Stop the Wolf Madness
by Jeff Sayre
Note: The following letter is in response to an Oct. 24 opinion piece in the Lewiston Tribune by Marty Trillhaase [here].
Marty, Marty, Marty. Your opinion on elk and what the State of Idaho should do with them is wrong. The elk population in Idaho, which was the premiere place in the Pacific Northwest to hunt elk the past 75 year’s has gone from 300,000 to below 100,000. See any problems there, Marty? No, why would you. The Green Weenies say we have too many elk already and this is a natural balancing event to equal what the habitat can handle, right? The major problem the past 15 years with the elk population decline and some would call a population plummet is the Canadian wolves, not habitat.
Look up in your Webster’s dictionary on line or in the old book form, these two phrases. Experimental and non-essential. Let me help you here Marty. Non-essential means we really don’t need them, not needed, not essential. Experimental means an experiment done with FACTS/Science, not presupposed conclusions, just factual evidence. When an experiment goes bad you, the scientist or biologist re-evaluate the data and decide to continue the experiment or change the parameters or stop it all together. This social feel good experiment had gone terribly wrong. Our Idaho elk herds will never ever recover to the numbers they were when I moved here in the fall of 1987 and started hunting in the fall of 1988. They are all but gone in the Red River Valley. Gone in the Lolo. Gone in the Gospel Hump. Gone in the Frank Church. Behind Pierce the major herds are all but decimated by this invasive wolf from Canada. These are not the indigenous wolves that Idaho had, this killing machine killed those wolves by 1990. USFWS knew there were indigenous Idaho wolves here when they released these wolves in Idaho. Is USFSW guilty of a “take” for eliminating an existing distinct population of Idaho wolves? Should some zones have been closed to hunting this past fall or in the future? No elk, no need for a hunt.
Ask the guides and avid hunters what they see in all the old places they used to hunt and take elk every year. Most have quit the business of guiding, they can’t make a living anymore. No elk. Some locals have hunted in places for 28 years with success. Nothing but wolves this year. Game trails with elk and deer tracks are not wolf super highways. The Earthquake Basin Pack on the Southfork of the Clearwater River has over 25 wolves in the pack when last counted. 25! Is that normal, Marty? How far will this horrible governmental test go before someone sees the red light and stops the bus? When Marty? Too late already. You seem to have all the answers, what is your solution? Mine is shoot and release. They need to be culled. The ecosystem can’t handle the damage done already. If we have a hard winter what will be left of our once strong and populous ungulate herds? Bones. The Green Weenies are most to blame here because they know best that we need. 2,000 wolves. Heck if you do the math and count the numbers we are pretty darn close now. 5,000 is their ultimate goal. What is not known are the number of wolves not counted. Can you or any sane person imagine that number and what wildlife will be left in Idaho? It will be all be in the Boise Zoo!
Idaho needs to start and Elk Recovery Plan now and that includes the elimination of 90% of the present population of Idaho wolves who are all from the same or original packs or Canada wolves. They are genetically the same…….all 1,500 of them. The same in Alberta, same in Saskatchewan, same in B.C. They need to be eliminated for the same reasons our grandfathers and fathers eliminated them. Wild packs of hungry wolves destroy everything man tries make a living on his ranch with, cattle, horses, sheep, pigs and they reek havoc on local elk, moose, deer, cougars, bear, coyotes etc. Too many pressuring too few will lead to total destruction and a collapse of the once great Idaho ungulates and already has. We are a long way from the original 62 released and the 30 breeding pairs and 150 total. Way past! Help is needed now, not another law suit or decision made by a judge who is far removed from the reality on the ground. The facts are clear. This is a disaster only getting worse everyday they are allowed to bred and grow. Idaho never ever had this number of wolves, ever in recorded history, neither did Montana or Wyoming. Stop the madness. Listen and look at reality already in progress.
by Kevin W.
by Greg F.
Mike,
I need verification of the 300,000 elk in Idaho number. I saw this many years ago and thought nothing of it. Is it accurate? I knew we had 250,000 deer during those time frames, and thought we had the elk numbers, but failed to find proof of the elk numbers. It makes sense, after all: the Sawtooth Zone alone including the Boise River Zone is as large as if not larger than YNP.
