Here is our third edition of interesting wildlife news for the year 2013. Please post your wildlife news stories and your comments in the open thread below.
You can access the previous edition (Jan. 23, 2013) of “Interesting Wildlife News” here.
by
Tags:
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
Comments
Apparently a DNA test confirmed that a wolf from the Great Lakes was shot and killed in Kansas back in December.
http://www.hdnews.net/Story/wolfkilled012913
Yes, there have been a few wolves in the midwest killed outside of the Minnesota/Wisconsin/Michigan area.
In Missouri:
http://www.kctv5.com/story/19981645/hunter-shoots-possible-wolf-in-howard-county-mo
A Great Lakes wolf in eastern South Dakota:
http://sdoa.areavoices.com/2011/01/13/wolf-shot-by-woonsocket/
A Great Lakes wolf in central Nebraska:
http://timberwolfinformation.org/info/archieve/newspapers/viewnews.cfm?ID=648
In Illinois:
http://connect.sierraclub.org/post/Team/Wildlife__Endangered_Species_Team/blog/two_gray_wolf_sightings_in_illinois_this_month.html?cons_id=&ts=1359633569&signature=d384b3c8649230517f3b7e9988ddddc9
There have been reports by hunters–reliable or not, I don’t know–of wolves seen in northeastern Iowa. Makes sense–that area is forested and rugged and only 50 or so miles from an established pack in Wisconsin. Bears and mountain lions are unprotected in Iowa and may be shot on sight, and since wolves have been delisted here north of interstate 80, I suspect the same lack of state protection for them as well.
The article was interesting wolves travel far and in many instances they get killed in the end. Hardly die of natural causes or by stronger,younger wolves,if they are around wolves to begin with. This is a sad ending !
Land trust completes major conservation project in Helena Valley
As Andrea Silverman and Andy Baur meander on a 266-acre parcel just off York Road in the Helena Valley, they’re greeted by an osprey flying overhead and a couple of white-tailed deer taking refuge along Prickly Pear Creek.
http://helenair.com/news/local/land-trust-completes-major-conservation-project-in-helena-valley/article_b7d56b02-6b47-11e2-a013-0019bb2963f4.html
Welfare ranching whiners get their way…
Judge: Ranchers can pursue First Amendment case against Forest Service
A federal judge has ruled that a Forest Service district supervisor may have retaliated against a group of Northern New Mexico ranchers for speaking out against her, and the group can seek to overturn her decision to reduce their grazing permits.
More than a dozen ranchers from Rio Arriba County, two grazing associations and the County Commission filed a lawsuit last year against El Rito District Ranger Diana Trujillo, claiming she violated their First Amendment rights.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/013113ranchers#.UQq2pWeWbDV
Park Service to help with East Gallatin Rec Area, Bozeman Creek projects
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/city/article_0cce5da0-6b69-11e2-84e0-0019bb2963f4.html
Poisoned eagle back in wild
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20130130/NEWS01/301300020/Poisoned-eagle-back-wild?nclick_check=1
Let it be known that this amazing bird was poisoned by slobby, lead-bullet hunters in Montana.
I guess they didn’t get the memo in their caves.
[Jackson, WY] National Elk Refuge begins feeding
http://jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=9505
BLM Group to Meet Friday
TWIN FALLS • A federal advisory committee will meet Friday, Feb. 1, to discuss updates to recreation and management plans on public lands.
During the meeting, new council members will go through orientation. Then the group will listen to updates on the Craters of the Moon National Monument, the Milner Recreation Area, and go over a national sage grouse plan addressing environmental concerns.
http://magicvalley.com/news/local/blm-group-to-meet-friday/article_a4c3dbae-c371-5760-aa4a-72dad757ddc6.html
Grizzly Bear study out of Alberta…
http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Nurture+trumps+nature+grizzly+bears+study/7862829/story.html?utm_source=Conservation+News+-+January+30%2C+2013&utm_campaign=CN++Jan+30%2C+2013&utm_medium=email
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20130130/NEWS01/301300026?nclick_check=1
postal worker and her wolf
From the Great Lakes Echo, an animated map showing the spread of Asian carp. They are knocking on Lake Michigan’s door, if not already inside:
“The alarming spread of Asian carp since the 1970s is seen on this map created by the United States Geological Survey and National Wildlife Federation.
“It shows the carp’s initial foothold in Arkansas, where they were introduced to filter pond water on fish farms, and its rapid growth across the U.S.” (Apologies if this has been posted before.)
http://greatlakesecho.org/2013/01/31/carp-creep/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130131144102.htm
Don’t eat fossilized shark shit
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130130184200.htm
So that answers the age old question of what’s NOT for dinner….
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/ban-trapping-america-all-other-civilized-countries-have-already-done-based-cruelty-and-torture/4vhVGVbz
petition to ban trapping in the US
Will not sign that one.
http://dolphinproject.org/
an organization devoted to protecting dolphins and to keeping them wild. One of the saddest sights I have ever seen were dolphins in Mexico kept in confinement to entertain people at a “park”. After they performed they were herded back into their small captivity prisons. I saw them lined up against the mesh entrances looking out to the ocean like prisoners trying to get a glimpse of the sun from behind bars. It was a terrible to thing to see and i could do nothing for them.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/31/5153892/us-wildlife-agent-accused-of-trapping.html
more on the wildlife services and their abusive employees
I apologize it its a repeat post
Today went to my favorite winter hiking area nearby. Every time I start, I go past a leghold bobcat trap and have to reign my dog in. Today I noticed the trapper had made other tracks and figured he had more traps out there. So I followed his tracks and sure enough found another trap. He doesn’t mark them well enough for people to see. I need to know where these are to keep my dog safe.
Leslie,
Are they illegal sets? If so, you need to take pictures and turn them over to law enforcement.
what a terrible thing for wildlife to live around and die in and what a terrible thing to have to worry about having your dog get into. The problem is not whether they are legally set, its that they are legal.
Leslie,
Is your dog leashed, or running loose?
Just thinking outloud here. If the sets are, themselves, illegal as SB suggests is a possiblity, I wonder if it would be improper to trip them, or otherwise make them inoperative without damaging them, until some enforcement person can inspect? Also, if they are legal, but maybe improperly placed for passersby, in most states they have to owner identification on them, which would be helpful at the time you let authorities know.
Is there an ID tag attached to trap(s)? If illegal sets, take picture and report. Otherwise, pretty much leave them alone.
Sorry, WM already hit this.
Leslie –
Next time just take the traps. As far as I’m concerned, it’s littering. Anyone else who just tossed shit around in a national forest or state forest would be fined.
Why worry when you can take immediate and decisive action.
Mike,
You are advising her to participate in illegal activity?
Trapping blows. Don’t litter my public land with your crap.
Well as long as your willing to take the tickets and fines, of course you run the risk of getting shot as well if you run into a particularly nasty trapper.
By the way, it is their public land as much as it is your public land, and I didn’t see Leslie mention if it was public land or not.
I see Mike is commenting with his usual level of intellectual prowess. No surprise there. A budding anarchist, with no brains.
You got me, WM. 😉
Mike if that how you feel stay out of my part of the forest and quit complaining as usual.
They are legal traps on forest land. Seems like most all kinds of trapping is legal here in WY. And it goes on and on for a long season–through March. What I don’t like is that this guy apparently has traps all over the place right next to the road so its easy on him to check them. I understand he caught a cougar in one that needed to be released, and an eagle in another. And he sets them on user trails right next to the road. This particular trap I hate because I just can’t go around it as it’s the only way down a steep escarpment from the flat parking area. Everytime I have to make sure my dog doesn’t want to sniff his bait. Plus I thought trappers had to mark their sets for people to see. But the warden told me this isn’t true. That trappers don’t want to make visible their traps because they don’t want people stealing their bobcats.
I really hate trapping. Hunting is fair chase and its for food, mostly. But this guy doesn’t work and makes his living on killing animals to sell. For him, he sees a bobcat and sees cash, that’s all.
“I really hate trapping. Hunting is fair chase and its for food, mostly.”
I guess it’s all relative. I once killed a big bull elk from a tick over 400 yards away. He didn’t even know I was present or that he was in danger. The only sense of accomplishment I felt was the validation of my marksmanship – certainly none of my hunting skills were tested.
On the other hand, getting a wolf with a home range of over 150 km² to step exactly in the center of a 7″ diameter set is an accomplishment that takes thorough knowledge of the animal and how it uses the landscape.
Ma
That last part is what most here don’t get, most trappers I know, know more about wildlife and the animals they trap than almost all those who post here know about any animal. Being able to fool all the senses of a animal who lives by those senses 24/7. Then the biggest problem is most of them have never done any of the things they think are so easy hunting, trapping or ranched.
Then again it’s been said a lot here hatred comes from ignorance, be it hatred of animals or people. Go out into the world and learn from those you hate, knowledge not ignorance.
Don’t have the entire breakdown, but it appears trapping in MN was very successful. Not to argue about the skill of an individual trapper, but when you have 1000’s of trappers, multiplied by the number of sets they have, the odds of wolves getting trapped goes way up.
And those traps/snares are out there 24/7.
Immer
Do you have any data on the age of wolves trapped?
Most of the wolves caught I know of were less than 2 years of age, as it is in Canada from what I read.
Being out there 24/7 is what makes trapping a very good tool.
RB,
Still waiting on the breakdown.
“That last part is what most here don’t get, most trappers I know, know more about wildlife and the animals they trap than almost all those who post here know about any animal. ”
sure, I get that. I use a lot of trapping techniques to get photographs and movies without the trapping killing part. I’ve made marten boxes and baited them just for photos and gotten tremendous film footage.
There are several things about trapping I do not like. First, it’s about cash and sentient beings treated as a commodity. second, a lot of trapping is just plain cruel. I walked with some fellows a few years ago to their marten sets. Frankly, at least that’s a quick kill and more humane than that bobcat trapper who has gotten eagles in there as well as cougars.
But wildlife as an industry, a commodity…well it is no different to me than asian sweat factories. You have no sense of responsibility to that animal to sustain it nor to honor it for its meat. Like so much that is wrong today, its just about money.
Mike,
I’d like to apologize to you, for in the past, calling you an idiot. Attack the message, not the one who delivers it.
Your comment to Leslie is wrong. Don’t encourage someone else to break the law. If you want to do so yourself, take the the risks involved, it’s your decision.
In a round about way, not a far reach between your encouragement and the inciting that Toby Bridges does.
Immer –
Removing a trap might save the life of a mammal. That’s quite a difference.
Once again you’ve run into the false equivalency monster.
Mike
No. Encouraging someone else to break the law is wrong, and cowardly. As I said, if you want to engage in that sort of activity, it’s your choice.
Trapping is cowardly.
Letting a mammal struggle like that is pathetic, and has no place in our society.
Mike,
I am anti-trapping. But I will not encourage “others” to break the law.
Immer,
Would it be against the law to spring a trap but not remove it? How difficult is it to do that?
Harley,
All traps are easy to “spring” if you know what you’re doing. Illegal sets, got no problem with doing just that. All traps in MN require ID tags. If they are not tagged they are illegal.
That said, as per page 44 of MN hunting and trapping regulations, “No person may remove or tamper with a trap or snare legally set…”
Ah! Thank you! Wonder what the regs are for Illinois? Though, I don’t have to worry about traps too much where I live.
I agree, I consider it very cowardly myself. More and more people in my opinion despise trapping much more than hunting.
Good for Mike,
It’s illegal to leave your fishing pole unattended why can you leave a trap unattended? It is littering!
In what state Larry, We leave our fishing poles unattended all the time when we are ice fishing.
It’s how revolutions are started. They don’t happen by writing letters.
Imagine if the Sons of Liberty had instead decided to deliver polite letters to the British government.
Immer,
Why would you feel compelled to apologize to Chicago Mike. Truth, of course, is a defense to defamation. Why shield this forum from truth about the message or the defective mind that delivered the message? They are one and the same.
On the other hand, if someone wanted to take the traps, admit to their wrongdoing and report themselves to authorities, or camp out with the evidence on the courthouse steps awaiting arrest (and maybe a news reporter), that would be civil disobedience, an act which in our culture sometimes gets sympathy and support for change.
And, Immer, I do like your style, honed from past exchanges with Mike, no doubt. Talk to him like an 7 year old. Intellectually you would not be far off.
WM –
You’re letting your emotions get the best of you again. That’s a harsh reply, really full of venom.
Perhaps some fresh air and exercise will do you good?
No Mike. Just factual and logical arguments, with justified critic examination about your illegal advocacy approach.
Well, WM, you have to start somewhere. It was legal to own slaves in this country at one point, too.
Anyone who can read knows your reply was far more than “factual arguments”. It was a personal hit job.
You should know better.
++And, Immer, I do like your style, honed from past exchanges with Mike, no doubt. Talk to him like an 7 year old. Intellectually you would not be far off.++
By the way, WM, you don’t put “an” before a number. Just an “a”.
WM,
One of the things that make this blog so wonderful is that most of the arguments/debates are just that. Logical, reasoned statements without the mudslinging that occurred elsewhere. I’ve made attempts at B cubed, but it has been futile as I have been called every name in the book over there. I don’t call them names. Why should I call someone on “my side” names.
Doesn’t mean I have to agree with what they say. I remember thinking a while back, how would someone like David Mech reply to some statements? I submit he would not engage in name calling of any sort, or he would avoid the reply. One of the reasons the IWC does not employ “advocates”.
I’m certainly not David Mech. Yet, if one wants to improve at chess, you play with those above your skill levels. Mike is not an idiot, but his comments are, often, idiotic.
I guess we will always have outliers in wildlife discussions, but the crux of the
matter is, we need to find ways to bring people closer together, rather than pushing them farther apart.
All that said, I do enjoy the occasional juicy opportunities of sarcasm.
Immer,
We’ve all said things on this blog we aren’t proud of (especially the male posters…the women seem far more sane, mirroring real life). Emotions run high here.
Perhaps it is the distance that allows for the barbs and jabs. I doubt it would be this way in person.
I really don’t think trappers should be laying traps in areas near human walking trails. Isn’t there enough opportunity for them without having to do that?
That is why I asked if they are illegal sets, I know in Montana there are certain areas you can’t set traps, as was brought up earlier with the Lake Como situation.
So how are people “finding” foothold traps? One of the keys to success is to make the set, and any signs of your presence, invisible. Including tracks in the snow, at least within ten feet or so of the set.
No one would ever be able to find one of my sets unless they stepped directly on it, so these stories of people finding traps all over seem very odd.
I agree Ma.
ma’iingan,
If you’re still around, and anyone else… The old guillotine dog nail trimmers I’ve used forever have all but bit the dust. Any recommendations on a good set of trimmers. Been reading about Millers Forge for large dogs.
I haven’t clipped my guy’s nails since he was a pup – the shop where I buy his food does ’em for free and the enjoy meeting their end users, so I just take him with me when he needs a trim.
He enjoys visiting a store full of toys and treats and they fawn over him, so it’s all good.
I don’t know what brand they use but they work like side cutters and they have red handles – takes ’em like 30 seconds and he’s good to go.
Immer,
I am forever worried about cutting the quick. So, about two years ago I got a battery pack Dremel tool, and use a sanding drum (some dog trimmers use these). It takes a bit longer, but the dog doesn’t seem to mind, and is less anxious about it than the old guillotine or side cut type. And, after the initial trim is done, which can take longer, the maintenance trim is quick if you do it regularly. I think you can the Dremel at any of the big box hardware stores. Even think there is a Youtube “how to” video out there.
WM – My vet cut the quick on a nail of my little 25 lb. mix breed when she was a baby, in for an office visit.
Couldn’t get near her with nail clippers after that, so I picked up a dremel like tool (made by Oster) for doing dog nails.
Got her use to the sound (not near as loud as an actual dremel) and then got her into my lap. But… had no luck at all, trying to hold her down, once she realized the procedure was going to involve HER feet.
From the protest she put up, you’d of thought I was trying to kill her, even my big dog thought I was trying to kill her (had to put the big dog outside)
Finally gave up. Even at 25 lbs. it was difficult to get her in a headlock AND use both hands to do her nails 🙂
So now I deal with her long nails through the winter months and then when spring rolls around (and she’s pounding the dirt/gravel etc. chasing tennis balls, something she could do all day) that activity, seems to keep her nails trimmed down.
Does make one wonder though how wild canines keep their nails trimmed. Saw a cowdog a few years ago that could barely walk because her nails were disgusting – long to the point of curled. Maybe diet?
