of hunting is unsustainable. This environmentalist holocaust is simply nothing more than the Conquest of our resources by European Bankers and their Corporations, which just happen to be bailout foreclosed victims and the centralization of government power, into the hands of a few Bankers.. Read what else is unsustainable here;
http://www.freedomadvocates.org

I think it is to late. The window of opportunity is closed, no one listened to Conspiracy buffs, you know those “theorists” branded as kooks by the Cartel itself right after Kennedy was whacked…

I’ve been doing this for 30 years, I just went to a wolf meeting that was a joke, and was not asked to speak…Only one guy slightly touched on reality, the rest were just blowing hot air.. It’s over.

4th Quarter, two minutes left, and your 666 points to 0, way to fucking go.
Chandie

Exactly! Purchase the DVD: Obama’s Deception, and watch the you-tube information.

Better to educate the young sportsmen groups. Make them think your having a sports hunting meeting, then open their eyes with the Wildlands Project, Agenda 21, Soverienty International, Rewilding America, New World Order, Green World Order etc. etc. etc.

Then follow that up with some good History Channel WWII footage of the Hitler Youth Camps in Deutchland.

History repeats itself, how dare we forget.
SR

The protagonists in question are an African Wild dog (also known as painted wolf) and a young Kudu. Usually, these kinds of scenes are edited out from wolf/wild canid documentaries.

I don’t know if anyone here has ever seen wolf kills before, but this is quite harrowing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEt3VhYvu6U&feature=channel_page
ar

Indeed. The comments were, as well.
Greg Farber

That’s what the wolf does to elk and deer..seen it first hand a couple times, and the photographic evidence of the wolves leavings all over Idaho verify they do this to…Outside Ketchum Idaho last winter wolves pulled down a cow elk in front of a crowd of wolf lovers and they watched this same thing going on and they cheered..Next we need video of the fetus being ripped out and posted…If one of these wolf lovers is day hiking and the wolves ripp out their guts while their screaming I wonder if their friends would cheer..
Brad

I hope everyone is happy with the wolf experiment. It looks like it worked wonders if your a tree hugging granola bar.

I distinctly remember this very scenario being thrown under the rug by the brainiacs in the Clinton administration. It could never happen, and wolves don’t eat livestock, and so on and so on and so on………….

Time for the wolves to go……….
Greg Farber

But but but but but but but BRAD It’s just science !
Jake Dellinger

the wolves are cool and every thing but they are gettin out of hand. i live in wallace idaho and i know what the xxx the wolves are doin but all the dumb ass wolf lovers dont know a xxxing thing about the wol destruction. this year hunting i have seen about 10 deer and zero elk. maybe i was just hunting in the wrong spot but i kmow alot of it is cause of the wolves. now that they took them off the endangered list im goin just wolf huntin with my freind up above the lucky friday. i know of people that have had awsome elk hunting spots i mean monster bulls and they went in there last year and bugled they got one bugle back and then the mother xxxin wolves started to join into the party. another friend had the wolves come down to his back yard and just tear the xxxx out of a cow elk. another had one come down to her back yard and tried to get there dog and her brother came out with a .22 rifle and shot it. it ran off but i died shortly after. IT IS TIME TO KILL THE WOLVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jake dellinger

jake.dellinger@yahoo.com
otto

Introduce the Parvo virus.
Find an infected dog and release it near the wolves. Contaminate bait with it and feed the wolves.
This will kill them off so fast. they have no defence to the virus.
Do a Google search it is an epidemic for the wolves in Yellowstone.
Please find an infected dog and spread this to all th wolf packs. Save your bullets and kill smart people.

