Okanagan The old mining road I referenced is in the Yukon. The roads bushrat is talking about are in Alberta. I would guess that the backroads in Alberta have far more traffic than WI.
In my experience I would disagree that an unplowed road is easier to travel on than in the timber. Roads are open....they get a lot of sun. Any crust that forms during the night softens up as soon as the sun starts to hit it. In the timber the crust might last all day. I used to have a heck of a time traveling that old mining road with my little Tundra snow machine once the crust softened enough that it started to break through. I soon learned to get into the ditch next to the trees where it was shaded. It was 180 km up that road to my cabin so I got a lot of practice.
Im not saying wolves dont use roads. My point is they dont need them. Ungulate populations are not just declining in areas with lots of roads. It is happening over much of western Canada. I spend a lot of time in the bush. Most of it completely roadless. Myself and others are seeing the same decline out there as we are in more populated areas. One member on this forum just did a hunt in a remote part of northern BC. He traveled a lot of miles by horse and on foot. He saw 1 cow moose, and 1 black bear during the hunt.
There are exceptions. In areas where trappers are active, ungulate populations will almost always be higher. In the last couple of years I've taken 16 wolves off of my trapline. I have already noticed a difference in moose numbers. The problem I have with "the roads are the problem" argument is that it makes it easier for the real problem to get lost in the shuffle. Biologists tend to like having lots of things to "study."
I once worked on a small mammal study with a regional biologist. What a load of nonsense that was. The guy was completely clueless. At least half of traps didn't work, and he didn't have any idea of where to find the mammals he was after anyway. It was nothing more than a bush vacation for him and his girlfriend; that Canadian taxpayers paid for. The final bill was over 80K and that didn't include his wages. I could give a lot more examples but I will refrain. A couple of things to think about though.....how do they count bears and wolves? Like seriously how do they come up with their numbers?? Are those numbers accurate?? Are they even close?? If you think they are....just go to Yukons renewable resource website and look at their breakdown on wolves/moose populations in the Territory. Then use their own estimates on how many moose an average wolf pack will kill each year. Their conclusion will shock you..
The problem plain and simple is to many predators....bears and wolves. Nobody wants to talk about why we have a predator problem, but the answers are there if you look. The grizzly season in BC has been very restrictive for many years now....think tight quotas. Fewer trappers are out there much anymore, and of those that are, very few mess with wolves. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work to catch them and they are not worth much anymore. Now with the grizzly season closed it will only get worse. Then today I found out they want to list both the grizzly and the wolverine under "special concern".....that is one step from endangered.....