Nancy,
We use the Dremel on both the dog and two cats. This one has two speeds, and at the lower one not much noise at all. For the cats a towel wrapped around the body, keeping only the paw needing attention out, seems to work. A bath towel wrap might even work on a 25 lb. dog. As JB suggests, treats as a constant bribe/diversion through the process is always popular. And, if there is a second set of hands for the towel wrap part of the process, or to hold and soothe, even better. For our six-toed cat, a break half way thru works well for cat and tool operator. After a couple of repeat procedures, they don’t protest at all.
All-
We had similar experiences with the vet cutting the quick, and also ended up with a Dremel. Nancy, we lay our dog down and feed her treats while doing the trimming. This is necessary because my first attempt with the Dremel ended up catching the hair on her feet on the spinning shaft, tearing out a nice patch between her toes. After a bit of yelping (and much cursing), my wife figured out that our dog would still allow the Dremel “trim” if fed a healthy portion of dog treats. This was years ago and we’ve been doing it ever since.
Dog nail trimming 101
Start when they are young. Don’t let the vets do it IMHO because most dogs associate the vets with quite a bit of trepidation.
I just made it a game with my dog when a pup. Sure there was a bit of a wrestling match, but once he got used to it, I kept at it every couple weeks. It was quality time.
After that, it’s just hold up the clippers, and say “assume the position” and 90 pounds of German Shepherd rolls over onto his back.
Sure, there’s still a little bit of wrestling, but it’s over in five minutes. Just need new trimmers.
Awwwww. 🙂
Gee, I wonder if this will include cattle and sheep?
Look for “accidents” (and the sale of grill guards 🙂 to go WAY up if this passes.
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/Montana-lawmakers-ponder-roadkill-bill/-/14594602/18443706/-/ijkm6xz/-/index.html
Ma
One thing that comes to mind is we have a lot of beginning want-a-be trappers, this year in Montana. Some of these new trapper have no mentors, little experience, and as we are seeing are breaking regulations.
Rancher Bob,
We had/have same thing in MN. I guess it’s a toss up when one considers what is or isn’t deer trail when setting snares. Then again, if one is following regulations there should be no gray area.
Immer
I was just reading Mike earlier comments about seeing traps as trash, he has some learning if he’s moving to Missoula, MT. Some people I know when they meet him are going to feel the same way about him. Finding traps can be hard but finding someone who messes with trap usually easy. I look forward to seeing his face on the news.
RB,
As much as I dislike trapping, encouraging someone else to break the law is what bothers me. If he or anyone else wants to take the chance, thats their own business.
Here is an older article but still very relevant on bobcat trapping. To continue my conversation about the trapper who doesn’t work but lives on his bobcat traps, this year I haven’t seen any bobcat prints around. Although in the desert the rabbit population is down, not up here. Plenty of snowshoes and cottontails, esp in areas where I usually see bobcats. The price of bobcat furs, driven by Russia and China, is outrageous. I think my state (mentioned in the article as having no quota) needs to start thinking about quotas on trapping and do more studies on populations.
http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/ar-bobcat.html
Costa Rica bans hunting.
http://www.ticotimes.net/Current-Edition/News-Briefs/President-Chinchilla-signs-ban-on-hunting-for-sport_Thursday-January-31-2013
Love it.
Very modern,tasteful outlook on the outdoors.
What is there to hunt in Costa Rica? A few small deer. I have never heard of anyone going to Costa Rica hunting.
Lots of fishing, not so much hunting in Costa Rica. More of a PR stunt to make them look good, without actually having much of an effect.
not true SB it was enacted for a purpose, as I identified below.
peccary, sloth, coatimundi, birds….anything huntable
Bull, Louise, I spent a good amount of time in Costa Rica, the hunting opportunities are very sparse there, give me a break with your great, but uninformed crusade..
And before you say it, I already know what you are going to say, then you are going to say, I am not taking the bait, I am not going to engage you, I am going to bed, this will be my last message, blah, blah and blah again!
Give me a freaking break Louise, you have taken jabs at me every chance you get, since the first freaking day you started posting on this blog.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0750e/t0750e0l.htm
peccary hunting in latin american countries
http://www.centralamerica.com/cr/moon/momammal.htm
http://www.ticotimes.net/Current-Edition/News-Briefs/President-Chinchilla-signs-ban-on-hunting-for-sport_Thursday-January-31-2013
a number of mammals local to Costa Rica listed here, many of which were hunted. Before you rush to slam and discredit me every time I write anything you might want to stop your knee jerk before you go to type. I’ve spent a fair time in Costa Rica in some pretty cool places and I’ve seen a good number of these animals and know how they were hunted sometimes for export and other times for sport and food. In third link the president, notes it took 6 years to pass and regrets that in that time a number of species went extinct.
The hunting in Costa Rica is not like that in the US or Africa for big game – primarily it is for the export market of mammals, reptiles, birds . . . to other countries seeking exotic pets.
Exactly Barb, it is not the hunting we see here, that hunting is for smuggling purposes, as has been the ivory, horn and gall bladder trade, which even here in the US we have outlawed.
The largest animals I saw on a trip to Costa Rica were black ctenosaur and boa constrictor.
Costa Rica has an important ecotourism business. The law was primarily enacted to protect species from export and extinction.
http://www.costaricapages.com/blog/costa-rican-wildlife/endangered-animal/1478
Yes Barb thats true but hunting in the jungle does exist and was a problem especially in the areas near Corcovado which is a national park that extends along the Panama border. many of the bird species were being wiped out as in Ecuador and some of the smaller species like coatamundi for their fur as well as peccari for subsistence purposes. The two places I spent the most time in were well away from any common tourist destinations. SB I spent some time there too, but I’m sure you have more expertise then I, as you always do.
Louise,
I was stationed there for 3 years as a liaison. I really don’t know what it is with you.
I was stationed in that area for 3 years, and have done quite a bit of fishing in that area as well. As far as experience, yes, I do have far more than you, I spent over 26 years traveling and living in many of these areas that you bitch about.
SB you always know more about everything. Nova writer seems to think the ban had something to do with the fact that hunting was a problem. You can never stop yourself you always have to be right, to know more, have traveled more… and everyone else is full of shit. Take it up with the environmental groups that passes the ban, the president and the people of Costa Rica who thought their wildlife was worth protecting.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/hunting-ban.html
Louise, my 26 years in the military took me many places in this world, my love of the outdoors exposed me to quite a lot. As far as I am concerned people like you are the reason the animal activists are loosing, you have no openness in you at all to understand and work to a common goal.
It has to be your way or no way, you are simply like the others that have put their selves out there for a cause, but never have the stamina, to hold on to the end.
And Yes, I know more than you, that I can assure you of.
well then you should know hunting was an issue. could you ever admit that someone has experiences that might be relevant other then you. Thats what is with me
Screw you Louise, can’t you ever realize, there are quite a lot of us, that have experience, your a crusader, but your knee jerk reactions are getting really boring.
You know, it is a shame, certain individuals, keep bitching about hunting on this blog, despite the owners position being clearly stated under the topic heading “Hunting” at the top of this blog.
Used to be we could discuss issues on this blog, now it is a never ending onslaught of extreme advocates that only want to bitch and scream. You and a few others are sounding like Bush did, you are either with us or you are against us.
In fact, if we don’t find a way to work together, the bull is going to pass us by and then we will loose everything. Look at what has happened with the wolf, now we have strong threats against Bison, trapping is rampant in many states.
Despite those who always condemn things, that side is currently winning.
Get a clue folks, cause we ain’t winning right now.
Anyway Louise, the end to another typical night with your BS.
By the way Louise, you wouldn’t happen to be the Same Louise that owns Kane Productions would you?
Sorry Louise,
I just clicked on your name for the first time, so my question ends up being redundant. Believe it or not, you and I have met.
So SB
it is a small world. I’m hoping that our meeting was better then our on line performance. Generally I get on with people pretty well. With my luck I met you on the only time I had seasickness out of hundreds of boat ventures or had an infrequent late night out, or some out of character incident. Please make my day and say it was a good meeting! Perhaps we shared some common ground? I’ve met so many people on the movie, film or commercial sets, through NOAA or through travel its hard to say. So where did we meet and when?
I’ll laugh so hard if it was in Costa Rica!
Louise,
I think there will be a few of us who will get a chuckle from this!
probably so Harley, I’m betting our in person meeting was nicer then online!
And now for something completely different…
26 below zero F° this morning. The birds coming into the feeding station are a marvel of evolutionary wonders.
The red crossbills in particular are particularly “puffed” up in appearance. Makes one appreciate the natural selection that came into play for all creatures great and small that carve out an existence in these northern winters.
It’s easy to admire this from within, sitting next to the wood stove, nursing some minor frostbite to the proboscis. Yesterday was a day of occasion, assisting a friend driving dog teams while moving his clients into one of the lakes up here. Despite what anyone thinks, those dogs love to pull. They thrive to pull, and soak up the encouragement.
Some of them don’t get along with each other, but work well together, even hitched side by side. Also interesting as I got back to the cabin last night the curious welcome I received from my canine friend, smelling of twenty strange dogs.
Immer,
Sounds cold but also a lot of fun! It’s cold here today too but not nearly what you have.
Have you been following the Winter Study?
Harley,
The IR study? As of late, no. You probably are up on it more than me, however I think someone at the IWC said there is only one female remaining. Don’t know if that’s true or not.
Still think that wolves trapped for depredation of livestock in MN would be prime candidates for relocation to IR.
The birds coming into the feeding station are a marvel of evolutionary wonders.
They are so cute to watch – they always are so full of joy and life.
I’m taking part in a backyard feeder census this weekend thru Mass Audubon. I’ve been doing it for years and it’s my idea of fun! Cornell has one the following week too, I think.
http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc
Ida,
Looks like something in which to get involved. Thanks!
You’re very welcome. 🙂
I wish I could leave my feeders up, but have to take them down in the fall and spring because of the bears. By time they are in hibernation, it is difficult to get to the areas I set them during the summer. This year, we currently have a bear running around, saw it tracks yesterday!
Awww, that’s too bad, but you are very lucky SB to live where you’ve got such amazing wildlife, I think.
Feeders do tend to attract other animals – I get deer, racoons, foxes, chipmunks and squirrels, etc. – we haven’t had a black bear yet, but from time to time they are seen.
That’s not such a surprise, for around my neck o’ the woods. Bears have been “getting up” earlier almost every year. I was seeing signs in early Feb. as far back as eight years ago. Seems like it’s a week to ten days earlier every couple years. We haven’t had a hard winter, only a week or so of really cold cold and not much snow to speak of. Haven’t seen signs of them around my place yet but you never know until you see the tracks.
Salle,
It leads me to believe this bear has found a good food source, what it is? I don’t know, we know bears is zoos don’t hibernate because they have a good sustained food source.
This happened a couple of years ago and we were not able to locate the food source but we did conclude it was not human garbage as no one was reporting break ins and such.
SB,
Indeed, they usually have a good source or they are just “up” and looking. Maybe they have become accustomed to stashing food. (Just a thought that sprung to mind)… bears in YNP have learned that they can share a wolf kill with the wolves instead of just stealing it. The early signs I have always seen involved seed caches hidden by squirrels, maybe something else too?
It will be interesting to watch this over the years, I would be interested to know if there is actually an evolutionary process going on here with the few bears that actually stay up all winter, and if that will be passed on to their offspring.
Federal officials propose endangered species protection for wolverine
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/federal-officials-propose-endangered-species-protection-for-wolverine/article_ce7190a2-62f5-5749-84c0-a2ed790a8260.html#ixzz2JfdilRrg
This is very good news.
Tribes, bison advocates oppose bison management bill
On Thursday, Sen. John Brenden, R-Scobey, proposed his third anti-bison bill in as many legislative sessions, and the resistance was as strong as it was in 2009.
Senate Bill 143 would establish a year-round hunting season for bison, allow hunters to buy three bison licenses and prohibit the transportation of bison to any other refuges.
“(Yellowstone National Park) has too many buffalo, and something has to be done,” Brenden told the Senate Fish and Game committee. “You can take the worst rancher and put him in charge of Yellowstone Park and it would be the best-managed because he’d manage for numbers.
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/politics/article_c036952a-6c2b-11e2-83b3-0019bb2963f4.html
This is a very extreme bill. Does anyone know anything about this brenden guy? Seems to be anti-bison.
Montana recently killed a couple of bills that should make just about everyone on here happy. They killed bills that would let hound hunters use dogs to hunt bears and they killed a bill that would let people trap mountain lions. I think they will probably kill a bill that would let hunters use silencers on cougars and wolves.
Jon thanks for making my day
Most likely rancher controlled.
Research eagle killed in Mont.
A Jackson Hole biologist’s research took a hit this past week, when one of six golden eagles he tracks became tangled in a Montana snare and died.
The adult female, GPS-tracked by Craighead Beringia South, was one of three Montana eagles recently caught in snares, said Becky Kean, director of the Montana Raptor Conservation Center. Two of the three, including Beringia South’s research subject, nicknamed “Elaine,” were killed.
http://jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=9508
’bout time…
New federal focus: ‘Compassion’ for wild horses
RENO, Nev.—The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is issuing new policy directives emphasizing “compassion and concern” for wild horses on federal lands in the West, in response to a growing public outcry over alleged abuse during roundups of thousands of mustangs in recent years.
Federal laws protecting wild horses since the 1970s require the government to treat them humanely when culling overpopulated herds to reduce harm to public rangeland.
But BLM officials said a series of new internal policy directives announced Friday will better protect free-roaming horses and burros by centralizing oversight and stepping up daily reports at each individual gather across 12 Western states.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_22497981/new-blm-policy-focus-compassion-wild-horses#ixzz2JfixtXGb
Yikes!
Four at Once: Volcano Quartet Erupts on Kamchatka
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/four-volcanoes-erupting-concurrently-on-kamchatka-peninsula-a-880777.html
Great pictures.
We were going to go to Kamchatka back in 2002, but then came the 9/11 attacks.
Wish I could see a land where there are volcanoes, geysers, tigers and grizzly bears, and the streams full of salmon.
There is a fifth Kamchatcha volcano that erupts very frequently (every year) that could join these four. It is Kluchevskoy Volcano, an 18,000 foot tall perfect stratovolcano.
That would be really cool.
Here’s additional viewing, a pano with user controls… not sure I like the audio but hey, I didn’t create this but it’s cool anyway…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2271934/Watch-volcano-exploding-Amazing-360-degree-interactive-panorama-shows-eruption-remote-Kamchatka-peninsula.html#axzz2Jg0OcOiS
“Wolverines Rebound!”
Seattle Times paper print version, front page in 1″ font.
North Cascades population on the increase (west of Leavenworth).
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020260612_wolverinereturnxml.html
Thanks WM, good news, I was fortune enough to meet one of the team members that captured trail cam photos of WA wolverines several years ago.
Cool footage of an ice flow on the Gallatin River:
http://chiwulff.com/2013/01/10/gallatin-tsunami/
DLB, you are right, it is cool footage. The Clearwater River in Idaho used to get ice-log jams that blocked the river above Spalding that were expected to take out the old US 95 bridge. Spectators would sit on the slopes to the north in anticipation with their cameras ready.
NYT – 2 Bills Propose Zero Tolerance for Bison
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/2-bills-propose-zero-tolerance-for-bison/#more-155008
I seriously doubt they will pass, and if they do, Bullock will most likely Veto them.
I hope you’re right sb, but the ranchers, the ones who seem to support these bills have a lot of influence in Montana. It is going to be interesting to see which way Bullocks goes on these particular issues.
Any ancestral connection between this Bullock and the Bullock of Deadwood fame?
“It will be interesting to watch this over the years, I would be interested to know if there is actually an evolutionary process going on here with the few bears that actually stay up all winter, and if that will be passed on to their offspring”
SB – I seem to recall, after reading Tracks of the Grizzly/ Craighead, 1979. (and geez, the book is somewhere around the cabin 🙂 bears do wake up during the winter months and are active.
Given the weather conditions in remote, mountainous areas, in winter (My tracks out to my rig this morning, were completely covered when I got home this afternoon due to blowing, drifting snow) I would imagine it would be hard to determine if some bears have always moved around in the winter and we’re just not aware of it, because of the ever changing weather conditions that “smooth out” out a landscape.
Ranchers hope deal staves off sage grouse listing:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OR_SAGE_GROUSE_MTOL-?SITE=MTKAL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=ap_template.html
So in Oregon there is a “deal” to avert listing of the sage grouse but the contents have not been made public? So interested parties are in the dark. Sounds typical.
And about this invasion of juniper? I am skeptical – an excuse for “chaining” acres of BLM rangeland to clear sage and juniper so it can be planted to alien crested-wheat grass for exotic cattle.
Ralph,
It is interesting to see the uniform height of the remnant tree trunks after all these years. Here are some pictures showing the area, including the landslide, which formed that lake on the Madison River in 1959.
