Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Wolves Slaughter 19 sheep in Oregon Bloodbath

Totally not true a Neighbor of a friend in Montana had 11 wolves kill 33 sheep on his ranch. They ate three. The next day when the pack was taken out they had killed 25 more sheep on the adjoining ranch.

I grew up on a ranch in the Uncompahgre Valley on the West Slope. The BLM land adjacent to our ranch was prime winter habitat, and our alfafa fields were often covered up with deer and elk--and when harsh winters occurred, it was FULL of starving wildlife.

Even then, coyotes never messed with deer until they were too weak to even stand up. And they NEVER messed with live elk.

Did watch a Golden eagle make a couple passes at a doe one time.....kinda' cool.



Casey

Which is why it's notable in it's rarity.

Remember, there are millions of cattle and sheep in the Rockies. There are tens of thousands of large predators.

Those livestock and predators come into contact with one another hundreds, maybe thousands, of times each day. And yet, the combined number of large predators killing sheep and cattle amount to a tiny, tiny fraction of the number of contacts between predators and livestock.

You got a equal chance of being broadsided at the intersection going to the store for a gallon of milk......


Casey

Dont worry Hawk, my Wildlife degree is from CSU.


Toltecgriz, Decker was a professor of mine.........

Casey

Hawk overstated it when he used the word only.

But now you just did the same thing when you used the word frequently





Now that's an overstatement.

The reason we see wolf packs averaging roughly 8-15 wolves is that's appears to be optimum for successfully killing large critters on a regular basis--thereby ensuring some continuity in the pack.

A few wolves running together would be hard pressed to kill healthy, adult, elk sized prey with much regularity.


Casey

Since most hunters like to eat what they shoot, we'll probably have to wait for the Asian economy to make a big comeback before this becomes a reality.

In Colorado, you now have to technically eat everything you shoot. Meaning you better take the meat from that cougar home with you.......

I tend to draw the line with prairie dogs though.......



Casey

And just which wolf advocate web site or fairy tail booklet did you read this nonsense?

Wade thruogh the thread--you'll figure it out........




Casey

Thinking lots of boys here have never seen them run healthy critters out onto the ice.

Big fluffy pads work much better on ice than hoofs.

The problem today is man. Those that love to spew [bleep] about there being a 'balance' was before men moved in. If the wolves knock the deer's dicks into the dirt they can just turn to livestock, dogs, cats etc. An option that weren't previously available in the 'balanced' years.

Arguing this subject is like the 308 VS 30-06 threads, they are point less and lead nowhere.

Some of us realize the seriousness of the wolf/elk situation, and some live with "Dances with wolves" mentality.

If you can't shoot them, drown'em out..........

Right On, Sam

I personally believe that everyone of those [bleep] sons of bitches found outside of the park should have the exact rights as the coyotes.

[bleep] 'em!

My thoughts are several "FMJ" in the guts and let'm run off to die.

True. But not frequent. Smart prey don't often run to the ice, dumb prey are more likely to.




True. But nobody on here is advocating wolves NOT be managed just like every other critter.....

Today, ALL wildlife management is really People Management..........

Casey

If they was smart they wouldn't be prey in the first place, they would be predators.

Pretty hard to turn around in SE Alaska without being on ice. Not to mention all the 'dumb' animals moving beach side when the snow is neck deep.

Don't blame a wolf for being a wolf but it's an unnatural act for predators to want more predators.

One only needs to spend some air time to see just how 'infrequent' ice kills are. Looks like Ice Capades meets Leatherface

Having lived, camped, and hunted in some of the highest wolf densities in North America I think a lot of comments here are pansified.

As for prey selection, wolves having more success killing the young or weak is a biological fact, especially with larger animals such as moose and elk. Biologists have long settled on the amount of fat in the animal's bone marrow as the indicator of the animal's overall health. Changes in body fat can happen for many reason with many of them short term. A reduction in marrow fat is bad news and a clear sign of a weakened animal.

The majority of large animals killed by wolves have reduced marrow fat, in spite of such animals being an overall minority in the population.

Folks need to see more calves being pulled from the mother half way through the birthing process.

Not sure what the marrow levels are on those, since all the bones are eaten on the veal snack.

And later on, you stoop so low as to call them "predators." So what are they in your mind,"game animals" or "predators?"

It's beyond time that they should be considered as some kind of gods or "game animals" and be hunted like the predators they really are.

Spent a large part of my stint in the Navy flying in Alaska......although I admit most of it was over water--frozen and unfrozen.......




Casey