IDFG has admitted the Sawtooth Zone suffers wolf depredations on elk. They admit to lowering hunting opportunities to the public due to those depredations.
The Sawtooth Zone and Boise River Zones are general open season over the counter elk tag hunts. Now limited by quota… on a first come first served basis.
North of the Sawtooth Zone is the Frank Church Wilderness. Part of it is in the Zone actually, unit 34. Above this zone are units 25-26-27 in the Church.
Several of those elk and deer migrated into 33-34-35-36 to winter in 33. High country elk of 33-34-35-36 would drop to the south into controlled hunt zones, zones not able to sustain open season general hunts. That would be units 43-44-48-49-50.
So IDFG admits to the damage in and open general season hunt units the size of YNP, but leaves out the southern controlled units from their wolf predation claim.
I’m here to tell you, I spend serious time in all of the above units very often, year around, I do nothing else, I do not work for a living. All of the above units are devastated beyond belief. Even for me. Especially during the snows. My favorite time…
The first snows and then all of the following snows tell the tale, like a writer opens up that first clean white page and begins a novel, leaving his intellectual tracks on the pages. The wildlife cannot hide any longer. The story they tell can be read, but one must turn the pages and follow the story.
In summer I follow the creeks, checking for creatures getting their drinks. But now I have the tale of the snows to read. I’m finding a lot of blank pages where I once used to read many stories in the snow.
Everything that walks in the snow leaves it’s name in the snow. I know them all. I’ll be watching for a big tom cat walking his unguided path, seeking his prey. I’ll be watching for those elk and deer tracks, but since the lobo came home those are far and few in between in the forests these days.
I’ll be watching for the bobcat and the wolverine, all suffering and hungry now that the wolves have made hunting lean for other predators. I’ll be watching the snowy pages for the roughed grouse, and blues, not so many anymore it seems, since the Cain is Lupus wild wolf doggy came around these parts again.
I’ll soon be checking winter ranges, just because I still cannot believe the last few years and most recently crashing elk herds I’ve seen with my own eyes. Sixty miles today from dark to dark. I have fresh pages with stories for me I hope, I pray I think… The truth of winter snows begins, where those white snowy pages and creatures walks don’t tell no lies.
I found one deer in today’s 60 miles while seeking cougar tracks. Across a major migration route.
I’m heading out again in the morn, dark to dark… Another trail of tears I expect to find while walking another watershed.
by Greg F.
I forgot to mention the lower sections of unit 39, Boise River Zone is a lower elevation migrations route destination for winter range. From 45 to Boise and Horseshoe Bend. I hit those spots too, when examining winter ranges to witness what is not there any longer.
Thank you Jeff for such a well written response to such a Disney filled opinion written by such a heartless individual. Saving our native wildlife from this “Experiment” turned disaster is of utmost importance to some of us folks that are in this fight. Here in Oregon, we have wolfaboo org’s like Natural Oregon, Wild Oregon, etc. etc. that claim they are all about native wildlife, yet fail our region by spreading lies of this fantasy of “every grey wolf is the same” BS. I for one will never accept such stupidity as normal human behavior. But then again who is sane anymore? Obviously not wolfaboo’s. Or some of the Professor’s that teach our up and coming Bio’s such nonsense. Our college’s and Universities are full of such “teacher’s”. I say stop this madness now. Teach the people the truth of specie differential, and where it is present throughout history.
I talk with people every day throughout Oregon about this disaster called “wolf recovery”. Not one of the people that has had the gall to say,”this wolf is native”, has factual information to prove my facts are wrong. NOT ONE. Yet they continue to promote this sick agenda of eco- destruction? And why? For what agenda is more important than saving our native wildlife from destruction of a non native specie? To drive rural residents to failure? Why are they so hell bent to destroy family values and heritages? Is is money? Is it that they are without family values themselves? They certainly are zealous to end such strong values and traditions that hold rural families together. I say let’s take back our freedom. Let’s end this nightmare and now. Time is up for your experiment turned disaster. Now is the time for true values and strong heritage to shine and force this predator to be no more. Complete and timely removal must happen and the sooner it does, to put these wolfaboo’s back in their place, the sooner our once pristine eco-system can get on the path to recovery.
Save a herd of elk this year, kill 1 ‘Canadian’ wolf !!!