Shooting of wolf reported
Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
The wolf was shot by a coyote hunter.
Wolf Shot in South Dakota
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Ken Cole is a 5th generation Idahoan, an avid fly fisherman, wildlife enthusiast, and photographer. He is the interim Idaho Director for Western Watersheds Project.
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Interesting, there was only one comment under this article at the paper’s web site. I think it’s a good one so I’m offering it here:
“Just another typical hunter whose desire to kill far outweighs any common sense whatsoever. If you are not sure don’t shoot- what a revelation. In my state last year there was a hunter that shot an eagle and received two years in prison- how could you not [k]now what the animal is that you are killing? People like this should not be allowed to own a gun- and this jerk should receive prison time- so maybe the next hunter would think twice before shooting.”
It makes sense that anyone who is going t go hunting should have a proper awareness of the animals they are hunting and whatever else might be out there as well, and the knowledeg to know the difference. It should go with either the purchase of guns or the licenses or both.
There are too many folks out there who don’t have much of clue and/or don’t give a damn. those are the ones who should be kept from having the ability to hunt until they can do so with the proper respect, and they should know what respect is as well.
Salle,
I agree partly with your statement as well as the statement in the news….but I will add, how many good hunters do we hear about every year? virtually none, but of the 10 of thousands of good ones, we always hear about the ones that did something wrong, which is a very small minority of the actual hunters in the country, good hunters don’t make sensational headlines, hence no reporting.
I would say, the Majority do give a Damn and know what they are shooting…
Think about it? if there are 100,000 hunters in a state and 1 shoots a wolf or a bear, which one do you think your going to hear about, the 99,999 that did it right, or the 1 that did it wrong!
I think the big story here is not so much that the wolf was shot, which is regrettable, but that there are wolves in South Dakota.
Ken,
I agree, it is far more important that there are wolves in SD, than one dumbsh*t that committed a criminal act, whether by design or by mistake..
Any guesses on where the South Dakota wolf came from? I’m thinking of the grizzly shot over a hunting guide’s bear bait in Idaho – was it last summer? where the genetics showed the bear came from a less likely place than folks expected.
kt,
I think it came from Minnesota because that state is closer than Montana.
However, a couple years ago a wolf from Montana was killed in SD a bit east of Rapid City.
I agree that there are many hunters with a sense of ethical hunting. I don’t agree with the idea that killing an animal is a sport, which in my view is not ethical. We have a mindset in theis country that seems to promote killing over any other action when it comes to many concerns from wildlife to any other living thing that either presents a challenge to business or personal desires. “let’s kill it” is the mantra that I hear more often thatn any alternative.
And I agree with Ken, the fact that there was a wolf albeit not a very big one, was in Dakota country is the big news here.
Errant hunters are seemingly commonplace in the news regardless of the presumed number of them. The fact that we hear about one or two of them on a regular basis should also be part of this story… How many times do people get wasted at an intersection without a stop sign before a stop sign is installed? How long should we give hunting sportsfans the benefit of the doubt before action is taken to educate the mass population of them, specifically about shooting first, checking the facts later? they shoot each other, the wrong specie, in places where it is unsafe to shoot weapons, and in “canned” hunts. When does it become the right time and place to actually address these concerns?
Salle,
It is being addressed all the time, albeit, obviously not as fast as you would like to see..and the mis-conception that only the act of killing is sport is really off based, the whole experience of hunting is the sport, the act of killing is a serious part of it and the hunters I know take it seriously, because I as well as many I know don’t hunt for the act of killing..
As far as the benefit of the doubt, those of use that hunt ethically DON’T give the criminal the benefit of the doubt, hunting and killing an animal is serious business and those who do it recklessly should be punished, I don’t believe in giving them another chance, do it right or don’t do it at all, I don’t believe in probation and fines, I believe in you screw up you loose the right to do it, period, no appeals, no second chances..
I think there should be mandatory education classes that are offered before a hunter can obtain a license. I know some states offer these classes. Last year or so in Russia one of only seven female AMUR LEOPARDS was killed by a hunter in the wild. That kind of carelessness should not be tolerated. I think the aspect of hunting that annoys me the most is when people participate in canned hunting behind fenced enclosures because it makes for an easier trophy. When you ask any hunter they all say that they don’t condone unethical hunting- yet there are 500,000 or so trophy hunters out there. No one wants to take responsibility because it would affect hunting freedom, something the NRA or SCI could not live with.
William,
yes education should be part of the process, which is why in the State of Montana, where I used to live, we voted on it and got rid of the canned hunt, as far as Russia goes, us in the US cannot do anything about it..but we have made ground in Africa…All states require hunters education to get a lic, and most include identification as part of that class, (I am a Hunters Education Instructor as well as Bow Hunters Education Instructor) It is obvious you are not a hunter.
I don’t condone canned hunts, will not participate in them and do every single thing I can to get rid of them as do the majority of hunters that I hunt with..
I will add, just because all states require drivers education, does not mean all drivers are good or ethical, they kill people every single day, and I know the majority of them took a class before the climbed behind the wheel!
Save bears,
you are right, I am not a hunter. Nor do I have a problem with hunters that have respect for animals and the environment. I do have a problem with sport hunters, like dove hunting for example, where birds are shot out of the sky, then picked up to have their neck broken or stepped on like garbage. That to me is a waste- and i think wildlife deserves better.
William,
I have been on dove hunts, and it is not like you are describing, we have hunted them, then we dress them, then we eat them…they are quite tasty…I don’t believe in killing to kill, but as about 90% of the meat I eat is wild, I do believe in hunting..
Now you stated a number of 500K as sport hunters, I would like to inquire, where did you come up with this number and can you cite a credible source for your number?
