Posted on 02/28/2008 9:17:40 PM PST by Bruce 22-250
Wolves in Salmon, Idaho Decimate Elk Hunting This is something I received from an Idaho outfitter regarding the impact on elk in the Salmon, Idaho area. Although it is about Idaho, the same things hold true for Wyoming. There are some in the G&F who like wolves and will go out of their way to skew their studies to let the wolves off the hook. On the other hand, there are some in our Wyoming G&F who hate the wolves for what they are doing to our big game herds. Name withheld.
In 1996 our Unit 28 opening week saw 10 hunters harvest 9 bull elk. 1-7x7, 6-6x6's and 2- 5x5's. All Mature bulls,all happy hunters! 11 years later after the wolves have been here, this season (2007) we harvested only 1 spike bull and 4 deer out of 20 total hunters. On my first 3 hunts I went 15 days horseback guiding and never saw an elk!! Almost all of the hunters never wanted to see Idaho again, yes very upset! I wonder what this is doing to the economy of our small towns in Idaho, I hear this from my friends,locals and pretty much everyone I talk to.
I have yet to run into anyone on the trails,dirt roads,paved roads or on Main street that came to our county to see a wolf! I guess most of them are in New York City watching them on TV as I have yet to meet one here, much less spend a dollar in our communities!
I know as a fact there are hundreds or maybe thousands of elk hunters that will not return! Wow, wolves really do impact the economy of small Idaho towns!
I have talked and pleaded with our Fish & Game Dept in Salmon, Region 7 to no avail. They say basically nothing can be done. A few wolves have been taken out by the Feds only because of Beef kills. Not one wolf that I know of has been taken out because of Elk kills.
About 5 - 8 years ago while lion hunting in my area in winter on snowmobile,I found 9 dead elk (8 cow elk & 1-6x6 bull) on Silver Creek road (a 14 mile stretch) all killed within a week in my opinion. All were killed by a pack of about 8 wolves in my opinion, by the tracks around the kills, the way the elk were killed, and the fact I lived with the pack in the area constantly. Wolf tracks everywhere,some of the elk eaten, some not, most had intestines pulled out some didn't. All typical wolf kills I was used to seeing. Not one was covered by snow or brush as lions do. Almost all had their noses pulled off, as usual for a wolf kill as I was used to seeing. A lion had never pulled a nose off an elk that I had ever found. Lions had never killed over 2 to 3 deer ( hardly ever an elk ) on the 14 mile stretch of Silver Creek road ever in a course of a winter the 20 + years I had been there! Also no lion tracks were found by me and my lion hunters over a 2 week period in the area when the elk were found. Obviously a case of binge killing by the wolf pack that was in there. I would swear to this on a stack of Bibles " then and today", they were killed by the pack in the area!
On my way out on snowmachines with my hunter that day I ran into Jason Husselman (now Idaho Fish & Game Wolf biologist in the Salmon office) " then a guy doing a wolf study" under Gary Power (now Idaho Fish & Game commissioner, Salmon area). I told Jason about the 9 dead elk on Silver Creek road and that in my opinion, they were all killed by the pack of 8 wolves in the area. He said he would check the kills, as he was doing the study on the impact of wolves on big game in the area.
On return a few days later, I ran into him on snowmachines again a few days later. I asked him if he saw the elk kills on Silver creek? He said that he did. I asked him what did he write down in his study reports? He said that he determined that all 9 elk were killed by lion! And that he wrote it down as such in his reports on the wolf study he was doing under Gary Power. I was floored, to say the least and asked him if he was for the wolves or against them. He told me he was for the introduction of wolves and wanted them in idaho.
The important thing to remember here is ; If the 9 wolf kills on Silver creek road that week were reported as lion kills, what about the rest of the study in the whole Salmon area that winter? Now both these guys are pulling good wages and have been for years working for the Idaho Fish & Game Dept. I hope that they are proud of their study. I just wanted them to know I didn't forget about that special moment. Believe me I never will.
