Wolf Pelts Piling Up
The Wolf Hunts By the Numbers
The spuds boycott has been a dud. Pro-wolf petitions are rolling. Hunters are having a blast.By Amy Linn, 10-26-09
As Montana’s wolf hunt wags on, and so does the one in neighboring Idaho, it’s interesting to note what’s come to pass—and what hasn’t. Here are a few factoids to chew on:
--More than 70 wolves have been killed in Idaho, where hunters are allowed to bag 220 wolves total.
--Twenty three wolves have been shot during Montana’s wolf hunting season, 11 of them this past weekend alone, according to the Great Falls Tribune. The state quota is 75.
--Wolf hunting has already been shut down in the southern section of the Montana outside Yellowstone National Park, because the 12-wolf quota there has been met.
--Before the start of the hunts this fall, wildlife officials in both Montana and Idaho predicted that shooting a wolf or even seeing one would be tough. Some chin scratching has now ensued.
--Defenders of Wildlife has launched an online petition urging Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to undo his action this spring, when he took wolves in the Rockies off the Endangered Species list and stripped them of federal protections. The group hopes to get 100,000 signatures. It has 90,347 so far.
--Friends of Animals has a similar petition drive. The group is asking wolf fans to send letters to Idaho Gov. C.L. Otter and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and is urging them to boycott the two states and everything they produce, from Idaho spuds to huckleberry syrup. FOA aims to hunt down 1,000 signatures for its petition. It has just 574 so far.
--The wolf hunt in Montana has raised some $245,000 for the state in license fees alone, according to the Helena Independent Record. It will continue to raise hackles, as well.
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thanks,
By the way, I got a spam from NRDC or Defenders asking for money to buy an ad in the New York Times. Right, now THERE'S where the debate happens, and is so one-sided given there's not a wolf for at least 200 miles and one international border.
Looks like the quotas will be close to filled, especially as the snow hits, bunching up the animals and facilitating tracking. Good.
Think of the fuel that could have been saved if two or three pairs had been planted in each of the states, most especially those that are desperate to have a whole lotta wolves.
this wolf thing was certainly NOT environmentally friendly.
But perhaps if there were enough dollars invested in research, we could find a way to apply birth control measures to the packs. Does anyone know if this idea has been looked at? If hunters and biologists didn't have the need to reduce the numbers by hunting...?
I do not know where you are getting your wolf ecotourism numbers, but they are simply not correct. The studies done by Dr. Duffield at MSU or was it U of Montana, dealt with wolves seen in Yellowstone NP, and a broad interpretation could get you to the $25-34 million his studies suggest. However, when you start breaking down the numbers, many of the people included in the $$$ generated from "wolf watching" came to the Park for other activities as well. Furthermore, if one expects that wolf watching will become commonplace, with outfitters providing services, think again. Don't you think it curious that thousands of hunters in the woods with wolf tags would see the same wolves in the same numbers, with a resulting harvest success. Get real you bonehead.
Second, while it may be true that coyotes and dogs kill livestock in greater numbers than wolves, that is only because there are more of them to do the killing. And, those predators are dispatched the same way wolves should be if killing livestock.
Is the "intelligent side" of the dialog the same as the spud boycott crowd? Now there is an effective campaign. I would not leave the folks who thought that one up in a room alone with a book of matches.
Maybe Judy Shafer can tell us where this 300 million dollar number from wolf tourism came from. I am going to guess that would wake up the governors of ID and MT, if true.
Or, AESOP is it just that you and the "intelligent side" are into telling fables.
number of people who actually go to Yellowstone to see wolves: about 25 a month in the summer with spotting scopes and telescopes and advanced optics.
how many they actually see, maybe 8 on a good day
no. of wolves killed in idaho: 70. number that they actually will kill if they are lucky and end up with some retarded wolves in the gene pool: another 10-12.
number of domestic cats and the birds and animals that they kill in every state of the union: in the millions
number of peta members that actually know anything about animals...priceless
eco wolf lookyloos spending 300 million. thats a real joke.half or them come to yeelowstone with a twenty dollar bill wearing a t shirt,,,, and dont change either.
just a little psychological test.
you did not score very high
Like you and brain in a jar Horst there, are qualified to score anything. We are still awaiting the "intelligent" side to enter the dialog. Oh, wait, you already have.
don't get upset
just be glad you were able to contribute
While folks in New York are ignorant of Idaho and Montana, people like Skinner, who should bother to get informed, don't know much if anything about the East.
p.s. I live in SE Idaho and have never been to New York.