I can produce a TV show that can show you virtually any side of an issue on hunting, both bad and good…
Now, we have got off topic here a bit, as the person that shot the wolf, was not on a canned hunt, he was hunting coyote’s and shot a wolf, and I don’t know if it was by mistake or design, but he needs to be punished, canned hunts are a completely different subject than shooting a wolf in the Dakota’s
As a wildlife biologist that worked for a state game dept, I can tell you, there are stories turned in every single year that just don’t add up, but I have put in a couple of calls today to friends in SD to see if they have information on exactly what happened, I am wondering the circumstances around this killing of a wolf, and not the information the news service is reporting..but it still has nothing to do with a canned hunt..
Now if you want to talk about necks being broke or just cut off, then visit your nearest chicken farm, you would be sickened on how they are slaughtered, it was one of the worst things I have ever seen in my life and I have been around animal death for many years, but the chicken farm was by far the worst I have seen…
By the way, William are you a vegan?
Wolves are not common in SD. For folks that are not used to seeing wolves, a 70lb wolf would be hard to distinguish from a large coyote in a hunting situation.
If you have a stated position that hunting is not ethical, that is your right, but don’t try and dictate to us that all hunters are bad, (Salle and William).
Hunters as a whole have done more for conservation of wildlife and habitat than any other group in the last 100 years without question.
I agree with Save Bears that unethical hunters are by far the exception and not the rule. They are also viewed much more critically by hunters, as they are vile criminals and don’t deserve to be called hunters.
On page 4 of the Wolf Activity Report they quote the 10(j) Rule in making their point that “all chronic problem wolves (*see below*) will be removed from the wild (FWS 10[j]); not may be, but will be. But they conveniently ignore what is the most salient point: *FWS definition of chronic problem wolves = “wolves that depredate on domestic animals after being moved once for previous animal depredations”* NOTE >>> after being moved once. None of the wolves, chronic depredators in their eyes, they are seeking the flexibility to manage, have been moved at all, therefore would not qualify as chronic depredators.
Also; pages 4-5 they list 20 chronic depredating packs, though they later contend (page 12) that there are 26 chronically depredating packs.
They also want the ability to take out packs/wolves that might pass on “abnormal behavioral traits (such as killing 20 or more sheep in a single incident),” (page 10), though on page 8 their own data says that “most of the depredations on sheep resulted in less than 5 sheep killed. There were only 5 depredations where more than 10 sheep were killed.” Not a problem, so little need for this increased flexibility.
Why can’t they get this control done within 45 days? That’s 2.5 months to deal with any depredation. They have access to telemetry and employ aerial hunting (page 10)- that should give them the ability to focus their efforts and quickly resolve conflicts. Yet they are seeking to take out entire packs long after there are any livestock present.
They want to shoot them in the winter because they have lost their ability to track them and trap them in the summer even with radio collars.
Today’s “government trappers” to use the old term, can’t trap, but they sure like gunning down wildlife from the air. It’s probably quite exciting.
The U.S. is in the worst eocnomic downturn since the great depression and these morons want money to kill wolves?
You have got to be freakig kidding me.
How about health care?
Thus off topic, kindly allow for a small addition to the „Amur Leopard” reference in one of the posts above. Reason is, there was a fine documentary on German TV the other day, featuring a Russian biologist involved in 30 years of Amur Leopard conservation. They had rare and fantastic footage. But: Overall population is down to about 30 individuals now, suffering already from severe inbreeding. The reason for their situation is – as always – habitat loss, hunting to near extinction with poaching of the remaining few. To me it seems, this will be another species we will inevitably loose forever…
An example of the good and bad in hunting:
7 people have been charged in Missouri for killing 5 (not sure how those numbers match up) trumpeter swans at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area. The men say they thought the swans were snow geese…..!!
Other hunters in the area called conservation agents immediately.
I have also heard of folks from the larger cities going to the more rural areas of Missouri to deer hunt. Reports of cows being mistaken for deer are not unheard of-in fact we heard of a guy pulling into the check station with a donkey. He did not know it was not a deer until the conservation agent told him.
Having said that, I think Missouri has a pretty good reputation for hunter education and these are, hopefully, not the norm or part of a coming trend.
I will leave the debate of subsistence hunting vs. trophy hunting vs. thrill of the kill hunting vs. no hunting for another time when I am in the mood to be yelled at…~S~or do some yelling.
I will just say that despite the fact that there are many hunters who would not shoot a wolf unless their lives were in immediate danger, the sad fact is that there are so few wolves here that just one kill, deliberate or not, has such a disproportionate impact versus a situation where the predator populations were back to historic levels in most if not all historical ranges. One wolf, one kill and yet there is probably now no other wolf in South Dakota…Sad.
There are mandatory hunter education classes I believe in NH, and yet it didn’t prevent someone from shooting another hunter on a canned animal hunt reserve for wild boar. Sometimes. an idiot is just an idiot, educated or not. VBG…
I would suggest folks who are concerned about wildlife”services” on the Fed. level email Grijalva, feeding him as much information as you can on the depredation activities…it can’t hurt for him to be informed.
Several years ago, about the same time that GF&P was finally forced to admit the presence of mountain lions in eastern SD, a member of my family living along the White River in Tripp Co. SD saw a wolf in her farm yard. Now one has been verified in Roberts Co. SD. The news in our daily paper yesterday added these details. “The female wolf weighing approximately 70 pounds was traveling with a second and larger animal, also likely a wolf. In addition to that wolf, an individual reported seeing two more animals which are also likely wolves in the area later that same day.” There might be more wolves in this area than we think.