PARVO VIRUS=DEAD WOLVES
http://none Jeff

I have been a dedicated wildlife caller/ predator hunter most all my life. I hunt predators sometimes 3 days a week(coyotes,bobcats, cougars). I have a 80% success rate on cougars. I have been an author/writer for several hunting forums. I know whats going on. Its a sad reality but its very clear. They should have left the wolf alone.. They are a natural born killer, they do kill for sport and the elk/deer don`t have a chance. Its time we take back control of our herds of elk. Anyone who thinks a wolf doesn`t kill for sport is highly unedjucated on the wolf. I am not from the Idaho area, I would like to get into contact with a ranch owner in the North Idaho area. Is all I need is a location to park and hunt. It would be my pleasure to call in and harvest a healthy wolf. If someone could e-mail me any info would be good capuchin3@live.com Thankyou so much..
http://blackbearblog Mikel

Jeff,
My son is the one who found this kill last winter and there are still wolves in that area. Friends of mine found a moose last week up there. I can give you some ideas on huntingup in north Idaho but if you want to hunt a ranch you’ll have to look farther south. After finding quite a few wolf kills the past few years th only thing I can compare the wolves to in the way they kill might be a school of sharks. Ripping and tearing while their prey is still alive. By the way the wolves up here are really going nocturnal since being hunted.
Dan

I’d like to see one circumstance in Alaska or Canada where an entire species was wiped out by wolves. I understand that ungulate populations will fluctuate after wolf reintroduction but I’ve never seen any evidence of wolves eliminating all ungulates over vast stretches of land. The wolf population in Yellowstone hit a peak of 170 wolves a few years back while they were getting fat on unadjusted ungulates. I know parvo hit them hard but even after they get past that we’ll see if the population ever gets must past 170 again. The Madison Herd might be doomed because it is so atypical but we’ll see if the wolves wipe out the rest of the other elk herds. Those elk are getting smarter and are not the easy kills they were 5 or 10 years ago.

The woods are not unsafe with wolves. I’ve spent a lot of time in the Selkirks, Beartooths, Gallatin, and Yellowstone areas and have never even seen a wolf yet, let alone be threatened by one. At least half of the time I don’t even carry a firearm with me. There’s any easy fix for wolves that get habituated to humans. They have to get put down.

I was snowmobiling near West Yellowstone a couple of weeks ago and came across a kill made by wolves. It was an elk and the kill had been made three days earlier. There was only a little bit of fir and blood left at the site. Everything else was completely gone and I couldn’t see a single part within a 100 yards of that kill. I know wolves make surplus kills but I’ve seen too many videos of wolves maimed or killed by elk hooves to believe that they all make a habit of surplus killing all the time. When the wolf/ungulate populations reach an equilibrium I doubt there will be continued widespread surplus killing.
ar

The wolf still sucks and needs to go. It is good for nothing other than a picture of for a reminder of what Not to do.

I relate it to communists in gov’t. currently. In small numbers, they multiply and infest and destroy from within and move to other locations to repeat the same.

No, thank you.
Greg Farber

It’s easy to find out the truth about wolves, they have a world history and they repeat it over and over again.. You can’t be a lazy reader though.

Canada kills 1200 wolves annually to protect ungulates. I wonder what they know that our “officials” don’t know YET.

Coronado Island Alaska was another wolf experiment failure, the wolves wiped out the deer.

In the below PDF after denying wolves were wiping out Moose in Alaska the Alaskan Game and Fish Department finally got a clue and started hunting wolves to save moose..

The truth about wolves in Alaska
http://www.gardnerfiles.com/alaska%202-a.pdf

Wolves on Vancouver Island ( Killed all the deer)
http://www.idahoforwildlife.com/Website%20articles/Dr%20Geist/wolves%20on%20vc%20%20island.pdf

When do wolves become dangerous to humans. When they run out of game to hunt is when.
http://www.idahoforwildlife.com/Website%20articles/Dr%20Geist/Dr.%20Valarius%20Geist-%20%20Carnegie-2%20part%20article.pdf
ar

Canada doesn’t have a “U.S. Fish and Wildlife” terror organization.
Scott Rockholm

I have seen this same situation more times than I can remember. It sicken’s me to think one day we will have no elk. I cannot remember a time in my short 43 years, we have had such a dire environmental disaster. Exxon Valdez couldn’t hold a candle to the magnitude of this emergency. We do not have any time left. We need to get out in the wood’s, and trap and shoot every wolf we see. The impact environmentally, and financially are devastating.
http://BlackBearBloq Paul

