Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Wolves with GPS Collars

I’ve heard stories of ranchers “allegedly” shooting a wolf that was adorned with a federal gps necklace. Trouble followed as F&G came to investigate why the woofer stopped plodding along, only to find a recent hole dug on the ranchers land.

Any ideas or suggestions if someone was to “allegedly” shoot a collared wolf....I mean a collared German Shepherd. Wink! 😎

I would think any freight train in a storm would work.......

Cut the head off to remove the collar, tie it to a bundle of sticks, and toss it in the nearest large stream.

Idaho's wolf season is very generous, varying from 6 months to year round in the northern units. We can buy 5 tags although there are some restrictions on how many we use in any one area. During the season, it's legal to shoot collared wolves as long as you return the collar to the IDFG. It's not wise to return the collar from an off-season wolf.

Throw it in the river

Go down to the tavern and put it in someone's pickup box.

Why would someone burry a wolf with the gps collar still on it? If they are that stupid they deserve to get caught.

+1

Just turn it in. Wolves can legally be shot in the right places. If they are a problem then they should be documented so that the entire pack can be dealt with. Our game managers at the state level are very willing to work with landowners over wolf problems, the feds maybe not so much, in Wyoming that is.
It's not illegal to shoot a collared animal, in fact many times G&F hope a collared animal is harvested so that they can get data .
I know how to turn off those collars, it's not rocket science.

No idea...Wasn’t my story. I just heard this story before a few times. 😎

Wait...Wasn’t it illegal everywhere to shoot a wolf in the lower 48 when they were reintroduced initially? Likely why the gps in a deep hole originated from.

If you're asking a serious question ... if it's on your property, you're screwed. The GPS trace will show the wolf going along doing normal wolf-type things, then after it's shot and you are trying to dispose of the collar, doing very non-wolf things. They'll trace back to where those converge and if it's on your property, you're [bleep]. The feds are pretty damned good at forensic investigations. They'll find blood, hair, bone bits using tools like UV lights you and I don't have ready access to.

If a wolf was shot on my property I'd want a really good alibi for being somewhere else when it happened ... like in court, or getting a speeding ticket 300 miles away, some situation where law enforcement is providing the documentation of my alibi, not just a regular person and not just my own word on the matter.

Tom

This ^^^^^ Thank you TOM. 😎

collared wolves can be shot legally out west in some western states during the state`s wolf hunting season.i buy a wolf license every year in Montana just in case I see a wolf during the season.

Pretty hard to prove if they can't find the wolf carcass or the collar. [bleep] happens.

Do those trackers have clocks? If so, you don't want to shoot an illegal one and move it with your truck or ATV any faster than a wolf will normally move. A wolf running 8 miles at 50 MPH would be a dead giveaway.

These stories came from my wife’s uncle who is a long retired F&G employee. He’d retired years before the wolf releases happened but has friends at F&G he stayed in contact with who would tell him what was going on at work....A fisherman poached an over sized sturgeon in the 75-80 year old fish range. Fish had a gps implant. State Police followed the fish from Bonneville Dam where it was poached via the gps and pulled the dude over on I-5 interstate...The Trooper asked if he had a fish in his truck..Guy said, Nope. And the search began until fish was recovered and he got fined back into the Stone Age by a judge for killer a huge protected sturgeon.
😎

A fish trotting down I-84 would be a bit more suspicious than a wolf following a river bank.

It depends on the collar. Some GPS collars will track movements, but the information can only be downloaded once the collar has been retrieved. Others transmit locality data periodically to a satellite from which the information can be downloaded to a computer. Still other collars simply transmit a radio signal that allows biologists using a receiver and portable antenna to locate the animal at regular intervals or when they just want to know where it is. Most collars these days do transmit a mortality signal to alert trackers when the animal has died.

Illegally shooting a collared animal that is protected during a closed season, or an animal for which there is no open season, is likely to net you some hefty fines and the loss of your hunting privileges, especially if it is a federally listed species. Kind of pricey way to gain notoriety at the local tavern.

If you shoot a wolf in AZ they will rain hell on you worse than any child molester is treated- unfortunate but true. Best thing is the get the collar away from the wolf and get the wolf away from the spot where it was killed. Best thing is to throw it in a river.

One of the Arizona collars ended up in Iowa- courtesy of a tractor -trailer headed that way!

If AZ wants to keep those collars, we'll gladly send you a bunch from ID, wolves included.

Guys, that’s what I was figuring I’d eventually hear...I would be very tempted to bust a wolf if I saw one. Downside, if it turned into a dead wolf with a necklace...All kinds of bad things could happen to a fella. That would not be worth it to me. Sadly, Mr. Wolf would get a pass from me.

Mudhen ,Tom. You see the potential for problems. RockChuck, you see it too. I feel for you RC being where these killers are more abundant...Oregon has them. It’s only time before they get to where I hunt. 😎