Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Enviromentalists try to end hunting through the ballot.

Extremeists are going after wolf control which has been very hard on the caribou and moose herds. Between Bears and Wolves 90% of calves don't make it. Soon there would be no hunting. We;ve got to eliminate ballot box biology and get back to the people who at least have a clue. IMO of course


Southern Alaska Peninsula Caribou Herd recovers after aerial wolf control
By Tim Mowry

Published Tuesday, July 1, 2008

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Comments State wildlife biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game shot and killed more than two dozen wolves from a helicopter last month to help a small caribou herd struggling to survive on the Alaska Peninsula.

It marked the first time since 1985 that ADF&G personnel have shot and killed wolves from the air as part of a predator control plan.

Biologists killed 28 wolves on the calving grounds of the Southern Alaska Peninsula Caribou Herd near Cold Bay, located about 600 miles southwest of Anchorage, to stop what has been a precipitous decline as a result of extremely poor calf survival. In the last six years, the herd has declined from 4,100 caribou to 600. Biologists have counted a total of only six surviving calves in the herd in the past two years.

Wolves from three packs were shot from a helicopter while on or near the calving grounds in late May and early June, according to a press release issued by the department on Friday.

So far, biologists are encouraged by the results of the air strike, which was approved by the Alaska Board of Game in March.

Biologists estimate 63 percent of the approximately 450 calves born this spring survived their first two weeks of life and both pregnancy rates � 90 percent � and weights of newborn calves indicate the herd is healthy, department spokesman Bruce Bartley in Anchorage said.

�That pretty much leaves predation� as the reason for the herd�s decline, he said.

While it�s too early to tell how many calves will survive the summer, most caribou calf mortality occurs during the first few weeks of life, according to the department. Telemetry flights will be flown periodically throughout the summer to document further mortality.

Biologists captured 65 newborn calves to be weighed and fitted with radio collars equipped with mortality sensors so biologists can track them and identify a cause of death if necessary.

�If they survive the summer as we suspect they will, we�ll probably have more calves survive this year than we�ve had the last several years combined,� Bartley said.

The latest figures show wolves are still the biggest killer of caribou calves, however. Of the 24 deaths documented by biologists among radio-collared calves in the first weeks after calving (36.7 percent of the total number of calves), wolves killed seven (10.8 percent) of the radio-collared calves, while bears accounted for five calf deaths (7.6 percent). Another four calves (6.1 percent) were killed by either wolves or bears, but biologists were not able to determine which one. Two calves drowned (3.1 percent) and one died of starvation (1.5 percent). The other five (7.6 percent) died of undetermined causes.

Though the herd ranges primarily within the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not permit wolf control on federal lands in Alaska, its calving grounds are on state lands and both the department and game board felt the action was necessary to preserve the herd.

This is the first time in about 15 years that state wildlife biologists have actively participated in a wolf control program.

In the past five years, the state has relied on private pilots and gunners to kill wolves in different parts of the state where moose or caribou populations are too low to meet the needs and demands of subsistence and sport hunters. More than 800 wolves have been killed in the past five years as a result of the program.

Permitted pilot/gunner teams shoot wolves from the air or land and shoot them, practices that have twice been outlawed twice by Alaska voters in state ballot initiatives but were revived by the Alaska Legislature five years ago when it gave the Alaska Board of Game authority to approve citizen-based predator control.

But that program could be halted if a ballot initiative that would allow only ADF&G personnel to shoot wolves or grizzly bears from the air in the event of a �biological emergency� is passed in August. The initiative is on the Aug. 26 primary ballot.

The situation with the South Alaska Peninsula herd may very well have fallen into the biological emergency category, said Joel Bennett of Juneau, one of the initiative sponsors.

�It sure sounds like it would be a candidate for what we had in mind,� Bennett said. �The two key elements from our perspective is that the commissioner make the determination that it�s a biological emergency, not the Board of Game, and that it is based on adequate data, which in this case they would argue they have.�

While there is no definition for exactly what a �biological emergency� is, Bennett said it is basically a situation where a population will suffer an irreversible decline if something isn�t done.

