A report last week in the Idaho Mountain Express said that Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner, Randy Budge, declared that there would be a wolf hunt in Idaho this Fall whether it’s legal or not.
“It will either be a state-authorized one or it will be an illegal one,” he said.
Budge was speaking before a conference of Western Attorneys General in Sun Valley when he made his claim that if the courts ruled to put the wolf back under protection of the Endangered Species Act, enough sportsmen are fed up that they will take matters into their own hands and begin shooting wolves in order to save the elk, deer and moose.
That statement really is not very profound. What it doesn’t do or what this report fails to tell readers is the extent to which such an “illegal” wolf hunt would take place.
One doesn’t have to be in law enforcement to know that a certain amount of “shoot, shovel and shut up” is already taking place. I reported some time ago that the longer the unreasonable environmentalists continue their bratty ways of throwing all their deceptively garnered funds at the courts to “save the wolf”, the chances increase dramatically that their effort will backfire in their face.
People are fed up, not only that they are beginning to see the wolf advocates are unreasonable but people are now seeing first hand the destruction of the wolf – a destruction they were promised would not happen.
What is also happening is that millions of dollars being wasted in efforts over many decades to restore elk populations in these same regions. Idaho’s elk hunting is now becoming so poor, license sales have dropped and out-of-state elk hunters are opting for other locals, like Colorado. This is fish and game revenue no state can operate successfully without.
Mule deer hunting success in some areas of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming has dropped off so significantly many sportsmen are no longer willing to spend their money to buy a license. One report has that success rate as low as 16% – absolutely unacceptable.
Anyone who is completely honest, as was the case with Commissioner Budge, will say that the matter of wolves will be taken into the hands of some and unfortunately wolves will be killed in an unmanaged way. The idea of a managed wolf hunt is to take out wolves where too many exist.
The Idaho Mountain Express report asked if making such a claim as Budge did would “play into the hands of conservationists”, yet failed to ask the same question in regards to how the ridiculous stance of the wolf lovers is going to affect their efforts.
It should be pointed out that I know of no legitimate sportsman’s organization that is advocating for an illegal wolf hunt should the courts reverse the current standing of state-managed wolves. Frustration levels are acutely on the rise simply because this entire effort has exceeded the bounds of rational thinking. The courts’ rulings, not based on science, have brought this entire effort to a pinnacle. The only question will be to what extent wolves will be illegally killed, if again the environmental extremists have their way with the courts?
Tom Remington