As a teacher and as a Pennsylvanian I am furious with those advocates of the “poor wolves”. Why would any human want animals which “eat humans” to wander around our country? Perhaps we need to bring snow leopards, lions, tigers, and hyenas into the United Stetes and let them roam around to eat our “children”! Perhaps these “wolf lovers” would care to have themselves buried in the ground up to their necks like they used to do in Russia and have the wolves stop by and eat their brains. Then maybe they could come back as “wolf pooh” and finally feel that their lives served a greater purpose. Yes, as a Christian I say we must protect our citizens and destroy any and all animals which could endanger human life period. My Aunt and Uncle were almost eaten alive in their old age by a bear walking down the sidewalk in Hazleton, PA. Imagine having a bear munching on your loved one in front of you while they are still alive! Please bring back the old days of common sense. Just recently a friend and I were surrounded by a pack of little coyotes, even they could bring down a lone human …..and eat them alive. If the deer and elk populations are so high then have a special hunting season several times a year and give the meat to the “homeless humans” which fill every major city in our country. Oh yes, you can add “wolf meat” to that menu too.
way collins

I HAVE LIVED AND TRAVELED FOR TEN YEARS WITH A WOLF NOW.HE’S THE BEST FRIEND YOU COULD EVER WANT, AND A HELL OF A LOT MORE INTELLIGENT THAN THE SHALLOW XXX’S ON THIS WEBSITE. I’LL BE IN SAWTOOTH THIS FALL. TAKE A SHOT AT HIM AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU.

Skylinegrizzly

i have an ak 47, I will kill him easily, then we will see what you will do, if you have any balls at all.

Greg Farber

Wolf hunting closes today at sunset Collins, It doesn’t open again until September. During the spring – summer moths prior to that reopening, if it occurs again, the threat of your wolf being shot are highly unlikely, what is more likely is the attraction of a wolf pack in spring summer mode deciding your wolf is a trespasser into their territory and killing the tame wolf for that reason. You are actually putting the pet in harms way yourself. If you are out with the pet in fall then I suggest putting and orange jacket and collar on him. I’ll be in the Sawtooth as well, riding my horse pulling a mule and avoiding the insanity of civilization. If you see me and yell at me, you might see what happens next yourself, it’s called and ass kicking, and it will be your ass getting kicked. Good luck, and happy hiking.
http://Takeitbackday.org Bob Fanning

Hey Rock!

“I will live out the remainder of my years bringing those responsible to justice. These criminal’s need to stand before us, and face what they have done.”

I have the legal “standing” , no one else does.
Let me know when it’s time.

Great video in Jackson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18BX_3eItA8
Harley

See, i was always leg to believe that wolves would come back and feed, they only kill what they need so the first time I saw pictures like this, I think it was wolf crossing,I was like, what a load of crap! That’s not true! Only men sport hunt, wolves don’t do that…
However, I keep seeing the same things, over and over from different sources so it’s really really hard to hold onto old truths, or as Greg might say, mistruths…

Now… help me out here. Why does a wolf sport kill? Is it the thrill of the hunt? Or the chase? I mean, we can’t attribute human traits/feelings to a wolf, it’s an animal. So, why?
And please, don’t tell me the wolf is evil, I want an attempt at a real answer!
Thanks guys!
http://Takeitbackday.org Bob Fanning

Harley,
“SURPLUS KILLING REFLEX” is the scientific term.

Wolves don’t rationalize or put values on what they do , they just REFLEXIVELY kill because that is what they do.

PERSONIFICATION is a human sin.
It gives animals human attributes.

Hollywood gives animals human attributes because there is money in it.

“Free Willy” killed those killer whale trainers .
Think about it…..on a grand scale Drama Queens are the most destructive force on earth.
Stop being played for a sucker with emotional hooks.