I felt that earthquake about 300 miles NNW in Whitefish, Montana.
http://www.aslo.org/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/623/title/langmuir-streaks-on-quake-lake-montana/cat/502
Re: Michigan wolves
Good summary of current status of proposed wolf hunt.
Per DNR Director Keith Creagh – the NRC (body that will set up hunt)will likely only allow a limited hunt of wolves in certain areas of the Upper Peninsula where wolf populations are causing problems.
Per DNR Wildlife Division Chief Russ Mason – Gogebic County arguably has the highest density of wolves of anywhere in the lower 48 states.
http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/583986/DNR-officials-urge-both-sides-in-debate-to-back-off.html?nav=5006
“Creagh said the NRC would likely only allow a limited hunt of wolves in certain areas of the Upper Peninsula where wolf populations are causing problems.”
Therin lies the rub, and uncertainty. likely what does that word mean in wildlife management, in recent history likely means that effort and seasons will increase incrementally. One quote states a citizen’s initiative is no way to manage wildlife. It is to protect them though! I hope they get their required signatures and stop hunting in one state at least.
http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2013/02/01/rockybarker/as_feds_propose_listing_wolverines_idaho_snowmobile_group_suppor?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IdahoStatesmanLettersFromTheWest+%28IdahoStatesman.com+Letters+from+the+West%29
Very nice. 🙂
http://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/author/exposingthebiggame/
more thoughts on the golden eagle snaring
[Stupid junk mail filter. I’ll try this again without the html link.]
Brian A Clark: Drop Charges against Connersville Police Officer and his wife
Started by: John, Greenwood, Indiana
Jeff and Jennifer Counceller thought were doing the right thing when they saved the life of an injured baby deer they found near their home in Indiana. But because they didn’t have a permit, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is prosecuting them and they could face up to 60 days in prison. The DNR should drop these charges now.
When they found the fawn on a neighbor’s porch in 2010, she was badly injured with puncture wounds that were infected and had maggots in them. Jennifer, a registered nurse and wound caretaker for the couple’s dogs and horses took the deer home and named it Dani and began nursing the deer back to health.
When they called the DNR they were told to return the deer to the wild and let nature take it’s course. That would have been a death sentence for the deer. Instead, they tried to find Dani a home at animal rescue operations, petting zoos and deer farms, but no one would take her. The Counceller’s decided to keep caring for the deer until it was strong enough to make it on it’s own in the wild.
This past summer the DNR started an investigation into the situation and a DNR official recommended they get a permit to rehabilitate Dani. The DNR then denied the permit application and then said the deer would have to killed.
Just before DNR officials arrived at the Counceller’s house to kill Dani she escaped through a gate that was left open. Now, the DNR has assigned a special prosecutor to the case and they’re charging both Jeff and Jennifer with illegal possession of a white-tailed deer.
Jeff is a police officer and Jennifer is a nurse – these are good people who were just trying to the right thing by saving an injured animal. They don’t deserve to go to jail and the DNR should drop all charges against them.
We’re asking that you sign the petition and also join the fight on our facebook page at wwwDOTfacebookDOTcom/connersvillecharges
JB this was posted a couple of days ago I think with some accompanying dialogue, your thoughts?
Apologies for the re-post. It just arrived in my email box this AM.
Without all of the relevant facts, it is hard for me to say what I think? FThe permit may have been denied because the family lacked legally-mandated facilities to properly house and care for wild animals (or some other legal requirement). I’m also sympathetic with both the DNR and the people involved. Why would the DNR waste precious resources on rehabilitating a species that is arguably already over-populated? On the other hand, nearly everyone is a sucker for baby animals. It would be hard not to help…
In the end, pursuit of prosecution doesn’t get them (the State) anything (a few $s in fines?), and they waste taxpayer dollars prosecuting and (potentially) incarcerating people who were just trying to help a wild animal survive. That seems…well, stupid. Moreover, it appears as if this situation may already be turning into a PR nightmare. Best thing to do may be to simply drop the case.
Thanks JB, I agree
Just recieved the University of Idaho Natural Resouces Magazine Vol 29 #1; in it an article “Science Informs Sage-Grouse Discussion”. The article discusses the Butch Otter task force on sage-grouse management for Idaho. I was shocked to see how many obvious conflict of interest people were on the task force. It included Idaho Farm Bureau and others with seemingly good backgrounds but the article quoted them with what appears to be predispositions of status quo. Another shock was the paragraph about Karen Launchbaugh, Director, Rangeland Center, University of Idaho who thinks grazing can be another tool for conserving grouse habitat??? Also she thinks grazing can be used to create fire breaks to stop fires across grouse habitat??? My mind sees grazing firebreaks as a dust bowl with no vegetation left, of course that would be a fire break but where’s the grouse habitat? And just how is grazing going to create grouse habitat? If it does wouldn’t we already be swamped with grouse habitat considering the rampant grazing throughout decades past? If the task force is made of grouse friends like this you better get your photos of the grouse now because time is running out. And many of the members appear to be U of I associated, shame, shame. This may not be my university of 50 years ago.
http://wolfwatcher.org/news/all-news/a-rocky-mountain-tragedy-revisited/
Thank you Wolfwatcher, a nicely written statement.
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/01/video-see-a-thought-move-through-a-living-fishs-brain/
a study $3 and sunny jon will never be asked to be participate in
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/02/two-chefs-indicted.html
I wonder if we could partition the court to throw in a neuter….
Which groundhog, marmot to believe Phil from PA, Montana Murry from Roundup or Bitteroot Bill from Stevensville.
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/says-bitterroot-bill-six-more-weeks-of-winter/article_5b5eb28e-6d90-11e2-b7e3-0019bb2963f4.html
🙂
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Coyote-hunt-brings-chorus-of-protest-4246276.php#ixzz2JrGwTOd9
Thank you Camilla Fox and Project Coyote!
Good!
That is good news because it means more urban coyotes to prey on pets.
From the article:
++More than 20 wildlife conservation organizations wrote letters urging state and federal wildlife management agencies to halt the three-day “Coyote Drive 2013” scheduled to begin Friday in the woodlands around the rural town of Adin, in the far northeastern corner of California. ++
Now the real question is, just how many actual people does this represent? A “wildlife conservation organization,” or any other interest gropu these days, can sometimes mean as few as two or three people, and an internet domain/website, and maybe some letterhead. And, if they are honest, a federal tax filing as a 503(1)(c) organization or the equivalent to achieve charitable donation status.
While I don’t condone “contests” involving wildlife, it does make sense to dig a little deeper in the sense of who really opposes or supports a particular activity.
Another good example is the 238 environmental groups supporting Grijalva for Secretary of Interio. Some of these “groups” are just that – 3 people and a website. Never heard of some of these, or if they do disclose who they are, there is a remarkable acknowledgement that some are on each other’s staff/board or advisors. Not that different than some corporate structures. Time to address the problems of political identity/funding and and needed transparancy stemming from the disgust of the SCOTUS “Citizens United” decision and the Section 503 federal tax code stuff.
Sorry, not enough coffee this AM. It should read:
“…tax filing as a 501(c)3 organization or the equivalent…”
Does anyone know anything about the wolves that were living in spanish fork canyon in Utah or High lonesome ranch in Colorado?
My recollection from some months back is that the “research” of Cristina Eisenberg (doctoral student/independent scientist hired by the ranch), showed that there were NOT wolves on the High Lonesome, but coyotes, after DNA tests were done on the rather large dimension “scat” she initially reported as wolf. So much for reserving judgment until the evidence is confirmed.
In the meantime, the High Lonesome got some cheap advertising for its business venture as a high end dude/hunting ranch owned by some enterprising Texan. Coloradoans, as a general rule, hate Texans, by the way.
Don’t know whether that has changed in the interim (including the Colorado Texas connection feelings).
But, I remember the researcher talking about all the actual evidence they had besides the scat, like howling, very easy to distinguish between coyote and wolf when it comes to howling…..
Atlas,
Regardless, the conclusion, if I recall correctly, was no wolves on the High Lonesome thru 2011. Presumably such wolves would leave tracks, and scat, yes? If there was other independent verifiable evidence, this ranch and Eisenberg would have reported it even after the DNA came back negative (She had egg on her face over this, by the way). It would have proved their hypothesis, and there was certainly motivation by both to make the best possible case for proof of wolves. If there is other published information supporting presence of wolves on the High Lonesome, or that part of CO, it does not appear to be very available.
CDW staff, as well as the ranching community would be acknowledging wolf presence, as well, if it was so.
at least 25% of scat has a size crossover between wolf and coyote. Yes, DNA would reveal the truth.
a more recent article on the spike in fur trapping
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/08/26/outdoors/neil-olsons-trappers-convention-fur-prices-lure-trap-buyers/
As an animal becomes rarer, of course it’s pelt price only goes up. No quotas, no research on populations, can drive animal towards extinction
It may bounce a little, but it will never again be like the 1920s. There’s a great historical mystery read involving a man hunt by the NW mounted police in far northern NWT and Yukon — “The Mad Trapper of Rat River” by Dawson historian Dick North. Anyway, North uncovered a record that the object of the book had sold 7 marten skins he had carried around in his pack all summer in Mayo, Yukon Territory for $680 in 1928 dollars. Then came the great depression and fur farming, then changing fashion. I have a acquaintance who covers winter expenses at his remote home with about 30 marten a year, and I think he said he averages only about $10 more in 2013 dollars than the mad trapper got in 1928 dollars.
Bear bile market. The demand is what killed Charlie Russell’s bear project in Kamchatka. I’d say not too different than the fur market. Its all about the commodity and money.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/market-for-bear-bile-threatens-asian-population/
Anybody else get physically ill, looking at those bears?
F*^king sad that our species has to continuelly ravage other species, in order to prop ourselves up.
Agreed x 2
NY Times Op-Ed on ’06’s loss to science.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/opinion/tracking-the-pack.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y&_r=1&
http://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/author/exposingthebiggame/
population out of control
For a look at a progressive wolf management plan see
below link for the draft Wolf Management Plan approved by the Tribal Council of Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.
This is what wolf and predator management should look like. They write they are dedicated to maintaining natural populations of wolves. The provision to use lethal management specifies only as a last resort! I hope you can take the time to read.
http://www.kbic-nsn.gov/sites/default/files/WolfPlan_FINAL_011013_V9.4.pdf
A quote from
“In the event that legislation is enacted for a wolf hunt, KBIC will designate the Home Territory, approximately 3.9 million acres within the 1842 Treaty area, as Wolf Sanctuary where sport hunting and/or trapping will not be allowed (See Appendix 2 for Home Territory Map). In addition, KBIC will not provide Tribal wolf hunting permits to community members. These measures will help to protect wolves and maintain a strong culturally based stance against the killing of wolves. KBIC Natural Resource Department will also participate in and maintain close communication with those involved in wolf monitoring and control of human-wolf conflicts. As funding allows, we intend to increase monitoring of wolves on and near the Reservation preferably with tracking of radio-collared wolves to keep tabs on any changing status of wolf packs.”
To contact the tribe’s natural resources division to thank them for taking this stance for wolves in MI, please use the link below
KBIC Wolf Management Plan
Upon review, please direct comments regarding the plan to Wildlife Biologist Pam Nankervis via email atpnankervis@kbic-nsn.gov or call (524-5757 x19).
Louise,
You do realize this is mostly a political statement, yes? This tribe of about 3,000 enrolled memebers has a small reservation of about 93 sq. miles smack dab in the middle of the mit of MI. The area they are “protecting” surrounds the reservation and consists of treaty hunting lands, which are not tribal lands, but on which they have treaty rights to hunt, gather etc. These lands are mostly under the control of the hunting regulations of the state of MI, and it is an attempt to control hunting of tribal members on the reservation and treaty lands and seasons they set for themselves. Doesn’t mean a tribal member can’t buy a MI wolf tag and hunt during the state season if they decide to have a wolf season, as any other resident or non-resident of the state might do. It could present an interesting legal argument if a tribal member were to want to hunt under state law off reservation but in the treaty lands, but was prevented from doing so by the tribal code (if I read this plan correctly).
Again, it is a political statement, which in reality may do little to actually protect wolves anywhere off the small reservation of 93 sq. miles out of 6093 square miles {3.9M acres} including treaty lands, if a season goes forward. On the other hand, maybe it sets them up to exercise a treaty right for MI to maintain a minimum number of wolves in the area (but doubt it would stop a state hunt). Good PR idea to exercise influence, if nothing else.
On the other end of the spectrum, as you know, the Colville Tribe in WA wants little to do with wolves, which they believe will adversely affect subsistence hunting of elk/deer, and has a hunt going on right now.
WM of course I know the state lands are dictated by non tribal state law. Political or not they are protecting wolves on their 3+ million acres of land AND making a good statement about wolves and their thinking that wolves need and deserve protection, they are valuable wildlife species, with special sociality and pack structures that make maintaining their family units important and yes they seem to be making a political statement. So what’s the downside! Its all good in my mind. 3,000,000 acres is a good start.
Louise,
Should also say the plan is an interesting take on the will of those responding to a tribal survey (N=208):
11% – Complete protection of wolves
39% – Limited taking of negative impact wolves
47% – Manage population through limited hunting/trapping
2% – Remove wolf population from reservation entirely
{Plan p. 12}.
Doesn’t strike me as measured tribal memeber opinion is much different than the general population of MI as represented by their legislature (support for a hunt seems reasonable). Looks like the tribal council took the 11% position. Why do you suppose that is?
Footnote on the 3.9M acrese (6,093 sq. miles) of “protected territory.” It appears to be about half water – Lake Superior, according to the map at the end of the plan. So much for truth in advertising.
WM I saw that and the only thing I could think of is that instead of leaning toward a more scorched earth policy for wolves they decided that cooler heads should prevail and that wolves deserved protection based on the science they presented, the cultural tradition of revering wolves that they seem to want to perpetuate, and the fact that there is a way to deal with problem wolves in their plan. Like I said I see it as progressive instead of leaping to kill approach special interests have been pushing for. Maybe they recognize the toll on opinion that the anti wolf rhetoric has been taking in public opinion and hope to get that nipped in the bud. I applaud this plan and wish others had as much common sense when it came to predators. Good for them and for wolves. Here’s to hoping that MI is the first state to pass a citizens initiative banning wolf slaughter that is passing for management. I know you will just love those last statements
No wolf hunt regs in place yet, so there is still a little hope that they will be rather modest. Just a little though. I actually expect a wolf hunt, and I expect it will be less modest than I want. I don’t agree “slaughter” is accurate for hypothetical future deaths, but accuracy likely wasn’t a goal.
A problem with the debate in Michigan is that we aren’t sure what we are arguing against yet. It’s really sad that I don’t trust those charged with wolf management enough to be able to argue against the passing of a ban by ballot proposal, but it’s also partly cause I think we can reduce wolves where it might make a bit of sense by methods that wouldn’t be called hunting, so a ban is workable. It’s not my first choice though.
Another sad thing is how many people are foam-at-mouth on either end.
WM says,
“(N=208):
11% – Complete protection of wolves
39% – Limited taking of negative impact wolves
47% – Manage population through limited hunting/trapping
2% – Remove wolf population from reservation entirely
{Plan p. 12}.
Doesn’t strike me as measured tribal memeber opinion is much different than the general population of MI as represented by their legislature (support for a hunt seems reasonable). Looks like the tribal council took the 11% position. Why do you suppose that is?”
I thought they were taking the 50 percent opinion (11 % plus 39%….N=105) but not using lethal control as a first option. Did I read this wrong?
Mark L.,
Yours is an interesting way to read this poll. I would have thought a policy body, if relying only on public opinion, would have focused more on the middle ground the 39% + 47%, those that wanted removal of problem wolves and hunting/trapping opportunity. A cluster of forty-seven percent that want hunting is a HUGE number in a poll.
Maybe JB will offer some thoughts here.
On the other hand, electing people to weigh more than just opinion polls when making decisions is often the better way to go. Again, this is mostly a political plan.
Yes, it would have been even more interesting if they had not used the word ‘manage’ along with hunting and trapping (implication being that hunting/trapping is the only population management tool…with no other choices?). Phraseology is everything in polls, and politics is definately in there.
WM:
I haven’t had time to look through this in any detail, but I would not suggest basing any policy decision on survey data alone. Moreover, I would approach surveys with fewer than 375 respondents very skeptically–an N of 208 comes with a lot of sampling error.
and WM its a well written plan
Louise,
I don’t know how good a plan it is, but it does provide the basis for a bunch of future federal tax dollar BIA grants for monitoring, research and the tasks of plan implementation (maybe job security for the staff that wrote it). Employment on the reservation is always a good thing.
Right from the start, this plan seems to be concerned with balancing the preservation of a valuable species and human interests, not just human interests uber alles. Gives me hope that at least one state in this Union will have a sensible approach.
