Is there a problem with allowing hunters to do the deed?
Come on out and try, big talker! You can shoot, trap, just about year round, multiple tags, have at.
Recreational hunters will never even dent the population.
Correct. Almost impossible to achieve a 90% reduction in population, (ir)regardless of the totality of methods used.
Even @ 25% every year, there will be a steady-state equilibrium gained.
So how did the settlers wipe them out 100 years ago? Poison?
More people in the woods, and none of them a tree hugger. Shooting, trapping, snaring, destroying dens, any kind of poison and method you can think of, parvo, prayer, baiting: if it could kill a wolf, it was used.
As mentioned, running the prey population down to less than 10% of current populations made things more localized.