Good report with nice documentation. Wait until the enviro-marxists get a hold of this. They will not rest or back down because they have endless money and the wolf is "their symbol" to demoralize the hunters.
Sounds like a C-47 "Puff the Magic Dragon", with a gatling gun would have some positive impact.

I'd like to see that. With our guys spending so much time in
Iraq it might be a nice little break to give them a shot with a gunship.

One of the things that has really peeved me over the years is that radical protectionist obstructionists have taken over the "environmentalist" label, as if more moderate conservationists and sportsmen don't care about their environment. Environmentalist has become a bad word in many sportsmen's vocabulary. I refuse to call such obtructionists to wise management "environmentalists." They don't deserve the title. In my world, wise management, including management of wolves, is part of a good environment.
JMHO

I don't want the exterme left making the rules through the ballot box. There is a lot to recommend aerial ungulate enhancement via helicopter. The efficiency of a chopper as the shooting platform is demonstrated versus hanging out the door of a plane, no matter how slowly it's flying.

Thanks for the heads up on the primary ballot. Why on earth doesn't something like that go in the general election.

The so-called environmentalists were very mundane back in the '70's. They had common sense proposals to "clean up our act" in a variety of ways. But thru the years they were taken over by a radical element that traded science for ideology. Now its all about controlling our culture, economy and way of life.
With the rich fossil fuels available in Alaska, you folks up there will be one of their strategic States to shut down from ALL exploration and recovery. Watch what they say and write - there is NEVER anything acceptable. It's, NO, NO, NO!!! Its lawsuit, lawsuit, lawsuit until they get their way!!
They have millions of dollars and are cunning in their use of the ballot box. Ak. sportsmans might have to "organize" and use the ballot box for their own advantage.
We all have to be vigilant in our own respective States. For if not, they will pull an end run.

Well, both the environmentalists and the animal rights groups have been doing such things at the ballot box for years now. There is a loophole in the AK's Constitution that allows anybody from outside Alaska to collect signatures in Alaska and introduce ballot measures. I remember that a few years ago a group of Alaskans introduced a ballot measure to close the loophole, but since it required amending the Constitution a majority of Alaskans voted "NO." The animal rights groups created their own adds telling Alaskans to vote NO on amending the Constitution, and you can guess the rest. Another ballot measure, Number 4 (against mining), is coming to the ballot box soon, and I would advise that all of us understand exactly what a "yes" vote to it will do to mining in Alaska.

I agree with bigwhoop on this. "Theirs" is an ideology, a dogma, not simply a difference of opinion, which for most of us means when we are outnumbered at the ballot box, we compromise. They won't, don't. They will use the ballot box, activist judges, and will not accept other than their way.

The anti-hunters put their money where their mouth is and have large amounts of $$ to lobby politicians. We need to do the same. If you can afford $50, donate to SCI, NRA, or whatever hunting group you feel will do good with your money. The point is get involved, if not with money then donate your time, these groups need volunteers. There is a new initiative coming on the wolf hunting soon, so get out there and get involved Alaska!

Do not ever take the ballot box lightly. With the right twist, and a majority of us being urban folks, privileges can go away quickly. We lost hounds for cats and bear and baiting for bear in Oregon via the ballot box. All the biology and reasoning in the world, could not sway the perceptions formed by some strategically edited video that aired before the election. 1Minute

Guess I'm just a bit slow but I can't quite understand the logic of these "environmentalists". They want to stop humans from hunting because it's cruel (only been going on since we came down out of the trees), but they accept predators hunting which tear apart and consume the prey while it's still alive?

Here is a way to help. You can donate even if you don't live in Alaska because it matters to all of us.

http://www.protectmoose.com/

The "animal rights" people are much more than what they appear - they are militant vegitarians and It's my feeling that that's their ultimate objective - take meat off all our tables. That's a long haul but if you think about it, they are taking the best course of action to take animals out of the American diet.
The PETA monthly rag is all about meatless diets and actually some of the stuff makes sense - but whatever - my state will be the last to change. Lots of work and hot weather here - two things the enviromentalists don't like :-)