First New Mexican Gray Wolf Released Into Wild in Four Years Is Recaptured Three Weeks Later
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2013/mexican-gray-wolf-02-04-2013.html
http://animalconnectionac.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/federal-trapper-arrested-for-animal-cruelty/
more on wildlife service agent that intentionally trapped dogs
I can’t post the photo, but this is the story of a beautiful, dying barn owl in its own words. I cried when I read it.
I died today.
I was found by a kind, sweet woman who does wildlife rescue.
I was so sick, I could barely open my eyes.
She took me inside, cradling me in her warm arms, and made me warm and comfortable.
I opened my eyes and looked at her and thanked her for making my last few minutes as comfortable as possible.
But I was too sick to keep fighting anymore.
I had eaten a mouse that was poisoned, and it made me very sick.
I closed my yellow eyes for the last time and went somewhere else.
Please, all I ask is never use poison to kill the mice.
Poison kills owls like me.
All I wanted was a mouse for dinner.
I died today….
Please SHARE this for poison awareness.
Stop the use of poison for rats or mice.
Please save a precious life today!
So sad. 🙁
People just don’t think when they use this stuff.
It’s the same thing for lead bullets. Just no thought at all involved.
Anyway, back in the field in the morning, talk to ya’ll in a few days.
Have fun SB!
Bye SB!
This is incredible footage of alaska wolves fishing with grizzlies. Fun to watch.
Leslie thanks for posting that it was good to see a live wolf! Amazing footage. The rainforest wolves in BC hunt for salmon too, I believe its a large part of their diet. This was also fun for me to watch because my dog, Rue, loves to fish. He has very wolf like features and moves like the wolf in this footage. The bay here is tidal. There is a herring run near our house a short walk away and the fish come in the spring and migrate out in the fall. Rue loves to hunt in the shallows and track the fish. he used to use his paws to scoop them out but he has learned that he can’t keep them. and now at 7 he is lazier but if I point and say fish Rue, he runs right over and tracks them with his nose down right at water level. I loved this video thanks again.
Louise, I had the privilege once of seeing a wolf fishing and catching fish in the Lamar.
Bill to hunt wolves with silencers passes crucial House vote in Montana http://bit.ly/THBUZU
(c) while hunting, except while hunting mountain lions or wolves AFTER THE GENERAL DEER AND ELK
18 SEASON, take into a field or forest or have in the person’s possession any device or mechanism devised to silence,
19 muffle, or minimize the report of any firearm, whether the device or mechanism is operated from or attached to
20 any firearm;
Ah, just as we thought. Wolves only. I don’t understand the purpose of this? Anyand every advantage possible?
Sorry, that didn’t translate well. ‘Mountain lions or’ was stricken.
http://helenair.com/news/legislature/house-holds-hearing-on-silencer-bill/article_822b58be-6b37-11e2-89ed-0019bb2963f4.html
Well this kinda stinks, who would’ve thought no snow in Alaska?!
http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/50924/iditarod+dogsled+race+preparations+hampered+by+lack+of+snow/
http://www.dw.de/study-sinks-japans-scientific-whaling-program/a-16575981
Why wolves have a bad public image:
http://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge?ref=comics
Well this is terrific!!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/obama-to-nominate-ceo-of-outdoor-equipment-giant-rei-to-become-interior-secretary/2013/02/06/da9d2dcc-7007-11e2-ac36-3d8d9dcaa2e2_story.html?hpid=z2
Largest recorded glacier calving event:
http://www.treehugger.com/climate-change/watch-glacier-size-city-collapse-video.html#mkcpgn=fbsci1
Amazing…
Teton wolverine study key in move to protect
Research confirmed low numbers of elusive high-altitude mammal.
Inman told a story about a young male wolverine collared near Jackson in 2002.
“We put a GPS collar on him and released him there in the Tetons, and he just disappeared,” he said. “Eventually, he came back to the Tetons and dropped his collar, and we found it. He went down to Pocatello, Idaho, and back to the Tetons in three weeks. It really opened our eyes to how these animals can travel unbelievable distances in a short amount of time.”
Later in its life, the same male wandered into the Wind and Salt river ranges, Inman said. In 2009, another male Inman’s team collared near Togwotee Pass ventured all the way to Colorado. The species hadn’t been documented in that state in almost a century, he said.
Wolverines were extirpated from Wyoming and most of the contiguous United States by the 1930s.
http://jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=9526
Obituary of a sheep: Bam Bam achieved international fame for butting cars
http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/obituary-of-a-sheep-bam-bam-achieved-international-fame-for/article_32ede8ec-e8ea-5882-9f84-c1b7b8f8166b.html
[Idaho] Joan Hurlock Blasted by Opponents
On Monday, the Senate Resources and Conservation Committee held a confirmation hearing for Hurlock, whom Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter appointed to the Fish and Game Commission. The hearing focused largely on Hurlock’s qualifications and experience, with senators quizzing her on her beliefs and sportsmen testifying for and against her.
Hurlock is the second female Fish and Game Commission appointee in the state’s history. A California native, Hurlock has lived in Buhl for 10 years. She is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and a former member of Ducks Unlimited and the Audubon Society.
Hurlock has faced criticism for being a California native and for not getting a hunting license every year she has lived in Idaho.
“As children, we don’t get to choose where we were born and where we were raised,” she said during the confirmation hearing. But, she emphasized, as an adult she chose to live in Idaho, largely because of its outdoor opportunities.
Committee members grilled Hurlock on her views on wolves, ATVs, private property access and salmon. Sen. Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, pointed out that this type questioning wasn’t normal for gubernatorial appointees.
http://magicvalley.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/joan-hurlock-blasted-by-opponents/article_b9e6a700-a145-5d45-9d5a-81c1e1fed88c.html
what do you know of her Salle?
Nothin’.
Not looking so good for the Great lakes.
http://news.yahoo.com/2-great-lakes-hit-lowest-water-level-record-233716573.html
Interesting link, Harley. I would not be surprised if this lowering of the lake and probably water table might be related to the decrease in moose numbers in NE Minnesota; there will be no moose hunting season in 2013.
“Scientists say lake levels are cyclical and controlled mostly by nature.”
Oh my, no, we must NEVER let nature control ANYthing! The Chicago River used to flow into Lake Michigan until humans even reversed that:
“Waterways made Chicago. Then Chicago remade its waterways. Engineers reversed the Chicago River a century ago to use the lake’s water to refresh the waterway.”
Now, Lake Michigan is so low that the Chicago River could flow “backwards” into it with all its filth… “temporarily transforming swaths of the Chicago River into a lifeless, de-oxygenated bog.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-31/chicago-river-flowing-backwards-would-be-least-of-region-s-concerns.html
Ah, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive…nature.
Kathleen,
At the time it seemed like the thing to do. Also seemed like a good idea to try to control the Mississippi. We make mistakes. We are by no means perfect.
Harley, I see a great deal of hubris in deciding that a river flows the “wrong” direction. It’s certainly true that we make mistakes…and don’t seem to learn from them, either. We apparently don’t have the humility to accept that nature bats last…but I’m pretty sure that she’ll have the last laugh.
I know that the Calumet River was dredged to make it flow the opposite direction it originally had, is that also true of the Chicago River?
Salle,
Sorry, it’s wikipedia but it tells the story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_River
Kathleen,
It was reversed to keep the crap out of the lake. Back in that day, it was thought to be the best alternative. They were actually trying to keep the lake clean.
Snow levels are down again all the way to MN shores of Superior.
Temperatures have been cold… Got out of bed Monday am at 33 below, to get ready to pick up friends clients via dog sled.
Preliminary MN wolf season breakdown by gender. Age data will not be available until sometime in Spring/Summer when complete report is made available.
Early season (Hunting/archery)46% female, late season hunting 52% female, and late season trapping 55% female. Over all it was 51% female taken by hunters and trappers all seasons combined.
From JIm Robertson
Save the Animals—For Their Sake, Not Mine
Posted on February 6, 2013
1
Anthropocentricism is so deeply imbedded into the human psyche that these days it’s even hard to find a wildlife-related action alert which doesn’t focus on how some group of people might benefit from the continued existence of a given species. The well-being of the individual animal—let alone its species—so often takes a back seat to the ways humans benefit or profit from them.
Take wolves, for example. When Montana’s wildlife lawmakers were considering closing a few small areas around Yellowstone to wolf hunting and trapping, the primary reasons given by most wolf proponents for wanting the exclusion zones had to do with the value wolves have as tourist attractions and as part of a scientific study. To the majority of those who testified, the facts that the wolves themselves are sentient beings and/or are essential elements in nature’s design—who don’t deserve to be shot on sight as vermin—was secondary to the ways in which watchers and biologists were affected by the wrongful deaths of Yellowstone wolves.
Similarly, a petition to force Facebook to remove the page, Wolf Butchering, Cooking, and Recipes reads, “To protect the Wolves, and the Sensitivities of Native Americans. It is offensive, and a discrimination against the Religious Beliefs of Native Americans.” Of course I signed the petition, but I did so for the sake of the wolves, not because of anyone’s purported religious beliefs. I’m against cannibalism as well—for the sake of the victims of such barbarity, not because the culinary choice is considered a cultural taboo. At the same time, I don’t want migratory waterfowl habitat set aside just so I can go bird watching, or to save the whales so I can go whale watching. It’s about them, not about our perception or enjoyment of them.
As we’ve all heard, ad nauseam, “sportsmen” help wildlife by hunting—or so they would have us believe. As James McWilliams blogged in a timely post entitled Hunting, Land Conservation, and Blood Lust, “This land preservation defense of hunting is a common one. Get enough people who like to blow away animals on board and you can prevent undeveloped land from becoming a Walmart,” dispelling this myth with, “The vast majority of conservation-driven hunting policies are designed not to improve the quality of a particular ecosystem but to improve the quality of the hunt.”
Westerners didn’t know okapis or orangutans even existed until around a century ago. Were the lives of such unutilized and therefore unappreciated animals meaningless up until the day they were “discovered”? You or I may never get the chance to see a black rhino or a snow leopard, but that certainly doesn’t diminish their value.
One more long one BUT a bill introduced to stop killing contests in NM!!! Hot damn that makes me happy. Please if you have a moment send a letter of thanks and support
NM Bill Introduced to Stop Animal-Killing Contests
Renee Blake, Public News Service-NM
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/30666-1
Join the discussion: facebook.com/PublicNewsService Twitter: @pns_news @pns_NM Google+:plus.to/publicnewsservice
(02/06/13) SANTA FE, N.M. – A bill which would put an end to animal-killing contests in New Mexico is receiving the support of the Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club.
House Bill 316 is the result of widespread dismay over a recent killing contest promoted by a gun store in Los Lunas. The highly publicized contest was only one of numerous such contests held around the state.
“House Bill 316 outlaws any organized competition to go out and kill large numbers of animals for a prize,” said bill sponsor Rep. Nate Cote, D- Doña Ana and Otero counties, a hunter himself. “There are penalties involved, for example, up to a $5,000 fine.”
While opposition is expected from those who use the contests to raise funds, Cote believes he will get a lot of support for the bill, not only from groups concerned about animals and the environment but also from hunters and people who fish. Animal-killing contests reflect badly on New Mexico and on sportsmen, he said, calling the contests “unethical” and charging that they counteract the balance of nature.
Ecologically speaking, said Ray Powell, commissioner of the New Mexico State Land Office, animal killing contests are “nonsensical.”
“If you have a specific predator that’s causing a problem for domesticated livestock or companion animals, you deal with that animal specifically, quickly and humanely,” he said. “That’s very different than blowing these animals up and filling your pickup truck with carcasses.”
Powell said these killing contests disrupt the natural order of things, which, in the case of coyotes, benefits from rodent control and reducing the occurrence of plague and diseases native to New Mexico. Additionally, he said, these contests create a vacuum, drawing younger coyotes to move in en masse.
Despite the spotlight turned on the coyote-killing contest held in November, Mary Katherine Ray, wildlife chairwoman for the Sierra Club chapter, mentioned a high school on the eastern plains that sponsored one to raise money for the track team. She said this is not at all unusual around the state.
“They’re actually very common. But mostly they don’t like to publicize what’s going on because I think they realize the public is pretty outraged by it. You can sometimes find allusions to them on predator Web sites.”
The text of the bill is online at nmlegis.gov.
Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/30666-1
Elisabeth Jennings
Executive Director
Animal Protection of New Mexico, Inc.
P.O. Box 11395, Albq., NM 87192
lisa@apnm.org
and
Animal Protection Voters
P.O. Box 11651, Albq., NM 87192
lisa@apvnm.org
505-265-2322
Great news for lobo recovery……
http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/02/06/abqnewsseeker/mexican-gray-wolf-count-highest-in-14-years.html
Montana legislature will hear SB200 tomorrow.
http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2013/billhtml/SB0200.htm
The bill would make it legal to shoot wolves year round, without a license, on private property. It would also require That
More Montana legislature news here http://bit.ly/YpkIHw
Montana mimics Wyoming. Wyoming got away with it, why not Montana. Larry your fears about collars appear to be coming true, sadly.
bastards
sobs
bastards
Moose hunt cancelled after rapid population decline
DNR wildlife officials announced today that the northeast population has declined 35 percent from last year. Since 2010, the moose population has declined an overall 52 percent.
In response to the survey results, the DNR will not open a 2013 state moose hunting season or consider opening future seasons unless surveys show the population is recovering.
http://www.kare11.com/news/article/1009722/391/Moose-hunt-cancelled-after-rapid-population-decline
http://www.dailytaosnews.com/index.php/new-mexico-news/item/1590-wolf.html Mexican wolf population up significantly
No Moose hunt in Minnesota now. The population is crashing…down 76 percent in just a few years.Minnesota DNR has cancelled the hunt, and published the results of a study of the Moose population including aerial census that turned up only a total of 2760 Moose this time around. It had been close to 9,000 six years ago.
http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/2013/02/06/moose-population-drops-dramatically-hunting-season-will-not-open/
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/moose/index.html
I’ve read several versions of this story. Only one even mentioned ” wolves” and that was a Fox news article. No other sources cite wolves as a primary cause of the Moose crash, instead speculating it was unusually hot summers, other climate change, loss of forest, diseases…
Having said that , there appears to be no decline in the Moose numbers in upper New England ( Maine) and the Canadian Maritimes.
sad that when moose crash to 2760 all hunting shuts down, when wolves are at populations of 1700 in the rocky mountain states they are public enemy #1 and hunted to half that number asap. I hate seeing wolves slaughtered.
The thing about NE Minnesota, the wolves have always been there. This was the last bastion of wolves in the lower 48. The wolves and moose have always shared this area. No great increase in number of wolves, no giant transplanted wolves from Canada, no wolves with a hidden agenda to take guns away from people. The wolves and moose have simply shared this area for hundreds of years.
So let’s throw this back in the face of the anti-wolf fanatics. What is/are the new variable(s).
A very good point Immer.
yes very good point, what are the variables. Anyone know.
Drought in concert with warm temperatures, and a very distinct possibility of brain worm from deer for starters.
Not to say that wolves may have an impact on a smaller moose population, however, as one of my friends has said, “if there’s so many damn wolves, how come they can’t find these moose staggering around with brain worm?”
I could be wrong but I believe it’s been documented that wolves will not touch these sick moose.
God brain worm sounds like a terrible way to go, what is it, feeling lazy about google
so it was too intriguing not to look up, as far as humans being infected wikipedia says..”The worm is of no public health significance since it is not infective to humans, and meat of infected animals is safe for human consumption. The parasite may be of some importance to veterinarians since sheep and goats are susceptible.[2]
[edit]”. Does anyone know why this parasite would not be able to infect human tissue? It seems to be a type of roundworm.
Livin’ on the wild side in Chi town…
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/02/06/coyote-sightings-on-the-rise/
From Writers on the Range…
Yellowstone wolf’s death sparks misguided denigration
http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/proper-respects/Content?oid=1723231
Pfft. The denigration is well-earned.
I have to say that I don’t entirely agree with this OpEd but he does make a point that many have made in the past about making them sound like pets or attaching some unrealistic anthrpomorphic traits to them and giving them names… But I also think that it’s probably not going to get much better in the short term.
Recognizing that they are nurturing animals is not anthropomorphizing them, and that they share similar traits with humans. He fails to factor in the dark side of these hunters who appear to be targeting wolves, collared wolves especially, and the continued demonization of them. This was not part of the ‘bargain’ either. SSS bumper stickers, and the like, is deserving of denigration.
