Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Wolf Problems....How bad is it?

Some things no one has mentioned:

How did the moose and elk survive before the white man got here and the elk and moose had no "protection"?

Was the number of Elk and Moose "when I used to hunt them" the right number, or just the number that was there?

What does the browse/graze look like now that there are fewer herbivores?

Are any of you hunters younger and do any of you hunt harder than you did in the good old days?

Kind of. In my area, it does lead to a decrease in population but also changes the deer behavior when wolf population increases. Deer are much less likely to frequent roads, beaches, and larger openings when wolves are around. So, the traditional methods of finding deer doesn’t work well in a higher wolf abundance and people cry wolf.

1. The elk and moose were not confined by highways subdivisions etc.... back then they could relocate to another area, until the wolves showed up, they kept moving.
2, Don't know.... it was a more productive endeavor back then
3. Fewer herbivores? as many cattle as ever for modern times... people gotta eat
4. I can only speak for myself and I don't hunt near as hard as I used to. Also seems the younger generation finds it too hard. And with fewer animals it is harder. They need some success to stay engaged.
The anti's plan is working perfectly. But you being a lib cannot connect any of those dots

That is interesting Calvin, around here it seems to push them into civilization. Adapt and survive

Hunting hard? 😎

Damn flatlanders.....

Sycamore wouldn't know a Roosevelt from a Holstein.....

TI,
I hoped you’d come along...I’ve always felt your background, hunting abilities and willingness to shape the information from F&G back into a realistic and truthful model of what’s actually taking place insightful. Thanks....😎

Or a mountain from a mole hill....LMAO 😎

The mosse are having a hell of a hard time in MN but not sure it is due to the expanding wolf population. Yes. Minnesota has always had wolves but there are far more than there were 40 years ago when I started tramping around northern MN.

No problem Beav...always willing to share what I have learned and observed...

Way back in 2009 I was hunting Montana elk for (I believe) the 31st or 32nd day, when I happen across the first two elk I had seen that year...when this guy came running out after them.


I never did see another elk that season. I have seen a couple elk in that same area since, so maybe that area is "balancing"....if one believes in such a thing. I've called a few wolves in since, goofed up on some other incidental opportunities, plus had a guy I was with shoot another big male that I called in, but I haven't killed one since. I don't particularly care for them, but they're here to stay so I've learned to tolerate them and see them as another critter to hunt.

Awesome trophy Ti.....

No wolves were harmed in my pic...... notice woof howler.... I tried

It seems Lewis and Clark had to eat 190 dogs and a dozen horses while traveling through pristine wolf country and at that almost starved.

Disagree , when unintended consequences turn into areas of wiped out game animals , ranchers losing large sums of money , folks pets killed , hunters hounds killed , do-gooders would except that there are enough wolves . But no they fight every step of the way and spend untold amounts of money to protect the wolves above all else .

I use to keep up with the wolf stuff - hunted them a lot when i lived in Idaho 07-08 .

There have been wolves in many of the places that just now States are admitting they're there .
A wolf from the Boise pack was killed by a vehicle south of Pendleton , OR. in 2006 , there were pics of wolves in central Washington state around the same time .
There was a confirmed wolf in colorado about that time period also .
Thread on LRHunting - people see and hear wolves in missouri , my younger brother Tony & I saw a wolf in sw Arkansas in 1979 - plain as day . It crossed the road in front of us and when i slowed to look at it - it stopped and stared back at us from a pasture maybe 80 yards away , got a good long look at it .
SW Idaho corner to NE California corner is only a couple of hundred miles distance - there were wolves in the Ohyhees desert in 2007 I saw a desert mule deer kill with fresh tracks as big as my hand . Ranchers in the area told me - there had always been wolves down there , skip and a hop from Nevada . How long would take a wolf or wolves to scout out that distance ?
There are a lot more wolves in a lot more places that only the people who have seen them know about .

They certainly don’t help. Though locally I put more damage on the deer population to black bears. Bears are crafty at catching those fresh dropped fawns.

Oh and the road guys shooting does and then wondering why they don’t see deer on the roads anymore.

Hastings,

That part of Lewis and Clark's journey was along a major Indian route over the Rockies. There were few game animals not because of wolves, but because of Indians, who constantly traveled the route during late spring, summer and early fall. They not only hunted along the route, but the horses they rode (and used to pack their gear and game), grazed the hell out of it. I've read various versions of the L&C journals several times, and cannot remember them seeing many (if any) wolves in that area.

Meanwhile, they had no difficulty living off wild game when they journeyed up and down the Missouri River through the plains--where they saw plenty of wolves near the very abundant bison herds. Along with buffalo, they also saw and ate plenty of deer and elk. However, some of today's anthropologists and historians suspect the abundant plains game was partially due to recent epidemics that killed off thousands of the major predators of the plains, the members of various tribes.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if wolves have already reached the washing/oregon 'wetside' a lot of cover to sneak around in there . They're confirmed in Northern California - so why wouldn't they be ?

Another wolf expert chimes in

Do the wolves in Alaska push the deer , elk and moose and caribou from the back country down to private ranches and sub divisions like in the lower 48? Can you hunt, trap a wolves in Alaska? Can you hunt wolves in Oregon or Washington or Minnesota?

Comparing Alaska to states like Washington,human pop 7.5 million or Michigan population over 10 million is a bit ridiculous. Maybe sycamore, who zero experience with wolves, can chime in

Mike,
2 years ago while deer hunting on the Oregon Coast I spotted what I initially thought was a large coyote at 200 or so yards. I got my glass on it, and aside from a heavy, thick coat, which isn’t uncommon for our coyotes to be sporting in late October, I could tell this animal looked different than any coyote I have seen across multiple states I’ve hunted them.

This animal was tall from the ground to its shoulders, I guess based on the small Christmas Tree in the background to be something in the neighborhood of 2.5-3’ft tall...It’s snout was broader and blocked, not long and sharp, and ears were short compared to any coyote I’ve seen or shot.

I actually thought I was looking at someone’s pet husky dog. Coloration was a mixed coat of light brown with grayish white. I watched it as it stood looking at something for a couple minutes before it disappeared into cover.

If it was a coyote, it was the biggest, strangest looking dog I’ve ever seen...😎

Oregon is a no on wolf hunting...😎