Thanks for the opportunity to tell you my story. Feel free to send it to anyone you please. Sincerely, Shane McAfee
It cost me a lot of money for my out of state hunts and trust me, I spend a lot in the communities nearest my hunts. The whole reason I leave my part of CA is to find a better hunting ground. If the wolves have beaten me to the punch in ID, I’ll look elsewhere. Of course, I might come if they open season on wolves.
BTW, I’ll pass your story on to freinds in Pocotelo.
Well, Shane has to realize that his career is politically incorrect right now and a whole lot of human animals and organizations hope he goes bankrupt. I believe the response of those people would be, “Something is going to kill the elk, whether wolf, lion or hunter and we’d rather it was wolves or lions than hunters.” He has to find a way to couch the argument so it will be palatable for the “in crowd” to join him. Don’t know what that would be, off hand, but it’s the only way he can win. Is there some endangered species up there that is a favorite target of wolves? How do they like spotted owls? (I’m being only half-facetious.)
Seriously, the Salmon area is beautiful and still wild. I lived near there in Baker as a small child and returned for a visit just last summer. I hope Shane can make it one way or another.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has raised millions in the last twenty years and has made a great impact on increasing Elk numbers. This kind of thing just makes me sick.
The vast majority of treehuggers that want wolves introduced have only seen them on TV and have no idea the damage they do.
If you go to the web site watch the slide show. It is makes me mad every time. Government protected wolves slaughtering everything in their way. It sad the way American people are so easy to fool thinking the wolf is a big lovable dog. Watch that slide show and destruction they are really doing as America sleeps.
You know the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation supports the wolves??? Go to the web site Save Our Elk watch the slide show. Even with tons of proof of all the destruction the wolves are doing to the eco-system Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is still 100% behind the wolves.
If only the intestins ripped pot sounds like bear kill.
Bear s had decimated almost an entire herd in Utah that I hunted one year and I found 3 fresh young bull elk that had been killed within a week by bear all within a few hundred yards of each other in one canyon.
I didn’t realize that, I’ve been a life member since shortly after it started but haven’t been active for about eight years. I’m going to look into it and contact others I know, that’s not right.
Someone else is eating your supper.
“Save our Elk”
I take it you’re in agreement...
Freeper Minds Think Alike
The guys from Save our Elk contacted Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and were told too bad. I go see If I can find their comments and let you know what they said. All the members better get on the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to support the hunters instead of the wolves.
If you go to the web site watch the slide show. It is makes me mad every time. Government protected wolves slaughtering everything in their way. It sad the way American people are so easy to fool thinking the wolf is a big lovable dog. Watch that slide show and destruction they are really doing as America sleeps.Wolves are an apex predator. Most of the people I know who want to reintroduce wolves into the ecosystem want to do so to cull deer and other ungulate herds.
At least where I am deer have overpopulated to the point where they're a nuisance. Hunters can't kill enough of them. I don't know about Idaho though.
Even when I lived there, Idaho was at the mercy of East Coast liberal idiots. The Kennedys used their influence to close off the primitive area up there, mostly so they could ride down the River of No Return in private. Other East Coast politicians seem to believe wolves and such are just a part of precious nature at its most natural and are being blamed for everything. Yet they would fight the introduction of such animals near where their kids play, I’m sure. They’d recoil at the idea of wolves in Central Park or Martha’s Vineyard or The Hamptons but they have no problem foisting them on families far away in Idaho.
I’m sorry for what is happening. I wish I knew the best way to combat it.
I’ve got their magazines and their website, I’ll just have to start paying attention and making some noise.
Wolves will be carrying off peoples pets in NW Montana before anything is done. What do you expect? They’ve killed logging to the extent they’re impeding salvage logging in burned out areas. There will be no sense out of these weasels.
I was looking for those comments from the Rocky MT Elk foundation and came across this.
Man look at all those elk slaughter and left to rot. You know why people say wolves are blood thirsty because they prefer to kill fresh meat.
How about the SSS method? (Shoot, Shovel, and Shutup)?
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