New threat emerging for area forests
Spruce-beetle outbreak is intensifying in Colorado, which could have implications locally
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20130207/NEWS/130209897/1077&ParentProfile=1058
And this is still happening…
Idaho environmentalists, feds spar over mega-loads
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/02/06/2441468/idaho-environmentalists-usfs-spar.html#storylink=cpy
And just a little further up the road…
Big-rig wreck shuts down highway, requires cranes for clean up
Crews from the Montana Department of Transportation and Hanser’s Automotive & Wrecker Co. in Billings spent 13 hours on Tuesday cleaning up the wreck of a big rig on Highway 12 east of Roundup.
The highway from Roundup to Forsyth was closed to semi trucks from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. while wrecker crews cleaned up a wide-load big-rig wreck that dumped an enormous piece of oil refinery machinery into the barrow pit.
A crane that big has a footprint larger than the span of the highway, Hanser said. So workers had to construct a gravel pad on which the crane could sit without sinking into the ground and then lift the machinery out of the way.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/big-rig-wreck-shuts-down-highway-requires-cranes-for-clean/article_335588cf-b24a-5dc8-94a3-ddb92b28faae.html#ixzz2KFdUFVMw
Okay so this happened out in wide-open grasslands… now try to picture this happening somewhere along the Lochsa with that thing rolling down to the river and creating a blockage of the river with the ice etc….
Here is the weather for our area….
10-18 foot waves in the Bay is unprecedented. The ocean side this could be expected but the Bay these are huge waves. I live one row back, about 150 – 200 feet from the water. Happy we are not that front row!
I’ll have the camera out
Storm Warning
Synopsis…A STRONG COASTAL STORM WILL IMPACT ALL THE WATERS FRI INTO SAT. EXPECT STORM FORCE TO HURRICANE STRENGTH GUSTS FRI NIGHT INTO SAT. HIGH PRES MOVES BACK OVER THE WATERS SUN AND MON FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER SYSTEM EARLY NEXT WEEK.
FOR INFORMATION ON POSSIBLE HAZARDOUS WEATHER BEYOND THE 24-36 HOUR FORECAST PERIOD…PLEASE VISIT http://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/BOSTON AND FOLLOW THE HAZARDOUS OUTLOOKS LINK AT THE TOP OF THE BLUE BAR ON THE LEFT.
Tonight: E winds 5 to 10 kt…increasing to 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 25 kt after midnight. Seas around 2 ft. A slight chance of snow. Vsby 1 to 3 nm after midnight.
Fri: E winds 20 to 25 kt with gusts up to 30 kt… Increasing to 25 to 30 kt with gusts up to 45 kt in the afternoon. Seas 4 to 6 ft. Snow. Vsby 1 nm or less.
Fri Night: NE winds 35 to 45 kt with gusts up to 65 kt. Seas 10 to 15 ft. Snow. Vsby 1 nm or less.
Sat: N winds 35 to 45 kt with gusts up to 60 kt. Seas 13 to 18 ft. Snow and rain. Vsby 1 nm or less.
Sat Night: N winds 30 to 40 kt with gusts up to 50 kt… Becoming NW 20 to 25 kt with gusts up to 40 kt after midnight. Seas 9 to 14 ft. A chance of light freezing spray. Snow likely. Vsby 1 to 3 nm.
Yes it’s going to be a big snowstorm! Take care, especially if you are near the ocean!
I hope you have a contingency location available if it gets too dicey at your place. If you see a big ship getting too close to the house, it might be past time to seek something further away from the shore, keep binos handy!
Good grief, I now have some bad images from the Sandy aftermath running around in my head! Second row from the shore isn’t much when you consider what happened down the coast a few months ago… there were many blocks that were suddenly below the shoreline!
I have a couple relatives up in the foothills in NH and I hope they fare well through this. And knowing where you are, I say be vigilant, stay safe and warm, hope it isn’t as bad as they predict.
(http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/DCForumID9/3686.html#.URLcxmfkKRM)
“Cache County Coyote Contest”
$1000 Sponsors
Mule Deer Foundation
Steve Sorensen Antler Buying
Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife
Critterlick Big Game Attractant
We as sportsman are in the field year-round and see the affects coyotes have on our deer herds first-hand. We see the amount of deer they kill and want to do something about it.
Four coyotes have been ear tagged and released in different wintering grounds and fawning areas around Cache County. If you trap or shoot an ear tagged coyote, on or before December 31, 2013, you will be paid a $1000. Any of the tagged coyotes not taken by December 31, 2013, will go into our drawing and will be awarded to a registered coyote. Be sure to register your coyotes as they may be worth $1000 if no ear tagged coyotes are taken.
Cost is $20 per person to register an unlimited amount of coyotes. Each coyote registered gives you one chance in the drawing. Registrations must be made on, or before, December 31, 2013. If you do not register your coyotes, you will not be eligible for any of the prizes in the drawing or any untaken, $1000 coyotes. All you need is the coyote’s nose to register.
Eleven other prizes to be given away in the drawing are:
•Three 1-year memberships to Mule Deer Foundation
•$100 in big game attractant from Critterlick
•Custom muzzle break from Ak Gunsmithing Wellsville, UT
•Free alignment & tire rotation from Hyrum Tire
•Three 1-year memberships to Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife
•Two $100 Cal Ranch gift cards donated by Goring Sheep Ranch
All coyotes that are registered must be killed in Cache County. Participants must obey all Federal and Utah State laws.
We would love to see your Cache County coyote hunting pictures. Please send them to cachecountycoyotes@gmail.com
A year-long coyote killing contest, lovely. And these folks wonder why most people don’t have any appreciation for their “conservation practices”.
God Salle, this is one of the sickest things I have ever seen. These coyote and wildlife killing contests need national coverage. When people hear of them they are outraged. They are like a sick plague spreading across the country, more of these “clubs” promote them. I’ll send this to Project Coyote, I hope everyone here will post online with a note to write the state, call the sponsors and express your disgust. Sick people that do this
And they don’t deserve denigration! lol
That, according to the author of the Writers on the Range piece. I don’t hold the same views. I don’t think giving wild animals names is appropriate but other than that, I don’t agree with that author.
Louise,
I was hoping you’d see it and redistribute. I took out the identifying names and personal info but it’s all on the web site.
I find this year long contest of coyote killing for prizes to be a display of the utmost ignorance and specie-centrism that exists in the west. Aside from that, it should be noted that Cache Valley is right next to Idaho, the major barrier in cultural norms is an imaginary line that counts as the political boundary between the two states.
This should go viral just because it’s evidence of a society in serious decline. Advancement as a social group or a nation cannot take place when there are so many who want to go backwards, ever further, as time passes within which we should have advanced far beyond this point.
Related:
Thousands of Californians Speak Out Against Coyote-killing Contest
Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/02/07/4604117/thousands-of-californians-speak.html#storylink=cpy
lagging behind even some of his Republican predecessors:
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-obama-babbitt-conservation-20130206,0,4234343.story
“Acknowledging the difficulty of getting wilderness legislation through the GOP-dominated House, Babbitt suggested Obama use his executive powers to create new national monuments — a tool Clinton used extensively during his final term, winning the praise of environmentalists but the condemnation of conservative Republicans.”
This is exactly what is being urged for Obama to do to create a Greater Canyonlands. Stroke of a pen.
Expanded wolf hunting flying through Legislature. http://bit.ly/V2906a
Somebody give this man recognition:
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/11/clones_of_ancient_redwoods_gia.html
http://www.ancienttreearchive.org/
This would be a terrible obama pick for Secty of Energy.
https://secure3.convio.net/fww/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=499&JServSessionIdr004=f1xxmevhl2.app340a#.URRFOFL3YPs.facebook
http://www.examiner.com/article/wolf-is-the-nigger-of-the-wild
before you get up in arms about the title read it
then you may still be up in arms….
powerful
Yes very powerful. We can thank our wonderful leaders in DC for this.
It’s not OK for her to say that (regardless). To most blacks, wolves are a ‘white wildlife issue’ that has nothing to do with them. Bringing it to them in this way is the worst idea possible—yes, they WILL notice and probably not take her side in the argument (don’t blame them). Alienation through disassociation is a losing argument…..FAIL.
I really hate when people turn these issues into sexual politcs or race. It takes the focus off the real problem – this is not an issue about human beings, period. Neither is who heads up the Interior Department. In some cases there may be a legitimate case for racism or sexism, but to have that kind of knee-jerk reaction all the time does nothing for equality, or the real issues that need addressing. Can you speak for all black people and if they care about wolves? This kind of metaphor has been uses for women, the Irish, anyone who is treated like crap for no reason.
Mark L what the hell …”to most blacks wolves are a white wildlife issue”. Talk about racial stereotyping. How the hell do you know that?
Wildlife and its conservation is an American issue. The point of the article if you read it is that wolves are the ultimate scapegoat. The author uses different words but that is true. Is there no wrong that wolves are not responsible for, in the west? It seems not. This was true too of the blacks and in some places, sadly is still true. It was not so long ago that blacks were strung up for consorting with white women (even talking to or looking at them). Much of the hatred directed at blacks was the product of a sick society undergoing tremendous economic and social upheaval. Seems like wolves get the brunt of the hate that some feel toward the government, because of their own social or economic problems and just because some like to hate. anyhow, that statement about being a white issue is pretty bizarre to me
Louise Kane,
I get your point…do you get mine? Her article has a Howard Stern ‘shockjock’ feel to it by using that term. That’s what I meant by ‘not OK’. I understand that wolves too have a similar pattern of oppression, but don’t think her way of expressing it is proper (JMHO).
As far as what blacks feel about wolves…yes, I’ve asked quite a few. Most aren’t aware of the similar oppression until they are told (that’s our fault by the way). As I’ve said before (on this site too), when wolves start mattering to minorities, it will get interesting. This is one of the reasons I like Obama’s pick for SOI….she gets it (among other things).
What does she get?
Ida Lupine says,
“What does she get?”
From NYT’s Timothy Egan,
“Jewell can be an exuberant evangelist on behalf of trying to get kids from the inner cities into the mountains. There is a profound disconnect, she often says, between modern life and the natural world. And those city dwellers without money are the ones missing out most.”
Encouraging.
Yes. It can have a profound effect on someone. But there’s so much more to the DOI.
OK Mark, I reacted strongly, apologies. I still believe that statement fits the category of racial stereotyping. My strong reaction is a result of an undergraduate degree in Black History, an honors thesis on “surviving slavery and patriarchy in the antebellum south”, living in the Caribbean for many years, and having a great many friends in law school and now in my husband’s business that are black americans. I felt that was an inappropriate comment, as I think most Americans are equally as unaware about wildlife issues. Perhaps I am wrong. I’n not aware of any studies to the contrary.
All I can say is the article is hypocritical and miss leading. To top it off racist!
Why don’t some just say it, they want all hunting and trapping of all wildlife stopped period.
Again these wolves are not the property of any National Park.
Just one more reason not to like urbanite, Cathy Taibbi (no relation to the respected investigative journalist Matt Taibbi, I hope), and her writings.
Love the wolf licking the (Eastern European?) guy’s face. Nice.
Louise, you must be lapping this stuff up. Soul sisters, and all? Sorry, couldn’t resist continuing the …uh…politically incorrect theme. 🙂
The guy on the pic is famous Werner Freund, owner of a large Wolfpark here in Germany with wolf packs from all around the globe. The guy might look a little “Eastern Europe” . During his military career as a paratrooper in the 50th of the last century he was assigned to care for the units mascot: a massive brown bear and as such came to wildlife conservation.
Thanks, Peter. Interesting guy. These pics are even better. So, at age 79, what happens when the Alpha gets challenged at some point?
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/01/the-wolf-man/100448/
http://now.msn.com/werner-freund-german-wolfman-lives-eats-with-wolves
This is the link to the site of him and his sanctuary. Looks line an english language versionof the pages is available.
http://www.wolfspark-wernerfreund.de/
WM
Thoreau wrote,
“If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting on another man’s shoulders.” I believe the point of this quote is that its hypocritical for a person to argue they are for one position, while that same person continues to sustain a contrary position.
your constant defense of the status quo when it comes to wolf management reminds me of the Thoreau quote. I say this with respect, you have tremendous knowledge and expertise. You profess to dislike the current state of management regarding wolves, yet you seek every opportunity to discredit passionate discourse about ending this war on wolves unless it falls neatly into some category of opposition that you find to be acceptable. I think you’ll come back with something about science.
The application of science should be driving this issue. But its not. Numerous studies of wolves have been conducted as well as their impacts on prey and or their habitats and ecosystems. Look where that is getting us. Wolf haters and wolf lovers cherry pick science to fit their agendas. I think most here understand the nuanaces.
There is a place for passion in revolution as well. A revolution of sorts is needed to end this terrible war on wolves. Cathy’s article looks at the issue from a different perspective. Who is to say anymore which type of approach will be most successful. Its likely that a change is going to be affected via numerous avenues.
The general public needs to know the type of insanity that is driving wolf policy in the US. This article does a good job of articulating that.
Soul sisters….whatever. If that means I am sick to death of anti predator/ anti wolf BS policy yes then you can say we are soul sisters.
And it keeps escalating – we keep hearing about how emotional the enviromentalists and wildlife advocates are – but never any mention about how emotional and unreasonable the anti-wolfers are. They now want GPS coordinates to track wolves. It is becoming absurd, and I am at a loss as to why it is allowed to continue.
I don’t like to see this issue trivialized, or the duties of a SOI. I don’t like to read about our wild horses referred to as “finding a solution to the horse ‘thing’” or to “put a little PR face time for Native American rights.” And you can rest assured we will keep howling to get the wolves relisted.
“Look where that is getting us.”
Educating folks is slow, I admit.
I’m OK with some passion. It galvanizes, but I don’t think it converts people very often, while I think it is possible to convert folks by broadening their understanding of the biology. Some passionate people are so over-the-top that I think they aren’t helping, instead sounding so crunchy that they are easily dismissed as nuts, and this harms the credibility of those restricting themselves to more fact-based arguments – we are branded as humane society nuts too.
I also worry that appeals to sentiment mostly only work with cute animals, and don’t get much side-effect. Threatened fresh water clams, even if it is a dozen species facing a much more sure extinction (that average people will never see or hear of) don’t work.
Instead there are bad side-effects: we’ve got battles here where the lovers of animals fight for the rights of their damn mute swans (that they’ve been feeding no doubt), that I want dead to make room for trumpeters, using many of the same it-deserves-to-live arguments that you can hear for wolves. Even here I suffer to hear wild horses defended. Glad those asian carp aren’t very handsome.
I understand. I know you have to bite your tongue till it nearly falls off sometimes. It’s true that some invasives need to be removed, and I don’t have a problem with that. Or with ‘management’ of some species because of modern human settlement. But for wolves, what’s going on is far beyond that. I don’t know why they aren’t considered the one whoe are nuts.
Yes, I agree that in my area, many folks wanting wolf hunts are irrational, a bit hateful. I think many more are just weak-minded (perhaps too polite) though, believing what they’ve heard so many times, that “they are way out of control”, “a serious problem”.
Too bad that the green world is so complicated, and hard to explain, but if it were simple I’d account that as a kind of poverty. *sigh*
This should be interesting:
Wolves to be ‘educated’ not to kill sheep
Can you teach a wolf not to eat sheep?
The idea is being floated in France, where the return of the wolf has got farmers and environmentalists at each other’s throats.
http://www.thelocal.fr/page/view/france-plans-to-teach-wolves-a-hard-lesson
I do like the idea of saying they can shoot this many wolves overall (in their case 11…NOT 111!) and then they have to figure out a different non-lethal method for the others. This encourages some thinking on their part, not just a person with a gun claiming to be the solution.
I do like the idea of saying they can shoot this many wolves overall (in their case 11…NOT 111!) and then they have to figure out a different non-lethal method for the others. This encourages some thinking on their part, not just a person with a gun claiming to be the solution.
I do like the idea of saying they can shoot this many wolves overall (in their case 11…NOT 111!) and then they have to figure out a different non-lethal method for the others. This encourages some thinking on their part, not just a person with a gun claiming to be the solution.
Expanded wolf hunt flying through Legislature
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Expanded-wolf-hunt-flying-through-Legislature-4260718.php
Gov. Bullock needs to hear from us on this–like an hour ago. Contact info here http://www.othernationsjustice.org/ as well as many other places, I’m sure. They are already bringing up the specter of snaring wolves.
He already indicated that he would sign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jBmnRhNhl7E
This coyote hunter is obviously a psychopath. This is a graphic video. Be warned. These people are ‘conservationists” right?