“Feelings” are for your family not public policy.
ar

Harley, i wonder if it’s as simply as feeding the tapeworm they carry. It takes a lot to feed it and the dog is always hungry and/or lacking in nutrition as well as a full belly. Dogs packed up will follow alfa dog’s lead, even in the neighbor hood when dogs are together it’s hard to get your own dog to break away.
Harley

Personification! Thank you! that was the word I was thinking of but couldn’t come up with! God it was driving me crazy.
jes

Harley, just to be more literary, try “anthropomorphic”….It is not used as much as it once was, but it is an apt way of ascribing human values to non-human objects, including animals.
jes

One thing is certain, and that is we are still animals. And as sure as the wolf has a killing instinct, so does man, and even the frailest and most sophisticated man, still has the remnant of that instinct…It is “subverted”, to be sure, among mankind, but it is still there as well as your miniature poodle, or house cat. It is the animal in all of us, and only man has the faculty to contain it or control it. The wolf which is adept at killing is simply proud and capable to be a fit wolf. And there is no need to think of the future any further than the danger or food which is close enough to kill or close enough to feed.
Harley

MikeL, that is one very big pawprint!
http://Takeitbackday.org Bob Fanning

jes,

The wolf does not “feel” pride or any such other human emotion.

Human beings are not animals .They harvest meat and manage their food supply.

I “feel” highly insulted and disrespected that you stumbled to make an analogy that human beings with an intellect and a soul are animals.

But then again I am obliged to reconsider my emotions and rationalize that aall human beings are not equal in their intellectual or spiritual development.
jes

Bob, I knew when I used the word “pride”, it might be mistaken for a human way of thinking, but it also can be interpreted to mean simply, a manner of being fit and powerful. As in an animal carrying itself with pride in a descriptive way, a manner of bearing, walking, or being capable…We can easily use our human descriptive phrases to describe the dignity or fearsome nature of our animal “friends”.

But I must disagree with you in saying that humans are not animals, some things are evident. This is one of them. Perhaps you think that you/we are more than animals, in that I might agree, but the fact remains, we have animal bodies, and we live with them. And to be sure, unless we master these animals we are only the same or less than the most rabid and vicious of them all….

I think sometime that these wolf fanciers, idolize and worship the wolf, because of the fact that wolves are so at home in themselves…I think the wolf idolizers are not at home with themselves, thinking their human nature is of no more value than the animals, because they have no God to look to. Perhaps they have no respect of their human nature, which is in God’s image. Maybe that is why there are so many of them who are not “God fearing believers”…. Or haven’t you noticed?

Sorry to have offended you with the facts, but maybe you are the one who doesn’t have a problem with your animal nature, and are the exception to the rule….But I thought we all had the flesh to contend with…and the flesh is the animal.
http://Takeitbackday.org Bob Fanning

jes,
very thoughtful reply.
I live and walk in the mountains every day which gives me perspective,
Thanks.
jes

Bob, that’s one of the very best perspectives…And mine was out with the turkeys, today….Called a gobbler in, but didn’t shoot him…maybe I should have, just for the sake of that’s what the Good Lord gave me, but I couldn’t see his beard, and maybe I just didn’t want him bad enough, to be quick enough…

Getting up at 3:30 and getting out there is sometimes payment enough, especially if you hear one gobble or even call him in. Just the magic of the early morning, with all the attendant bird calls, and mystery sights, like a fog that rises and falls and moves like a blanket with a deer under it. It is like the sight of a newborn babe seeing a new world with wonder….
Megan

Im interested in all you have to say, i am writting a report for my bology class, and interested in both the pros and cons of the wolves. i also am an exspiernced hunter, and have a small farm, the last couple of days the cows have been hasseled by coyotes, is this due to the wolved kicking them out of the neighboring woods??

Tom Remington

Megan – Can you email me your questions to tremington@gmail.com

Bruce Hayton

I’ve hunted Idaho’s St. Joe region for many years. My friend has a cabin about 30 miles E. of St. Maries and a couple years ago on a short walk near their cabin around Thanksgiving, he and his wife took pictures of 5 elk carcasus with very little eaten out of them. These kills were surrounded by wolf prints. I’ve noticed I see very few elk during hunting season compared to previous years (prior to reintroduction of wolves). With the reproduction rate of wolves, I see a dismal future for the elk herds in N. ID and with it, the livelihoods of outfitters and any other businesses that benefit from hunters vacationing and shopping in the communities near our beautiful forests. The wolves were eliminated for a very good reason and I don’t see that those reasons have changed. People are more valuable than critters.

Elk Kills By Wolves In North Idaho

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