Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting MT Late Season Elk Hunt Cancelled Due to Predation From Wolves

It was only a matter of time.

Numbers fall to 2,236 elk counted. The Montana Elk Plan established in 2004 called for a population of between 3-thousand to 5-thousand elk in the portion of the Northern elk herd that winters in Montana.

http://www.ktvq.com/news/gardiner-elk-hunt-falls-victim-to-wolves/

In the early 90's I worked on a study to develop more winter range for the Northern Yellowstone herd. I guess that is no longer needed!!!

It is time we as hunters and sportmen take a stance against wolves. Our voice to our elected officials needs to be louder than the "huggers" and wolf lovers! Wolves need to be listed as a predator and have the same protection as a coyote.

ddj

Bigger is better when it comes to Wolves. These aren't the small Buffalo wolves that used to roam Yellowstone. Here is an article showing a 143 pound wolf from the Molly pack. They do get that big.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...8b301a8-c5ca-5d6a-8ddb-f82dd124d713.html

The reason you worked on that study as a student is because there were too many elk for the habitat. The reason for the late season hunt is because there were too many elk. Hunting did not reduce the numbers to desired levels. Now, predators, including wolves are managing the number of "northern herd" Yellowstone Park elk at a "natural" pop level. Montanans will decide where they want a natural elk pop level (probably in "wilderness" and/or "trophy" areas) and where they want a higher, managed elk pop level. Wolves will be hunted and numbers controlled to provide a level of elk numbers acceptable to the public.



It is time that you stop trying to speak for all hunters and sportsmen. We have already spoken, and gray wolves are here to stay. Get used to it. Take the time to learn what a wolf looks like.

So, now hunters are not allowed to speak out any more?

Is this "The debate is over!" defense?

You can't deny them the right to speak out any more than you would want your rights to speak out diminished.

A lot of people don't buy into your position. Get used to it.

Well Dpole you don't speak for me either. I live in Mt with the wolves. Do you? People like you really know alot about what we want hear in MT. We had these Wolves shoved down our throat and now we can't even control them due to Liberal Judges or out of state interests. We as Montana or Western hunters don't have a very rosey outlook down the road. When will people learn that without hunters there will be no Game management. We put money on the ground for wildlife, not pita. Daryl Shehan.

Dpole - You are exactly right about the reason I worked on that study. There were too many elk in the Northern Yellowstone herd at that time and/or the habitat was degraded north of Yellowstone. With the cooperation of landowners, doing prescribed burns of less than suitable areas we could make areas where usable forbes and grasses would have been enough to support that population.

The shortsighted choice that the Feds made was to reintroduce wolves instead of increasing opportunites for sportsmen and women. The Gardiner hunt was one of the premier hunts in the country. Now it isn't open. We are going to see more closing of hunts and a loss of oppotunities for deer, moose and elk. The Gardiner hunt was the first due to its proximity to Yellowstone. The more elk herds that are decimated by the wolves the louder the opinions against wolves will become.

Grey wolves are here to stay, I agree sir, but the need to be limited as much as possible.

I don't speak for all hunters, just myself.

ddj

One other point - With there being less elk, there is going to be less revenue for the Montana Game Dept. How do you think they are going to make this deficit up? They are going to increase tag costs! They are going to Increase tags in areas that may have been managed for trophy quality! Wolves ruining the Northern Yellowstone herd impact the whole state.

Where is the money that was supposed to be from tourists coming to see the wolves???


ddj

It has been proven over and over, that the individuals involved with making our decisions are NOT for the majority. Just look at a few of the poles taken recently.

My vote; Mr. Wolf, pack your bags, your out of here....

Don't you think this image sums it up?

That pictures sums it up...extremely sad!!!!!


ddj

Those dogs look big to me...

I just wish te guy in the helicopter or plane had a rifle. That elk met a cruel end!


ddj

There are so many things wrong about this....
I hate the argument, that these are endangered species...

That photo is obviously a fake!

Everyone knows that wolves would never attack a healthy bull in his prime. They only prey on the old, the sick, and the weak animals in the herd.

In fact the wolves have done the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd and us all a big favor by unmercifully killing the 10,000 to 12,000 old, sick, and weak elk from that herd.

Where's Dtroll to tell us how nice wolves are??


ddj

��and gray wolves are here to stay.� � We�ll see�

Had it not been for an abysmal performance by Dirk Kempthorne when he was a senator from Idaho, we could have had a reauthorized ESA that contained language that would have allowed the Agencies to address unacceptable consequences of species recovery in a swift business like fashion. But more importantly, we would have also had an Act that contained enhanced language that would have required that all recovery plans fully address conflicting economic, social and resource issues though all phases of execution. And a streamlined Cost-Benefit analysis to allow for an authorized walk-away from species that are determined to be cost prohibitive to recover in today�s world.

In theory, the current Act allows for or even requires USF&WS to do some of this stuff, but anyone with any whiskers in the resource management business knows that in practice all other considerations and concerns have been subordinated to the recovery of endangered species by all of the Agencies. But times they are changing. Once we get through this next election cycle, I am confident modifications to the ESA will be forthcoming. And if anyone believes that the concerns in congress about the ESA today are limited to rural western delegations- you would be wrong. There have been too many �takes�, too many unintended consequences and too much money spent for the ESA not to be amended. CP

I don't even know why I bother opening these threads anymore.
Wolves aren't even close to the biggest problem we're facing right now as hunters in Montana.
They're here to stay, they will kill elk, they will be managed, now get over it and lets be productive about this instead of advocating poaching like a bunch of morons.

I see nothing advocating poaching in this thread. I have witnessed the brutal killing of hounds to wolves. The Gallatin elk herd is nearly gone - FWP reports this is due to the predation by introduced wolves (not to mention the moose). I, for one, would be interested in some productive dialog - care to offer some?

We just went over this on another topic. The Dept. of FW&P was giving out 3000 antlerless tags just 8 years ago. They slowly reduced the number but it was to little to late. The breaks should have been slammed down hard. Hunters helped make this mess. I never saw anyone complain about killing to many elk when it was going on. The wolf is being managed, and the numbers will fall. The real threat to our hunting heritage comes from the Montana Dept. of Livestock and the Montana Stock Growers Ass. Just check out what they are up too.