And now something completely different…
Squids ‘can fly 100 feet through the air’
The oceanic squid can fly more than 100 feet through the air at speeds faster than Usain Bolt if it wants to escape predators, Japanese researchers said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9856840/Squids-can-fly-100-feet-through-the-air.html
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/2013/02/07/sweden-suspends-wolf-hunt-after-protests/DHMrsLimuePCwglc22OLpI/story.html
some good news Sweden cancels wolf hunts after protest. I’m sure there will be a counter response…the people who like to persecute wolves never give up
Will someone just write a law outlawing snowmobiles and atvs? Please….snowmobile advocates bitching about setting aside land for caribou. Its like here, when people get crazed because the outer beach (reached by 4 wheel drive or boat) is shut down to allow the piping plovers time to nest and raise their young. The same kind of idiots use bumper stickers that say things like piping plovers taste like chicken. It enrages me.
Groups to sue over limiting of caribou habitat
By Nicholas K. Geranios, Associated Press
Environmental groups intend to sue the federal government over its decision to cut more than 90 percent of the land originally proposed as critical habitat for the last mountain caribou herd in the Lower 48 states.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last November announced that it was slashing the habitat proposed in Idaho and Washington from 375,000 acres to about 30,000 acres.
That decision came after an outcry from some politicians and snowmobile advocates, who complained that too much land was being set aside to help a small number of caribou.
While there are large herds in Canada, the mountain caribou in the U.S. is limited to a small corner of North Idaho and northeastern Washington. The animals face conflicts with humans over road construction and snowmobile recreation.
“This reduction in protected habitat is a death sentence for mountain caribou in the United States,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the environmental groups that filed an intent to sue notice on Thursday.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision ignored the science and caved to political pressure,” he contended.
The Fish and Wildlife Service had not yet seen the intent to sue and does not comment on pending litigation, spokeswoman Joan Jewett said Thursday.
The agency last winter proposed setting aside 375,000 acres in the two states as caribou habitat, an amount that produced an outcry from recreation groups, loggers and local government officials. After some contentious public hearings, the agency reduced that total to 30,100 acres in Idaho’s Boundary County and Washington’s Pend Oreille County.
In December, the agency also announced that it plans a new study to determine if the caribou found in Idaho and Washington should continue to be protected as an endangered species.
Mission accomplished, I guess…
(WY) Wolf count wrapping up
The count, while still rough, is anticipated to exceed the state’s wolf recovery goals by about 70 percent, said Mark Bruscino, Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s large carnivore supervisor.
“It looks like it’s going to be very close to what we predicted and said in the public meetings, which is: 170 wolves and 15 breeding pairs,” Bruscino said. “That’s a minimum known number of wolves.”
State officials pledged to maintain at least 100 wolves and 10 breeding pairs when federal Endangered Species Act protections were pulled for the canine at the end of September. Wyoming’s plan calls for another 50 wolves and 5 breeding pairs inside of Yellowstone National Park.
http://jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=9534
Killing wolves to attain their minimal viable populations is so insane when you really think about it. I can not fathom how these outrageous policies persist to this day. Such ignorance, and wildlife managers defending these policies. I am so disgusted by it all. where the hell are the big NGOs?
Guest opinion: Let tribes restore wild, healthy bison to Montana
http://billingsgazette.com/news/opinion/guest/guest-opinion-let-tribes-restore-wild-healthy-bison-to-montana/article_5cc1580a-9454-56d6-9f75-9d20829e1756.html#ixzz2KL4zm0FE
Roadkill bill off the ground in Wyoming Senate
The Wyoming Department of Transportation and Game and Fish are currently responsible for removing the carcasses. In the northern part of the state, dead deer and antelope are common sights.
“If they didn’t pick them up every day, it would look like Gettysburg,” Burns said.
There is no language in the bill that specifies how many carcasses a permit holder can take per year.
“Hunting by vehicle” was the worry of Sen. Leland Christensen, R-Alta.
People could track a bison and wait until it gets on the road, get in their truck and try to run it over, he said.
“That’s a $2,500 tag,” he said, in reference to the cost of legally hunting a bison.
http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/roadkill-bill-off-the-ground-in-wyoming-senate/article_a6750f1e-5a23-5940-a803-e94948b07f28.html
Meanwhile in Idaho…
ITD forms wildlife committee
Group to consider mitigation for vehicle-versus-wildlife accidents
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005146010#.URVZoWcjlwN
Some follow-up on the USHwy 12/megaload lawsuit…
Judge says Forest Service should have regulated megaloads on Highway 12
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/judge-says-forest-service-should-have-regulated-megaloads-on-highway/article_1be6e78f-aa27-5e83-b18c-a6de41ecb51b.html#ixzz2KL8eDj88
A well thought out OpEd on silencers for hunting…
Size doesn’t matter
http://trib.com/opinion/editorial/size-doesn-t-matter/article_6b4200f2-cda1-5d9b-8e05-707daa5c488a.html
Ralph/Ken,
This is an important EPA doc and it’s in PDF format, I’m posting the link but if that doesn’t work would you make it right, please?
EPA’s climate change adaptation plan open for public comment:
http://epa.gov/climatechange/pdfs/EPA-climate-change-adaptation-plan-final-for-public-comment-2-7-13.pdf
http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/the-mega-myth-about-mega-loads/Content?oid=2810685
Ralph, some headline news
The USFWS is considering an incidental take permit that would allow a wind farm to kill whooping cranes and piping plovers:
http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/130208.html
This is what frightens me about the wind farms – this kind of ‘incidental take’ of birds. Then we are told that they don’t kill birds – but they must if they are making exemptions for it.
Those big wind farm things do but there are smaller point source units that should be utilized instead that have a really good track record for not being harmful to birds. There’s no excuse for what is taking place with regard to this issue though.
Wyoming says they have 170 wolves and 15 breeding pairs. YNP is still formulating their numbers which need to be at least 50 wolves and 5 breeding pairs. Many of WY’s trophy zone wolf count might be from wolves moving outside the park to fill voids from the hunt which has happened where I live. It will be interesting to see the Park’s count.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/wyoming-wolf-count-wrapping-up/article_a335b28b-68bc-5ee8-b5a2-488c7e94d20c.html
http://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/california-lynch-mob-targeting-coyotes/
from JIm Robertson of Exposing the Big Game
about the California killing contest and the Sheriff who is encouraging lawlessness.
Again Cali-foreign exsteamism !
C’mon Robert, this has nothing to do with California politics. Rather, it is yet another example of locals trying to wrest control of wildlife away from the state and/or federal government. In fact, if anything it shows that rural California isn’t so different from rural Oregon or Idaho.
Other reasons for a Sheriff doing a little sabre rattling:
– Election year?
– Locals are on his back
– Pressure from his County Commission
– He doesn’t like coyotes
– Doesn’t like federal government
– Doesn’t like state overight
– Wants his fifteen minutes of fame on a hot issue?
– Has relatives in the town of Davis (which cut its ties to WS), and wants to vent on their behalf in another part of the state
– He has a little man complex and just likes to pick fights with big guys, and brings other little guys to the party who are the most likely to get hurt, while he cheers from the sidelines.
Or, as JB says, “Rural CA isn’t so different from rural OR or ID,”……. or WA, MT, NV, NM, AZ,TX, NE, ND, SD, OK, or ……
Lots of folks out there who are still not buying the new thinking on how to deal with coyotes. Of course, some of them actually have to live with the critters 24/7.
I’m glad Jim Robertson has it alllll figured out. Or, would he just be an opportunist, for profit, writer riding the urban wildlife discontent wave? Love the grabbing “Lynch Mob…” title and thes symbolic civil rights reference to things.
_____________
For the record, I don’t like wildlife killing contests, but do think locals out to have a say in how their local communities operate.
…locals out to have a say in how their local communities operate.
They should come up with a reasonable and rational plan, not a killing contest, and advocating ignoring and breaking laws (where have we heard this before? oh yeah, the wildlife advocates are accused of the same behavior). It’s certainly no way to win friends or influence people. I don’t see this as just a rural issue – the entire country seems to be headed in this direction. It makes our citizens appear rather helpless, I must say – that they have to take out their frustrations on a creature who can’t fight back.
Is that all you’ve got Robert?
Ken: your telling me environmentalist politics are not involved. Is not or7 being used as leverage.
I
I don’t think the contest is the issue I think it’s getting control over what is not controlled.
Robert, these contests really need to be banned. They make hunters look very bad.
“They make hunters look very bad”
Good point Jon. Would be interesting to know if this is just a way to let off “steam” til next hunting season.
Big Game hunting seasons are pretty short, so is this just another avenue/excuse to hunt something down, kill it and get recognition, on the off time?
Seriously, you only have to look at some of those hunting sites on the web to realize how the enthusiasm “swells” – back pats, high fives, etc. – when someone posts a pic of their recent kill.
This is news regarding Point Reyes National Seashore and an oyster farmer. In December Ken Salizar turned down an extension on the lease which has very recently been upheld by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers following a law suit by Kevin Lunny who bought the farm in 2004 knowing that the lease would run out at the end of 2012.
A small wilderness coming to coastal California.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/02/04/judge-upholds-removal-of-point-reyes-oyster-farm/
Simply amazing!
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/laysan-albatross-2013.html
Sounds like a good time to put up a few drones and see if any poaching is going on.
Park wolf research suffers
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/ynp-biologists-struggle-to-maintain-wolf-research/article_59de3c96-5169-5af8-a5a6-cf108f4fd27a.html
So far this year, hunters have killed 12 percent of the park’s wolf population, putting hunting well on its way to replacing other wolves as the leading cause of wolf mortality, said YNP wolf biologist Doug Smith.
“This is the first year that wolves were hunted on every side of the park,” said Smith. “They’ve learned to tolerate people in the park, but that gets them in trouble if they leave. Some wandered outside the park, and within six hours, they were dead.”
This was not part of the ‘bargain’ made as part of the reintroduction plan, either. If hunters (some, not most) had any integrity and if delisting and returning ‘wolf management’ to the states is not to be considered just a ruse to exterminate them again, they would respect the process and leave collared wolves alone where possible.
There is no bargain to be respected, wolves need to be returned to federal protection now and we really need a national predator protection act. The delisting has exposed a serious sickness in this country. People who cling to hatred of predators as the cause of all their problems much like blacks and other minorities have been blamed as the crux of economic and social woes in some regions. But predators in general receive terrible treatment that is not just wrong because its ecologically unsound, but treating these animals with so little respect and so inhumanely sets a bad precedent for future generations. I’d like to think that we might have learned something from years of killing contests, poisoning and trapping wildlife other then how to do more of it. Its sickening.
Louise, I highly recommend a book I just finished called Where the Wild Things Were by William Stolenzberg. It’s about all the new research re: the necessity of predators in the landscape. There are several chapters on wolves and Yellowstone. He is a good writer and makes an excellent argument using the latest science.
Many thanks Leslie,
I’ll be headed to the library for it tomorrow. Also some of you may want to know the Dutcher’s new book The Hidden World of Wolves just came out. I can see some of it has been based on prior work from the Living with Wolves period but still it looks like there are some amazing images, well written side bars and it looks very beautifully done as was the video. I found it on Amazon and bought one for our library, as well.
Excuse me Hidden Life of Wolves – so sorry!
If you want a national predator protection act get it passed. I doubt that this congress or the next 3 or 4 congresses are going to pass a national predator protection act. The currenty congress will not pass any major gun control legislation maybe a few feel good items let alone any predator protection act. The politics are not there.
Complaining about hunters killing collared wolves again. To stop that you either need a rule, or you need 100% of the hunters to 1) have even heard that scientists want the collared ones left alone, 2) be willing to go along with that request.
100% – you get that is utopian right?
If there is widespread agreement that collared wolves should be left alone, there should be a rule about it.
As for the extermination talk, do you think that if the numbers get lower than the approved state plans say that the states would continue to be the managers?
I thought this much was crystal clear: if we screw up too much, our right to manage will be removed.
Or is “ruse to exterminate” just poetic-license you grant yourself?
I’m on your side, but don’t like your methods. I’ve heard “exterminate” used in Michigan too – but there is no way that is going to happen here, so the speaker saying it is utterly discredited as being outside of reality, and the rest of us are damaged by association.
I’m working on it elk, starting with a state wide initiative that could be used as a model nationally. I think some of you underestimate the number of people that are sick and disgusted by current wolf and predator management. Not to worry I don;t underestimate the hurdles either. It takes a huge amount of work to overturn bad and unjust policies for people or wildlife. It seems people like to cling tenaciously to their “right” to kill and also seem to confuse bad ignorant laws that allow killing contests with a constitutional right. These laws have to change.
Ida, except what is the general mentality of people who are hunting wolves? Herein lies the problem–the uneducated wolf hunter who has no idea of the value of predators in the landscape
this doesn’t help. Billionaire Wilks buys the Montana legislature and he’s the biggest land owner in MT. A Texas oil man controls MT.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/billionaire-fracking-brothers-top-political-donors-to-winning-legislative-candidates/article_e77c07dc-581e-5c28-9264-015db1ec3957.html
This all ties into what I have been saying and don’t worry because ranching for wildlife is coming.
Not wildlife news, but about politics/people who make wildlife news – interesting political trend in MT that seems to be a surprise to polsters and perplexing to R’s, as reported in the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/us/politics/in-montana-young-liberal-and-open-to-big-government.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130211
This article underscores the results from education. I can see myself in this article. I grew up in a robust anti big government Idaho family. Using Jeeps to rut our way into the intended fishing or hunting hole in the mountains of Idaho. If you could drive 10 more feet why walk when you can destroy 10 more feet of topsoil. Then I was off to the university for a degree in wildlife management. Wanted to catch my breakfast from an icy brook everyday and know the best places to hunt all wildlife. Luckily I went with my ears open and what I heard immediately made sense. All the principles of sound land management flowed into my head. I even wrote numerous letters to the editor in my college years pointing out the analogy of letting trained people manage wildlife and not politicians drawing the analogy with us not doctoring ourselves when sick but getting professional care. I credit R.H. Giles Jr. with putting the wheels in motion for my change. He taught exclusively from Aldo Leopold and I eat it up. Turned democrat and have never looked back. Went back a few years ago and hiked to a ridge where my dad really churned up the dirt with our jeep getting into a high mountain lake, the ruts were still very visible (45 years later) and brought a sadness. We are what we are raised to be and only education can help us change. Two things I will always vote in favor, (1) wilderness and (2) education. Both enhance each other.
“We are what we are raised to be and only education can help us change”
Hit the “nail on the head” with that comment, Stoneandtimber!
Thank you Stoneandtimber, coming from a commercial fisher background for both myself and my father, along with his close friends many of whom are family, its difficult to disengage from the things we learn as kids. Thankfully my Dad also loved wildlife and despite making his living from the ocean, he had a deep respect for it and its inhabitants. Like you, voting for wilderness, open space, habitat conservation, wildlife conservation and education are agendas I will always vote for as well.
http://howlingforwolves.org/DNR-Hearings?utm_source=Full+List+9-10-12&utm_campaign=839a02db53-wolf-howl-sound&utm_medium=email
comment at DNR hearing on status of wolves
Immer you out there?
Newspaper Demands Info on Jaguar Death
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/02/11/54733.htm
Federal wildlife officials refuse to hand over more than 230 pages of documents in a criminal investigation of the 2009 capture and death of a wild jaguar named Macho B, the Arizona Daily Star claims in court.
On the antlers of a dilemma
Montana’s legacy groups battle over disease, wildlife
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/wildlife/article_29db4e54-733d-11e2-84a9-001a4bcf887a.html
Good article Salle.
Along the same lines:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3346378/
Begs the question – since outbreaks are far and few between in cattle, although elk “free range” over many parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, are elk (thought now to be the real culprits of the disease) just the latest way to waste money, instead of finding a vaccine for an invasive species, like cattle?
Or is the interest just not there (in the all powerful beef industry) because cattle ranching in the west, makes up just a tiny fraction of that industry? Easier to harass the wildlife 🙂
Nancy
There is a vaccine for cattle and I believe buffalo. Cattle are required the shot and are given a tag and tattoo. I don’t know why it is not 100% successful. Any way work calls.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/feb/08/nature-cold-warriors-wolves-and-buffalo/
Thank you,Ida,for the reminder.
You’re welcome, it looks good! 🙂
It does.
Not wildlife related, but had to be posted.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/ted-nugent-gop-lawmaker-state-union-guest-193701665–politics.html
Steve Stockman is the guy who wanted to impeach Obama because of his recent executive actions on guns.
http://wolfwatcher.org/news/all-news/montana-governor-bullock-our-voice-counts-too/
Listed are numbers for the tourism department, travel department and governor’s office. The person dealing directly with calls related to the anti wolf bill is Ivy English – 406-444-5536
Please post and take a moment to call to express your opposition to this bill (Montana HB 73) and ask Governor Bullock to veto. Wolfwatcher kindly posted some talking points, the contacts and the e mails. Thank you Wolfwatcher.