If a poll were taken regarding whether it is preferable to pay a bounty on wolves or wolf-haters, my money would be on wolf-haters.
Simply these enviro know it all types are saying they would prefer to gun down those of us who disagree with them on the evidence at hand..
It seems to me we hu-mans always resort to violence towards one another over stupid issues which are designed to do just that.. Stalin and Hitler were both environmentalists.
Some folks understand what I just said, and several never will until after their dead, a little late then wouldn't you agree..
People like Horst fail to understand their own vulnerability when spouting off war like actions, of course I understand Horst meant placing those he disagrees with up against a wall while tied and blind folded and then he gets to gun them down..
Study history, the left wing socialists have done just that several million times..
From where I am standing, the Horsts of this country better hope like hell this never happens here in this nation, all I can tell Horst, is good luck buddy, you're going to need a lot of it.
New game lets players massacre civilians
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is set for release Nov. 10, in time for the American holiday shopping season. Its predecessor sold 14 million copies and earned myriad "game of the year" awards.
Perfect, just what this modern feudalistic society needs to hand out to their children..
I think I see a compromise in our future, gosh and I'm just a Redneck wolf hating un educated lobofoe.
What about that little lady just hamburgered by kindly COYOTES in Nova Scotia the other day?
Or are those coywolves?
Whatever the case, there AIN'T no wolves within 200 miles of New York City unless you have privy data on some in Adirondack Park or some such. And since Noo Yawkers tend to stop at the first nice B and B and go no further....
Or they go to the Poconos, maybe the Water Gap or something.
I been there.
I see where your tribe has apparently gained--or will soon be gaining--sovereignty by an act of your sovereign's congress...
With the early snows maybe a little wolf biathlon is in order, combining my favorite sport of back country skiing and shooting. Gliding silently through the trees, following the tracks as they struggle in the deep snow. a sudden glimps of grey, I drop to a prone position and .....
Horst, please back away from the keyboard and step outside for some air.
Public hunting of wolves will not be a tremendously successful method of managing wolves over the long haul. I still believe the wolf will learn very quickly in seasons to come , and the human hunters will see the degree of difficulty go up . In Wyoming last year, they pretty much got the easy wolves, the old slow wolves, the dumb wolves, and the wolves that were pretty handy at the elk feed grounds.
We'll know a lot more about wolf "hunting" in three years. Maybe.
I never ran into any of those back in the wilderness which makes me think you're lazy just like they are.
I have no reason to believe that so-called Wolf Hunters would raise the bar any. I already know too many out-and-out varmint hunters, and they are not shining examples...and standalone wolf " hunts" are just varmint hunts on steroids, aren't they ? Or will be...I'm in Wyoming, where wolf hunting is still a dream , because our also-nonstellar leadership and hunting lobbies and ranching cabal keep shooting themselves in the foot.
That's the abstract . How it plays out in the field is a bit different. The true sportsman hunter is growing much more rare these days, both in numbers and quality. The numbers of slob hunters are increasing all around, for many reasons. The total number of hunters taking the field where I live is declining, as it is nationwide. But the slob hunters are that much more apparent are due to the proliferation of ATV's, shorter vacations, a weaker economy , less physically fit hunters, older hunter demographics with fewer youth hunters being recruited ...any number of factors that are putting downward pressure on hunting , encouraging less finesse and more self-indulgence instant gratification in the hunting community.
The net result of all the above is we see disproportionately a higher percentage of slob hunters amid a shrinking field. More importantly , it only takes a few slob hunters to tar them all with the brush of Slob. Sad but true. A few ruin it for everyone.
I live in northwest Wyoming. The difference between personal and professional hunting 50 years ago , and the present day , is incredible.
What has gone out of hunting is INTEGRITY. It's easy to find where it went: just follow the money.