A Pack Of Death And Destruction

Wolves, elk, and deer got along just fine for centuries. There’s no more of a chance of wolves killing off all the ungulates than there is of Obama putting out a balanced budget.

I’m not a big fan of the Federal Reserve. At this point I lean more towards aboloshing it than anything else. Of course we are way past that point because people who support that move are unfortunately in a tiny minority.

The number of wolves in Yellowstone today are down below 100. Their peak was 170. Of course parvo has hit them hard but the elk are getting smarter and harder to kill. From everything I have seen the days of plenty and easy kills for the wolves in Yellowstone might be over. I would be surprised if the wolf population in Yellowstone ever gets much higher than 170. It was reasonable to expect that the herds would take a few years to adjust to a new predator. From what I’m starting to see there, the prey can dictate the predator populations just as much as the other way around. Wolf on wolf kills inside Yellowstone have gone up as they consolidate competition for food.

I do see your point when you’re talking about rugged terrain like the Lolo zone in Idaho and I would expect the elk population in that area to noticeably decrease especially during consecutive harsh winters. What I have yet to see though is any evidence of vast tracts of forest land in danger of losing all their ungulates or even of the populations dropping to unsustainably low levels. If concrete evidence of that does come up, more pragmatic people like myself who support wolf reintroduction will be more than willing to support stricter wolf management tactics.

Not everybody who supports wolves is a hippy liberal or hates hunters. I support hunting as a right and I support ranching as a right. I don’t support ultra liberals on their view of hunting/ranching/the wilderness any more than I support guys like Ron Gillet who thinks it’s only a matter of time before 180 lb wolves are diving through windows to steal your children.

I know guys like you might not think so and I’m sure you have your reasons, but there is common ground on this issue.

The Sawtooth and Frank Church country are my specialty. Having spent my life living next door to those Wilderness Areas, and frequenting them extensively, thousands of miles, and familiar with several different elk herds, which no longer exist at this time.

The Sawtooth Zone is shattered by wolves. The Church is not much better, the lower Sawtooth Units 43-44-48-49, shattered, those are and have been controlled hunt units, those units already could no sustain and open hunting season, much less wolf predation, 24-7-365. I was for this wolf program once, this has gotten out of hand. And Several government agencies are lying to cover up the damage, and of course the pro wolf, very biased blogs, not only censor open and honest debate, they lie also. I also frequent the Jim Bridger Wilderness, South pass Country.

The winter range just north of Jackson Hole is very telling, that range held 19,000 elk, now it is less than 3000. Idaho also has not been to ungulate carrying capacity since management took hold in 1937 and elk were reintroduced to Idaho. The winter ranges over here tell the story also.. I’ve watched these ranges since I could drive, collected horns off them, watched these elk herds in summer, fall..

The Ranching business may be influencing things here slightly, but the fact is IDFG are scrambling to save the elk, with out admitting to it openly, they don’t dare admit this because then the Priest Maughan flock will start screaming that IDFG has proven they cannot manage wild game, And they do not admit it, because they cannot afford more hunters boycotting hunting licenses and tags. Right now they are 7 plus million under budget due to hunters telling them to stick it.

Several people are some day going to suffer a lot of egg on their faces, and one liar and gate keeper is Ralph Maughan, and the crony’s over to the WWP.. There is a huge difference between truth, and agenda, and those liars are all agenda. That blog and the out of state so-called ” wolf experts” slam any one on the ground here who tells it like it is, which is what they don’t want to hear..

The small herds which are still here, are still using the same migration routes, thus this argument tossed out about wolves have caused elk to change their habits is bogus, except the fact that their running all the time now for their lives.