The contents of the bill can be found at this site also
namely legislature trying to pass measures that would prevent any buffer zones around the park until all wolf killing quotas had been met. No hunter orange required after game season meaning during part of the wolf season hunters would not have to wear orange. Electronic calls allowed….More, more , more killing of wolves
Definitely not news, but thought people might enjoy a cute commercial featuring wolves 🙂
🙂 ‘don’t get the kids started’
Louise Kane says:
February 8, 2013 at 12:59 pm
Killing wolves to attain their minimal viable populations is so insane when you really think about it. I can not fathom how these outrageous policies persist to this day. Such ignorance, and wildlife managers defending these policies. I am so disgusted by it all. where the hell are the big NGOs?
Insanity at best. At worse, a race to the bottom to be the most barbaric. The big NGOs missed the boat when it did not petition for a new recovery standard based on advancements in the best available science via the NEPA process (in other words, demand a SEIS) before the court hearings began in 2008. And then of course they failed to realize that (instead of staying on the high road) attempting to negotiate with predatory bureaucracies and politicians (e.g. Senator Tester) who were only interested in saving their political skins, was not going to lead to a good result.
Question: how will Idaho F&G know, given indiscriminate pack destruction, when the population is approaching (of falls below) the 15 BREEDING PAIR marker?
Also, I don’t know if the new 7-16-12)Idaho Admin. Code for Dept. of Fish and Game IDAPA 13.01.17) has already been posted on this site, but doing research for my almost completed documentary feature (expose of the infamous players and events leading to the twenty-first century war against the wolf)I learned (to my renewed horror) that under Section 400-02. ii. “Gray wolves may be trapped using A CARCASS OF A LEGALLY TAKEN GRAY WOLF WITH THE HIDE REMOVED.”
Which, in effect, is causing a species which has family bonds as close as ours (speaking of healthy humanity of course), to unknowingly cannibalize each other.
I wonder which amoral IF&G official (s) thought this one up. Maybe Mark Gamblin can shed some light.
Wow, this is way off…
The Decorah eagles are not around their nest but there is one in MN,near the Twin Cities and the eggs were lain around Jan. 1, 2013! Holy cow. Here’s the cam link…
http://eaglecam.dnr.state.mn.us/
From the info on the page…
Do eagles typically lay their eggs this early?
No – according to biologists, eagles in Minnesota typically lay eggs in March. Since this pair laid their eggs almost two months earlier than that, it will be a challenging incubation period for them.
Research on wolves fighting for its life
So far this year, hunters have killed 12 percent of the park’s wolf population, putting hunting well on its way to replacing other wolves as the leading cause of wolf mortality, said YNP wolf biologist Doug Smith.
“This is the first year that wolves were hunted on every side of the park,” said Smith. “They’ve learned to tolerate people in the park, but that gets them in trouble if they leave. Some wandered outside the park, and within six hours, they were dead.”
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20130209/NEWS01/302090024/Research-wolves-fighting-its-life?nclick_check=1
What could possibly go wrong?
Potential Glacier concession bidder has ties to Blackfeet Reservation fracking
http://missoulian.com/news/local/potential-glacier-concession-bidder-has-ties-to-blackfeet-reservation-fracking/article_3aceccba-7340-11e2-967a-0019bb2963f4.html
LOL (ironically) – it really wasn’t much of a stretch.
Montana wildlife experts say elk summer range ‘undervalued’
http://missoulian.com/news/local/montana-wildlife-experts-say-elk-summer-range-undervalued/article_fdd25200-726d-11e2-bcb5-0019bb2963f4.html
Sheep men don’t want wolves coming back
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2013/feb/11/sheep-men-dont-want-wolves-coming-back/
“The packed assembly of ranchers at Angelo State University Management, Instruction & Research Center north of San Angelo voted unanimously to oppose the plan, not only from Texas but including New Mexico and Arizona”.
I found the following very interesting.
“Real trustworthy science knows that error happens, that sometimes the error is malicious, that there are bad apples out there and that you have to try and weed error out. If you are not ready to admit these truths then you are not trustworthy at all.”
http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/01/14172241-bioethicist-retractions-of-fraudulent-medical-articles-on-rise-why-thats-good-news?lite
Harley,
There are charlatans all over. Heck you can get a shady tradesman. The beauty of science is that the information is put out there in the world of publish or perish, and the bad “stuff” is exposed. No faith in anyones work is involved, as science self corrects.
In the race to both make man suffer less, and ironically find more efficient ways to snuff out life, dividends are provided.
Think of Watson and Crick (Franklin and Wilkins are overlooked), but who wanted to finish second in the race for the code of life? They took great professional risk in what they did and how they pursued it, and hit the proverbial bullseye.
Look at that computer or hand held in front of you. It goes on forever. Are there bad folks in science, you betcha. In the same breath one should also know the bad are dwarfed by the good.
Immer,
Yes, there are many good things that come out of research but this trend to falsify scientific data is on the rise and should be disturbing to anyone who reads it. This isn’t the exact article but I heard this story originally on the radio and it is a proven fact that the tred is on the rise. Look at how so many were lead to believe that the MMR vaccination caused autism. My parents still want to link it to that long after that theory has been debunked.
My parents meaning my student’s parents!
Harley,
Not arguing with you, yes the trend has increased 40% over past 10 years… Roughly 2,000 out of 10’s of millions of publications over that time period. At the low end of that scale we’re looking at 2 of every 1,000 publications are fraudulent, and depending on how you crunch numbers, a 40% increase is less than one per thousand.
Not making excuses for anybody, but what percentage of tradesmen, hunters, politicians, or for that matter any profession, have the ethical correctness of biomedical research?
Heck, think about penicillin. Fantastic, saved probably millions of lives, yet it killed some folks with allergic reactions. It’s an imperfect world, with a repeated emphasis of not making excuses for anyone.
If this issue is a red flag, and biomedical research funding dries up, then what? $$$ goes elsewhere for research, and perhaps less ethics.
Look at how so many were lead to believe that the MMR vaccination caused autism.
Yes. Now certain diseases in children like whooping cough are on the rise because people are afraid of vaccines. We in the modern world want solutions that are mistake-proof, and it isn’t realistic.
http://www.examiner.com/article/whooping-cough-is-on-the-rise
Sometimes when diseases are on the rise, they have also become resistant to antibiotics. It’s just crazy. I suppose though we’ve strayed a little off the marked trail! 😉
“Sometimes when diseases are on the rise, they have also become resistant to antibiotics.”
Natural Selection at work.
The ever-wise Wyoming Legislature , an overwhelming 87 percent Republican statehouse with its bloated bloc of conservatives and obese with ranchers , has once again failed to disappoint their percieved consituents of like mind by advancing ideological idiocy.
But even this seems egregious to me in the face of reality. The solons voted to not allow Wyo Game and Fish to increase its license fees. These days, Wyo G&F can only cover 60 percent of its costs with hunting and fishing licenses, and must draw on other revenue to make up the difference. A lot of that is federal grants and rebates, but the bulk is state funding, . Both are declining. The state is giving G&F less money by appropriation but insisting on more ” oversight” on how it is spent ( you can guess what that amounts to…do I smell burning boot heels ? )
Worse, the statesmen have reduced state funds available for wildfire fighting. This as it appears we are headed for an even worse wildfire season than last year, which was a record year , based on snowpack to date and general climate forecasts for summer 2013.
WyoFile covers these topics well today . As usual, they are Wyoming’s best news source for the topics they choose to cover..
http://wyofile.com/2013/02/lawmakers-cut-back-on-wildlife-fire-budgets/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrKgjOhqPrA
Marc Bekoff posted on WCCL a video by his friend on the plight of wolves in Spain and the activist group Marley Lobos. Livestock industry at it again….
It’s always fascinating to see opinions about this crazy phenomenon in other parts of the world. Europe’s economy has gone down the tubes, and I wish instead of directing frustration at an innocent animal, they would focus on the real culprits, human greed. It’s repulsive that humans have become so savage.
Spain has an unemployment rate of about 25%. Too bad they can’t drag the bankers by the neck from on horseback.
bankers give a rats ass about anything or anybody. everytime i am near one i want to throw up
+1
A poll shows that the increasingly conservation minded attitudes of residents of the six Rocky Mountain States are not being reflected in public policy.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/in-the-rockies-growing-support-for-renewables/
This exactly what I’ve been waiting for to prove to me and others why the moose has steadily declined since the wolf or more so 1995.
We use to have as many as thirty moose on the river in the fall now we are lucky to have four.
http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/recreation/moose-captured-radio-collared-for-study/article_a84b2120-ea98-583c-ac20-c51242b08deb.html
Are these wolves,the dire wolves from Canada,the absolute,proven culprit yet,Robert R? They are being collared for study.The moose in the Great Lakes area are in tourble due to warmer winters and having ticks.Hunting them in one these states,believe Minn.,has been canceled due to low numbers.I wish we would just let the bioligist do their jobs without some,and I do mean some,jump to their own conclusions.I am sorry,but after reading some of the comments there,my emotions got the best of me.
Rita
You and others denie the fact that wolves have contributed to the the decline of the moose.
After watching video of wolves killing moose,those comments are nothing.
Robert/Rita,
Study is underway in MN on moose. Surely wolves have impact on any moose population.
Yet, in NE MN, a wolf population has always existed, the last bastion of wolves in the lower 48 states prior to ESA protection in the early 70’s. The wolves have preyed upon moose over this entire time period. The question then is, why th recent drop in moose numbers?
If the wolves have been there all along, something else must be factoring in. What other variables? Drought its been dry for past ten years in MN; warmer temperatures, N MN is the southern extent of moose range; ticks; brain worm vectored in by deer.
If all these are found to be contributing factors to moose decline in MN, what then? Can’t do much about drought, or warming affect on habitat, which also contributes to tick loads. Slaughter deer? I don’t believe the deer hunters of MN would favor this. Or is the wolf season expanded to artificially raise the moose population for the benefit of a very select group of hunters? Don’t think the general populace of MN would go for this.
So what’s to be done? As per Rita’s suggestion, allow the biologists to do their work.
Every time I post something and mention the wolf is part of the cause I get shot down but yet even after I posted about this article and another one is in print.
It says 55 moose were confirmed killed by wolves in three wintets.
I don’t put all the blame on the wolf but I do think the wolf targets the calves and that contributes more than killing an adult moose. Moose are an easy target for any predator and gives up easil.
Robert,
You per seé don’t get shot down, but generalizations from comments provided in your article do. What do WY,ID, and MN have in common that CO doesn’t….
The bullshit is tiresome. Sure wolves eat moose. They will eat moose of all age cohorts but calves and 1-2 year olds, and moose over 10 are more often targeted.
The damned moose and wolves have coevolved. Wolves, at least in MN didn’t just suddenly appear. They’ve been there all along. So why are the moose on the decline there?
Something else is going on, and I would hazard a guess something else is going on in the West, besides just wolves.
You have some measure to what you say. The comments in the article provided are mind numbingly chilling. Think habitat, think weather, think competition with other ungulates. Things change over time.
Something you might want to read Robert R
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/julaug08/moose.html
“Gude says the research team will share their findings with biologists throughout the study period. “This entire project is driven by management needs,” he says.
For Sterling, the information won’t come a moment too soon. “Right now, I have very limited data on the number of moose out there,” he says. “What we need is a better comfort factor when we’re setting quotas. That’s what we want, and that’s what hunters want”
http://fwp.mt.gov/mtoutdoors/HTML/articles/2012/MooseStudy.htm
I’m seeing more moose around, than in years past and wondered if it has to do with all the new home development, a few miles away.
Where in the article does it say wolves are the cause of the decline? I did not say that wolves didn’t do it.I’d suggest not to watch videos of nature showing it’s unpleasantries. Nature can be beautiful,but at the same time,unforgiving.
HSUS files another suit over wolf delisting in the WGL.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/02/12/environment/wolf-advocates-sue-over-delisting-again
Good, hopefully they will prevail.
this is so cool. Oldest black bear known in wild. Great photos.
http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2013/02/minnesota-black-bear-is-worlds-oldest.html
Leslie, interesting that bear 56’s granddaughter is one of the oldest bears also, although only in her 20’s. Perhaps some evidence of avoidance behaviors of humans passed down from one generation to the next?
I hate to think of these animals baited, snared and hunted.
Wyoming G&F carnivore biologists and the USFWS are surprised at the spiike in Moose kills by Wolves in the north end of Grand Teton Park. The Moose population was over 3600 about 25 years ago ( pre-wolf reentry ) and has fallen to less than 1000 now, but was declining before the wolves came into the picture. Just not as dramatically as the last 2-3 years. Story in Jackson Hole news and Guide details several competing theories on this phenom.
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=9549
Moose getting hit by vehicles has been one factor in the decline.
Nine moose were killed on park roads last year, and Highway 390 has been a hotspot for moose deaths over the past several winters.
Herdwide road kill counts are not currently available, but they are being assembled by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation, executive director Leigh Work said.
I can’t understand why wolves eating prey is considered a factor at all – when humans dominate the landscape and have put far more pressure on wildlife with our activities.
Cody, I understood that the moose population was overpopulated in that area pre-wolves and over grazing everything. Is that not true? Besides, moose are not native to Wyoming.
All true, Leslie. The western Wyoming Moose populations fairly exploded after wolves were exterminated in the 1920’s and grizz were on probation. The stockmen were hellbent on ratcheting down Moose numbers for most of the last half of the 20th century. My cousin managed a ranc at Cora ( near Pinedale ) for a few years and told me there were about 250 Moose in his neck of the woods in the 80’s. The upper Green River Valley became a moose refugee camp.
The current population is probably pretty close to a ballpark carrying capacity, give or take an order of magnitude.
I am of the opinion that our small subspecie of Moose here in Wyoming were not supposed to persist after the Ice Ages, like so many other megafauna, but the Moose never got the memo.
I am of the much firmer opinion that humans never got the memo that Moose are not and never were meant to be in abundance hereabouts. Two or more generations of hunters saw an unnatural number of Moose and thought this was the norm, when it was not. I’m pretty sure that any discussion of Moose vs. Wolves anywhere in western Wyoming is skewed in favor of these false impressions of Moose numbers then and now.
Having said all that , in April og 1997 when we were driving thru the upper Clarks Fork and Crandall late at night taking photos of Comet Hale Bopp in the moonlight, we saw an amazing this. There were at least 25 Moose in single file paralleling the Chief Joseph Highway up near the Squaw Creek area, heading east, obviously on some kind of mission. Bulls, cows, calves…it was a migration of some sort. never heard of anything like that before in the Sunlight-Crandall region , and to my knowledge it has not been recounted by anyone of my generation(s). But there were four witnesses. This was not far from your residence at all , as the eagle flies.
Moose : Megafauna of Mystery. Whatever they know, or don’t know , they aren’t telling….
Wolves and Bison . I just noticed in the TV listings that this week’s ” Nature” program at PBS is a documentary on wolves and bison in northern Canada.
Wyoming’s KCWC-PBS station is showing it tonight ( Feb 13) at 7pm. Your schedule may vary , and the shows are also available online.
“NOVA” at 8pm tonight has a 90-minute special on the Earth From Space… our planet as seen by remote sensing science satellites ( we just successfully launched LANDSAT-8 on Monday . Whew! We needed that one to go well , since LANDSAT-7 has been crippled for a few years and LANDSAT-5 was decommissioned last year after 28 years’ work. Was designed to last 3 years on orbit. )
Wyoming legislature approves silencers for general hunting against the advice of F&G. I hate this as I want to know when hunters are around shooting and from where.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/wyoming-house-votes-to-approve-silencers-for-hunting/article_46d5ee37-1fe3-589e-af1d-87ab7b4ebf5e.html
I equate silencers with criminal activity, is that just showing my age and am I missing something here? Is there a new found use of silencers that adds to the spiritual experience of the hunt? I would like to know if this is the new wave,- I will put all my retirement $ in a silencer company. Are legislators summarily dismissed if they have an IQ above 50? And this bill was more important than enhancing education? . . . .
With all this talk of silencers should we restrict the “porting” of rifles. Porting reduces recoil so one can shoot more accurately and faster without the recoil. Does reduced recoil give a hunter unfair advanage. Sould porting be prohibited?
What is the equal and opposite action of “porting”? Only three or four people on this forum know what “porting” is.
Once again there is no such thing as a silencer; it is a modifier.
I know what porting is and it’s damn hard on the ears of the shooter. I do all my big game hunting with a bolt action mauser so recoil isn’t really an issue.
Topher,
Open sights?
Leupold vari-x 3-9×42,from the mid sixties I think.
Immer,
I have a similiar scope to topher on an old bolt action Remington 700. However, five years ago, about two years after the wolves moved in to where we hunt, I switched to a rifle which has open sights, when we hunt the brushy, thick crap, steep vegetation where the elk mostly hang out now. It is an old model 88 lever action winchester from the 1950’s. I still wonder where the elk went.
