Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Wolf in Arizona!

Lived in Idaho a couple of years and was amazed how few people believed there were wolves around the region .

IIRC a couple years ago a Mountain Lion was hit by a car in Connecticut. After examining its DNA, they decided it had roamed in from South Dakota, about 1500 miles. If a lion can do it, I'd think a wuff could as well, being known for their endurance.

http://content.usatoday.com/communi...-walked-from-south-dakota/1#.VHCi3VMvhXE

I'm always surprised when someone questions an animal's ability to travel 500 or even 1000 miles.

Mankind is the weakest of all predators and there are many documented cases of a man (or woman in the Indian's case) walking those distances.

As far as the Wolves go,,,, I kinda like the idea of having a few around to hunt or just listen to in the high country.
What I don't like is the fact that the Gubment was involved in the management of them because, as we all know, Gubment could f-k up a two nagger funeral.
The feds let the whole thing get completely out of control and then dumped it on the states (sound familiar?), but the damage is done at this point. Short of an aggressive trapping/poisoning program (yea right) in the wilderness area's where the Wuff's are living large, they'll continue to increase until they completely deplete the prey and mother nature starts thinning em out for us.
Unfortunately, that day's not too far away for the Selway with others to follow.

The Wuff situation's no different than welfare, affirmative action, or any number of feel good idea's the folks we elect shove up our collective asses regardless of the consequences.

now saying it is a female

Dylan Smith TucsonSentinel.com

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials announced Friday that they've got the straight poop on an animal seen near the Grand Canyon, confirming that a gray wolf from the Northern Rockies is making a home on the North Rim. While biologists were unable to capture the wolf for testing, DNA analysis of the wolf's scat showed that she is a member of the endangered species.

The wolf was first spotted north of Grand Canyon National Park in the North Kaibab National Forest, and is the first gray wolf known to be in the area for over 70 years.

The wolf's "epic journey through at least three western states fits with what scientific studies have shown, namely that wolves could once again roam widely and that the Grand Canyon is one of the best places left for them," said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued an emergency permit earlier in November to allow researchers to capture and conduct DNA testing on the creature, which observers said resembled a gray wolf.

Officials with Fish and Wildlife, along with those from the Arizona Game and Fish Department and National Park Service, were unable to detect a radio signal from a collar worn by the animal.

Biologists "attempted to capture the animal to collect blood and replace the radio collar," said FWS spokesman Jeff Humphrey. "Those efforts were unsuccessful and have been suspended due to cold weather, as our primary concern is the welfare of this animal."

Instead, the animal was confirmed to be a female Rocky Mountain gray wolf after testing was done on feces collected Nov. 2.

"Any future capture efforts will be for collar and transmitter replacement, and the wolf will be released on site," Humphrey said.

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"The lab may be able to determine the wolf's individual identification by comparing its DNA profile with that of previously captured and sampled northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf females," he said in a news release. "This analysis will take several weeks to several months."

"The DNA results indicate this wolf traveled at least 450 miles from an area in the northern Rocky Mountains to northern Arizona," said Benjamin Tuggle, southwest regional director for FWS. "Wolves, particularly young wolves, can be quite nomadic dispersing great distances across the landscape. Such behavior is not unusual for juveniles as they travel to find food or another mate."

From the FWS release:

Gray wolves have not been observed in the area for over 70 years when the last of the animals were removed through a decades-long predator eradication campaign. This female gray wolf is not associated with the Mexican wolf population, a subspecies of gray wolves that occurs in Arizona and New Mexico south of Interstate 40.

Humphrey said that the "confirmation clarifies that this gray wolf is fully protected under the Endangered Species Act."

Robinson, with the Tucson-based environmental group, said he is "very worried that if wolves are taken off the endangered species list she will be killed and wolf howls from the North Rim's pine forest will never again echo in the Grand Canyon."

FWS officials proposed removing gray wolves from the endangered species list last year, with the exception of the Mexican gray wolf, a subspecies found in small numbers in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.

"Where wolves have already been taken off the endangered species list in the northern Rockies and upper Midwest, state-authorized hunting, trapping and snaring, along with federal aerial gunning, are driving wolf numbers downward," said a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity.

That group has recommended keeping the wolves on the list, and identified 359,000 square miles of additional habitat in the lower 48 states that they said could significantly boost the population of wolves.

"There's so much more room for wolves in the West if only we extend them a bit more tolerance," Robinson said. "The Grand Canyon wolf is a prime example of what wolves can do if only we let them."

It took nearly two months to announce that the canine spotted in Arizona is indeed a wolf.

The animal was photographed during the week of Oct. 5 by a turkey hunter who sent the photo to the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Humphrey said earlier this month. The encounter happened near the Grand Canyon�s North Rim.

Fish and Wildlife officials first attempted to identify the animal based on a tracking collar it was wearing, but the signal was too weak, Humphrey said.

Humphrey said earlier in November, before the testing, that the canine could be a gray wolf, a wolf-dog hybrid or a Mexican gray wolf, though he added that the last option was unlikely due to the appearance of its collar.

Mexican gray wolves, a subspecies of the gray wolf that once roamed much of North America, were reintroduced to eastern Arizona and western New Mexico in 1998. At last count, there were 83 Mexican gray wolves in the wild.

Susanne Stone, senior Northwest correspondent for Defenders of Wildlife, a nonprofit conservation organization, said earlier this month that long journeys aren�t unprecedented for gray wolves.

�They�re known for being a widely dispersive species,� she said. �Young wolves can act a lot like teenagers: They like to leave the nest, fall in love, get in trouble.�

Drew Kerr, carnivore advocate for WildEarth Guardians, a nonprofit environmental group, speaking before the animal's species was confirmed, that the most important thing officials can do is raise awareness about its presence if it is a gray wolf.

�When we have these wolves that travel great distances, they often get killed before anyone finds out,� Kerr said. �We�re hoping that this wolf gets an element of celebrity that might protect it.