The Fed will never be audited. That is a smoke and mirrors show. Many truth tellers over the last century tried to expose it, only to be scoffed at, Eustice Mullins, Ezra Pound, G. Edward Griffin, etc. etc.. European Bankers, and European controlled Soviet Styled Environmentalism, via Agenda 21, Sustainable Development, Smart Growth All interconnected via the same families and think tanks, spells nothing but big trouble for the people who thing these public lands belong to them.. These blind people are fools. All of this fiat currency is welfare and credit, and lean holders are not us.. When the Maughnites cry about rancher subsidies I just crack up laughing, their subsidized by the same fraud themselves..

That’s right, I’m telling you those sharks don’t just hand out FRNS to the government with out some thing put up for collateral.. You are standing on it dude… And their debt clock is ticking… They are slowly foreclosing right now..

Keep watching.

From the 2009 Elk Forecast:

Idaho

Elk Population: 107,000

Bull/Cow Ratios: 10 to 50/100

Nonresidents: $142 hunting license plus $373 elk tag.

Have wolves eaten all the elk in Idaho? Not even close, says Brad Compton of Idaho Fish and Game. “We still have some good elk hunting. Wolves have had an impact on our herds in some parts of the state, but they’ve not been decimated like it’s been publicized.” Elk populations are fairly stable statewide with areas of western Idaho trending upward, while wolves have had the biggest impact on the Lolo and Sawtooth zones on the Idaho/Montana border. For 2009, caps will occur on tags offered in the Sawtooth and Diamond Creek elk zones. Idaho elk hunters enjoy around a 20 percent success rate on average. In an area such as the Lolo zone, elk are holing up more often in security cover. Compton suggests hunters who enjoy hunting whitetails in cover should try the same tactics for elk.

………..From what I’ve heard and read the elk populations are dwindling in the Lolo and in your Sawtooth Zone. If it’s true that the elk there are dropping below sustainable levels, then I think people should support more aggressive wolf management plans in those areas specifically. I know it must be frustrating for you that a lot of wolf advocates will look at the elk total for the entire state and brush aside issues that can occur in specific regional areas. The problem with guys like me is getting the right information. I’m not in the Sawtooth or Lolo areas consistently (lord knows I wish I could be) so the info I get is from hunters, fish & game, biologists, or environmentalists. All four of them can have different agendas and I’ve caught all four groups exaggerating on different issues.

An area that I’ll be watching closely is in the Methow Valley in Washington. There’s a large population of Mule Deer in the area and there’s been a wolf pack that spends the winter in the Methow and the summer in the Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness following the migration route of the Mulies. If the pack sticks around then people in the Seattle area will get an up close and personal look at what effect the wolves have on local ungulates.

Well if they only have one pack in the Methow Valley the deer won’t take to much of a hit, at first, but once several pack form then the deer will crash.

The only thing i can confirm is the Sawtooth Zone, 33-34-35-36-39, and the lower Sawtooth Forest units which are 43-44-48-49..

I have known those units winter ranges all of my life, the last six years have been the worst ungulate populations I have ever witnessed them at. Like many of us have said, if Idaho has 107,000 elk, where are they ?

And lets be realistic, that count is and estimation. AND it is not in the best interests of IDFG to admit they are hurting in the product department, lets face it, their in the business to sell licenses and tags..

I also talk to hunters north of Coer d’Alene, I hear it told both ways, one spends to much time gabbing with the enemy, so I have little trust with him.. The other posted a youtube video of a well known elk hot spot, and the usual number of wall tents was very telling, many hunters quit hunting it.

I also have connections with out fitters who are not booking hunts. I rode the back country and noticed no camps in the usual places, the last four seasons. they have quit. I don’t blame em, the hunting is terrible.

IDFG is admitting to the Sawtooth and Lolo, but those are not the only units in dire straits. BUT IDFG and FWS actions speak volumes, their killing wolves for a reason. And the Legislature passing the recent bill listed in this blog today.. Speaks volumes..

They will never admit how much trouble they are in with the elk, they will just kill off wolves to a certain level in order to help the elk recover, and keep on trying to bring their revenues back up to support their game..

I predict they will fail.. This has gone to far.