JB assures me the research shows little to no impact on the local elk population from wolves. Yet I sure see fewer tracks, even in the brush. I must be imagining this, I guess, even to the point of having to change rifles and the way we hunt. 🙂
WM: Let’s be clear–I don’t question your perception that there are fewer elk where you hunt. I do, however, question your willingness to attribute fewer elk to wolves. I would also point out that there is a difference between pointing out uncertainty and making assurances.
—-
It’s interesting to me that your argument here aligns very well with what Ripple and Beschta claim–i.e., wolves have a significant impact on ungulates; yet, you consistently disparage their research while holding up Mech, who largely argues against these top-down effects.
WM is it a 308 Win or a 358 Win. I have been looking for a 358 Win for the last year in the old style Browning BLR, pre 1981.
Elk:
You know a lot about guns; I’m curious what are the advantages and disadvantages of hunting wolves with modifiers? (BTW: I don’t have any opinion on porting, though I suppose a part of me wants to say “man up and take your recoil like the rest of us”.) 🙂
I have to drive over to Livingston now will reply later. JB it is not about recoil it is about reducing the recoil and increasing the muzzle blast so much that one endangers there hearing. I just put this out there to contrast the use of silencers.
Elk,
Indeed I know what porting is. Before I became convinced bear spray would probably (I say probably only because I have had no real life bear charge), work, I was looking into a .44 magnum light weight hand gun for backpacking.
Obviously more power means more recoil in a light gun. I was looking at a 329 PD S&W, and a custom porting by Magnaport. Total package was more than wanted to pay ($1,400), and in the end, again it seemed like the bear spray would do the job better and cheaper.
I have only shot a ported hand gun and no rifles, but I have heard the report from large bore magnums at a gun range. VERY loud. The muzzle blast, as you know is directed away from the bore, distributing it perpendicular to the barrel, drastically increasing the report, but in the case of a hand gun it keeps the barrel from rising, preparing the shooter for the next sight picture.
yes Larry, why are suppressors needed, pretty sick stuff. It gets worse every layer that is peeled back reveals more sickness in society and how wildlife and especially predators are hunted and treated. and back to Kirk’s question, just what is the justification. NONE
Louise at least you have adopted the real name, suppressors, over silencers, there may be hope for you yet.
The intent is the same, SB. I’ve just decided to use the term suppressor so that it does not incite an uprising. But really using either term suppressor or silencer really is not the issue, its the increasingly brazen, harsh, interminable never ending quest to kill as many wolves with as many unfair advantages as possible. No one is fooled.
SB you never answered my question about where we met!
“Roger A. Bredehoft, lobbyist with the wardens group, said after the House vote that the association is concerned that the general public may turn against hunting if it perceives that the increasing flood of high-tech gadgets are giving hunters an unsporting advantage.
Modern, high-tech scopes can allow hunters to kill game animals at 1,000 yards, Bredehoft said. Hunters could shoot as many times as they wanted at that distance because the animal wouldn’t be able to hear it, he said.”
Many have already turned against hunting. Traps, snares, high powered rifles w/scopes, electronic calls, baiting, and now silencers.
Rifles have been capable of shooting 1000 yds for a long time. I wouldn’t really call it a high tech gadget as some of these rifles have been around for nearly 100 years. Ths mauser 98 is a good example.
so how do wildlife stand any chance when thousands of hunters hunt them with traps, high powered rifles with suppressors, snares, bows and arrows, helicopters, snowmobiles, atvs. Its really disturbing. Those of you who like to go out for the experience can’t you use a camera? What a life to be living – no laws to protect you, only laws that allow more and more killing, and thousands of people chasing you with high powered rifles. how would our own families be impacted by the loss of their breadwinners, siblings or caregivers? I have an increasingly hard time being civil about the endless killing.
Often times I do use a camera but pictures taste about the same as an unfilled tag,chewy too.
But yet, here is the west we have quite a lot of wildlife, everybody keeps reminding us of how we are over goals in many areas. Go Figure.
I think it’s a common misconception that anyone with a rifle can make a 1000 yard shot.Shooting like this takes proper training and regular practice,not to mention ideal conditions.I shoot a high power rifle and and always pass on any shot beyond about 350 yards and even that distance is pretty rare.A good hunter should be able to approach game within about 100 yards without much trouble in most cases.
I hunt with a bow, and I regularly get within 25 yards. And before it gets said, I have never lost an animal. Also, I am going to enjoy my elk cobobs this evening for dinner, anyone want to join me?
On one occasion I ended up in the middle of a herd of cow elk. The closest I’ve ever been to one was then at about six feet while I crouched behind what had to be the smallest tree in the forest. She walked up and looked over the top of the tree at me for a few seconds before she fled the scene taking the rest of the herd with her and nearly trampling my buddy who was asleep in the sagebrush on the other side of the ridge. It was a really neat experience and I wish I would have had my camera out and ready instead of my rifle.
Not a smart idea in a suburban area.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8992189
Eagle heads, bear penises, cougar meat part of local wildlife black market
http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/eagle-heads-bear-penises-cougar-meat-part-local-wi/nWNxy/
“Bush meat” trade down in dark Afr…ooops America!
This is the Montana we all love so dearly, with it´s sense for intelligent and tasteful humor:
http://forums.yellowstone.net/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15510
Let me suggest an addition to that plate reading ……”bisons next”, should read “….buff and grizz next!”
“In signing the legislation, Bullock asked FWP to increase education programs aimed at averting the harvest of collared wolves near national parks.”
How can you „educate“ somebody not to shoot at a collared wolf? By just telling him: “If you see collar, no boom boom, understood?” Your hunters actually need an education programe for that? …. Do not put pets in the microwave…..
Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/recreation/governor-signs-bill-changing-license-rules-for-wolf-hunters/article_28496ba1-f83a-584f-b61a-e76e9ba1d0ff.html#ixzz2KxGQBcW7
“and removes the requirement for wolf hunters to wear hunter-orange clothing after the general deer and elk hunting seasons end”
http://www.readthehook.com/102901/another-fatality-state-charges-hunter-mistaking-man-deer
No comment necessary.
As a follow-up to this article that has already been posted a number of times:
http://m.billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/recreation/governor-signs-bill-changing-license-rules-for-wolf-hunters/article_28496ba1-f83a-584f-b61a-e76e9ba1d0ff.html?mobile_touch=true
A portion reads, ” At least 1,774 wolves in 287 packs and about 109 breeding pairs live in the region. The minimum Montana wolf population estimates at the end of 2011 include 653 wolves in 130 verified packs and 39 breeding pairs.”
To a casual/uniformed/one with an agenda reader, how this is written is very misleading. One might erroneously interpret this as wolf numbers have more than doubled in a bit over a year. The pen can be a dangerous weapon.
Hurlock said senators told lies, half truths to bring her down
http://blogs.idahostatesman.com/hurlock-said-senators-told-lies-half-truths-to-bring-her-down/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hurlock-said-senators-told-lies-half-truths-to-bring-her-down
From High Country News. Leave it to the BLM to be behind the curve!
http://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/of-cows-and-climate
This is what that sob posted today, From Ryan Benson, Big Game Forever with the single minded purpose to eliminate predators under the guise of conservation. The notice states that wolves are hard to hunt…jeeze maybe because there are less and less of them thanks to these creeps.
Folks,
Next week, legendary wolf hunting guide Rick Kinmon will be presenting a seminar on “How to Successfully Hunt Wolves” at the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo in Salt Lake City. Rick has been guiding clients on wolf hunts for many years in Alaska. His outfit, Alaska Trophy Hunters boasts 100% shot opportunity on wolves for each of their clients.
Here are the dates and times for this informative seminar:
What: How to Successfully Hunt Wolves
Where: Western Hunting and Conservation Expo
Salt Palace Convention Center
100 s. West Temple, Salt Lake City Utah
When: 10am Friday, March 22nd
10am Saturday, March 23rd
Many hunters have shared the challenges they have experienced with wolf hunting. Low harvest rates show that wolf hunting may be North America’s most difficult species to harvest. Attending Rick’s presentation is a great way to learn the tips and techniques that improve your chances of harvesting a wolf. Be sure to purchase a copy of Rick’s book on predator hunting, “Hunting the Hunters” to be signed by Rick at the event.
A big “Thank You” to the sponsors of the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo for including Rick Kinmon in their Seminar Program. This will be a great event for conservation in Utah and across the West. We hope that everyone will attend this year’s Western Hunting and Conservation Expo. Remember to apply to the 200 tags (including 5 once in a lifetime permits) that will be given away at this year’s Expo.
For more information on predator hunting with Rick Kinmon visit: http://www.alaskatrophyhunters.com/
To buy Rick’s Book Hunting the Hunters visit:
http://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Hunters-Alaskans-Americas-Predators/dp/0974168467
For more information on WHCE Seminars visit: http://www.huntexpo.com/seminars.php
—
Ryan Benson
http://biggameforever.org/
ryandbenson@msn.com
We can see what opening the door to wolf hunting has done. I still want to know why delisting means hunting can follow.
It gets more and more bizarre – every and any perceived advantage no matter how far-fetched of slim. Hunting with wolf carcasses? Would that even work with wolves? Suppressors I don’t think would make any difference with wolves’ sharp sense of hearing, and I don’t know if they can perceive shades of color enough to distinguish between blaze orange and another color? Birds can, but I don’t know about wolves. If hunters are so worried about their hearing, why not use suppressors during the entire hunting season(s) for all wildlife? It’s all about human hearing I think.
Certainly a wolf’s sense of smell will keep them alert to human presence.
They require a federal permit that costs a couple hundred dollars a year and are expensive anyhow.
Using a wolf carcass as bait increases the chance that raptors will flock to the site and thus become more of the “nontarget” casualties. Any flesh for bait will increase that potential greatly. Do the current trap regs not prohibit exposed bait? Even if so flesh for bait will get turned up and not be concealed for long.
I thought the supressors were to keep humans from hearing the shot, not the wolves. Am I wrong?
It looks to be only for wolves, and only after the deer and elk season:
http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2013/billpdf/HB0027.pdf
http://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/its-official-montana-hates-wildlife/
Definition of wildlife per Montana: animal with antlers. All other four legged creatures are non-essential.
http://civic.moveon.org/nradoesntspeakforme/share.html?rc=testmail&id=62663-3172191-rq_jAnx
not exactly wildlife but related – excellent advertising
http://www.koat.com/news/new-mexico/albuquerque/Coyotes-roaming-around-North-Albuquerque-Acres/-/9153728/18558714/-/njh0nl/-/index.html#.UR-YbM1Staw.facebook
I dont know whether Project Coyote and the wonderful Camilla Fox had anything to do with this, but their trademark learning to coexist language was used by the woman being interviewed. I’d suspect this woman had seen or read something by Project Coyote or a group like them. The grass roots groups are making a difference. Nice to see some reporting that doesn’t generate over the top fear and hysteria and instead gives some facts about coyotes and letting them live.
I love that she calls potential coyote killers “extremists”. Maybe the tables will turn
Lets hope New Mexico’s proposal to ban the killing contests gains traction and is passed.
Excellent. If there are problems animals, then they should be addressed on an individual basis. No bararic killing contests. I liked the guy’s response who said ‘if they’re not damaging my livestock, then they’re all right.” Come to think of it, a shotgun for personal protection is good for human invaders too.
lovely [photo story],
Is this the bravest cat in the East?
Meet Syoma, the fearless, who plays cat and mouse….with a fox.
http://siberiantimes.com/weird-and-wonderful/news-and-features/features/is-this-the-bravest-cat-in-the-east/
Mareks the cat and fox story, awesome thanks for posting!
http://missoulian.com/news/local/sheriffs-first-gun-bills-clear-montana-house-committee/article_aa343d18-77a7-11e2-ae60-001a4bcf887a.html
and these lawless legislators wonder why the rest of the country is so offended by their unethical, inhumane and ecologically destructive management of wolves. This shit is crazy
Louise, I am not ignoring your question about where we met, but you will be surprised when I tell you, and we were very cordial to each other, it was quite few years ago.
Now on the subject of our legislature, I don’t understand why so many are trying to impose their will on our way, I seriously doubt that anybody in Montana is trying to impose on your state legislature and I am sure they have some bat shit crazy ideas as well. There is actually precedent for this, it was the Printz V US, that was decided in the US Supreme Court.
so you have not answered my question about where we met! I’m not surprised we were cordial to one another…I generally am and its been in my job description plenty of times. I’m glad it was so…
so where did we meet?
Louis, it was in Central America.
Hmm ok so send me an e mail. Ralph is not monitoring his e mail. So you need to ask Ken who I give permission to or just go to my website, Im interested in how we met and where!
Thanks
tis a small world.
article in Outside Magazine on wolf ’06
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Out-of-Bounds-The-Death-of-832F-Yellowstones-Most-Famous-Wolf.html?page=2
Leslie,
I read that article. I did not think all that much of it for a number of reasons, I left this comment “and folks don’t buy into this sycophantic posturing to the hunting community stated by Smith, “The future of wolves depends on public hunting. Public tolerance is enhanced by hunting. We’re looking for the middle of the road on this.” This is absolutely not true and not playing out that way at all. Hunting, since the sleazy rider that de listed wolves, has done nothing but increase intolerance, allow horrible abuses against wolves and legitimize the killing of a species that should not be managed under the flawed North American Model. This statement is BS, there is no need to “manage” wolves through public hunting.
I had to revise that as I became angrier thinking about Smith’s statement about hunting wolves as a necessary tool to increase tolerance. Will someone tell me where that BS originated…my comment. I’m sure will invoke ire….but this craziness about hunting wolves to increase tolerance has to be debunked, stopped and shouted out and down. Its BS
Hunting, since the sleazy rider that de listed wolves, has done nothing but increase intolerance, allow horrible abuses against wolves and legitimize the killing of a species that should NOT be managed under the flawed North American Model. This statement is BS, there is no need to “manage” wolves through public hunts. Public hunting accomplishes intolerance not tolerance and fosters disrespect for an animal that deserves consideration of its pack structure and sociality not to have its ability to thrive as a pack undermined by arbitrary and capricious killing of random members. Mr Smith is a biologist and should stick to his observations about wolves and issues pertinent to that study, not perpetuate fallacies about tolerance that are in the realm of a social scientist and that are proving to be especially damaging to wolves.
Final stats disprove notion that trappers and hunters are outmatched by wolves
http://www.minnpost.com/earth-journal/2013/01/final-stats-disprove-notion-trappers-and-hunters-are-outmatched-wolves
Now that Minnesota’s first sport seasons on wolves are history, it’s interesting to revisit an early chapter in the evolution of this program – and to compare some predictions of a year ago with the final results now posted.
Thanks Mareks – I liked the story you posted about the cat and fox at the Kronotsky Nature Reserve. The Reserve sounds very beautiful and very precious.
The dishonesty and self-delusion humans are capable of never ceases to amaze. What did they think would happen with all the equipment and methods, and lack of fair play? I still don’t think wolves need to be hunted, especially when those who are accused of attacking livestock are dealt with separately and in addition to hunted numbers. What is the reason for hunting?
Ida,
in my opinion the idea that hunting wolves will inevitably increase tolerance was a ruse to establish facts on the ground and buy some time
if wolf hunting would increase tolerance then hunters in Russia / Canada would not make a fuss about wolves
or let’s put it this way – if one is drinking then he inevitably increases tolerance and asks for more alcohol (not less)
http://wiwildlifeethic.org/2013/02/17/wiley-the-coyote-a-wisconsin-hunters-story-of-love-and-transformation/
This is absolutely disgusting that the DNR allows hunters to kill coyotes during the spring leaving their newborn pups orphaned. Why on earth would a hunter kill a female coyote during the spring knowing that she might be raising coyote pups?
“Hanestad describes himself as having a deep lineage in hunting. His uncle taught him hunting and trapping from the age of five. All his teen years he trapped, on average, setting 100 traps on a trap-line. His average take was “130 coons, 40-50 red foxes, and 15-20 coyotes per season”. He told me, “I always heard ‘the only good coyote is a dead coyote’. The coyotes would be snarling in a foothold trap, and I would beat them to death with a stick. I have killed hundreds of them. I never thought about it. I thought of it just like getting rid of weeds.”
Sickening.
Why can’t people use their God-given brains and think independently? At least he’s changed, so I guess that’s an improvement. The DNR and F&W are beginning to have an image problem.
jon,
give us an update from your home state,(the one you reside in)
How hypocritical! Famers and ranchers are needed to help wildlife.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/wildlife-officials-seek-ranchers-help-to-save-black-footed-ferret/article_9ae4c21d-e926-5ccd-b03d-a883ea001f23.html