Wolves

[BarryBobPosthole]

Been seeing some stuff that leads me to believe that they'll take wolves off the endangered list here soon in four or five states that have them. Minnesota, Wyoming, and Wisconsin were three that I heard. That means states will regulate their populations and that also probably means hunting opportunities for them.

What is your take on wolf hunting? I've seen attitudes from all over the map on them. The wolf haters of the world would be happy if they were entirely rubbed out. I spend a few hours on my caribou hunt talking with the owner of True North Safaris about it. I had actually bought an artic wolf tag for fifty bucks and I was trying to make up my mind if I really wanted to kill one or not. I didn't tell him that of course. But he made no qualms about it, even made up some joke that the guides would make us walk/swim home if we let one walk. He viewed them as a direct and ruthless competitor for the caribou and swore they decimated the caribou. I never had to make a decision as I never saw any wolves withing shooting range. Just light colored blobs through my field glasses from a long way away. I saw one at the place we bought licenses that was stuffed that was mag-fucking-nificent.

I don't have a bit of a problem with anybody else killing one, mind you. I just don't think I will myself. I'm not sure what it is, but the more intelligent the animal the tougher it is for me to pull a trigger on them. Especially for a trophy. Deer ain't very high on the intelligent ladder. Neither are fish, for that matter.

Anyway, looks like there may be a chance to hunt them soon in some places. I'm sure there will be a hue and cry from the other side about it too.

Woulod you hunt them if you had the chance?

BKB

[DeputyDog]

I'm kinda like you I have a hard time hunting something something for a trophy, but as I've been typing this I realize I've shot several coyotes. I guess I might if the situation was changed and they were as numerous as the coyotes here.

Hunting them in limited numbers would help to keep both populations in control though. But lower numbers of deer, elk, caribou or whatever will bring about a reaction since the hunting of those species is a big money maker in some parts.


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[Hombre]

When I was in Idaho hunting in October you bought a Deer tag and it could be used for Cougar or Wolf also.

[johnboy]

Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make.

I'd never shoot a wolf.

[Captain]

Let me know when the are legal in SC. I'll break out a hide from one I shot several years ago... :D

[BarryBobPosthole]

Was it a red wolf? I had heard those were making a bit of a comeback in the south.

BKB

[Chicken Dinner]

It's easy for me to say because they're not in my back yard, but I think they're pretty damn cool. I'd also hunt them in a heartbeat if the Biologists decided there were huntable populations.


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[airbud7]

Y'all mean

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/2c/00/3d/2c003d06495b816546980de544146da9.jpg

[Big Muddy]

Here's some interesting red wolf info....I remember when they stocked them on Horn Island on the MS gulf coast in 1989, then ended the program in 1998....it was just as well because Katrina destroyed the entire island in 2005.


---USFWS---
Significant events in the history of the Red Wolf Recovery Program:


1967
Red wolf listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Preservation Act
1968
USFWS begins study of red wolf in southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana
1969
First red wolf places in captivity initiating the red wolf captive breeding center at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
1973
Endangered Species Act becomes Federal law
1973
First recovery plan approved
1977
First litter of red wolf pups born in breeding program at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Tacoma, Washington
1978
First successful experimental release, tracking, and recapture of red wolves on Bulls Island, South Carolina, solidifies reintroduction techniques
1980
Last red wolves removed from the wild; declared biologically extinct in the wild
1984
Recovery plan revised and implemented

Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium receives approval from American Association of Zoos and Aquariums for a Red Wolf Species Survival Plan (SSP)

Land Between The Lakes red wolf reintroduction project abandoned due to lack of public and state support
Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (ARNWR) established on land in northeastern North Carolina
1986
Publication of a final rule in the Federal Register to introduce mated pairs of red wolves into the ARNWR
1987
Restoration effort begins with the experimental release of red wolves at ARNWR, North Carolina
1988
First litter of red wolf pups born in the wild at ARNWR
1989
Second island propagation project initiated by the release of red wolves on Horn Island off the coast of Mississippi

Recovery plan updated; 1st USFWS plan to include the Red Wolf Species SSP as a conservation strategy
1990
Third island propagation project begins by releasing red wolves on St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge, an island off the Gulf Coast of Florida

Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge (PLNWR) established on land within red wolf experimental population boundaries in eastern North Carolina
1991
American Sheep Industry Association files petition to delist red wolf based on genetic analyses
Publication of a final rule in the Federal Register to introduce mated pairs of red wolves into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP)
1992
Experimental release begins at Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), North Carolina/Tennessee

1991 Petition request to delist the red wolf found unwarranted by USFWS
1993
First red wolves born in the wild at GSMNP

Red wolves released onto PLNWR
1995
Amendment to Interior Appropriation Bill introduced in Senate to suspend all funding for Red Wolf Recovery Program. Amendment narrowly defeated.

North Carolina law to allow taking on red wolves on pri vate property in two counties goes into effect.

Publication of an amendment to the special rule in the Federal Register addressing private landowner concerns about reintroduced red wolves

National Wilderness Institute files petition to delist red wolf based on nuclear DNA results
1997
1995 petition request to delist the red wolf found unwarranted by USFWS
1998
Red wolf project ended at GSMNP
Publication of a final rule in the Federal Register to terminate attempts to restore a wild population of red wolves in the GSMNP
1998
Island propagation program ends at Horn Island off the coast of Mississippi
2000
Adaptive management plan implemented to address red wolf/coyote hybridization at ARNWR
2005
Island propagation program ends at Bulls Island, South Carolina. Remaining red wolves are relocated to ARNWR and SSP facilities
2007
Red Wolf Recovery Program receives the Association of Zoos and Aquariums North American Conservation Award
2015
Approximately 50-75 wild red wolves (~50 known radio-collared animals) exist in the northeastern North Carolina recovery area; and ~190 red wolves in >40 captive breeding facilities participating in the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan.

[airbud7]

Savannah River Site(4 miles from me) found one coyote/wolf hybrid — a coyote with Canadian grey wolf DNA, said John Kilgo, a research biologist with the forest service.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/2014/03/27/coyotewolf-hybrid-spotted-at-savannah-river/6959359/


http://chronicle.augusta.com/sports/outdoors/2014-03-29/pavey-coyote-trapped-srs-carries-dna-grey-wolf
Just when you think a coyote is a whitetail’s worst nightmare, Savannah River Site researchers have found something even scarier: a super-sized coyote that is part grey wolf.

The big female, which weighed in at 64.4 pounds, was trapped by U.S. Forest Service biologists in late 2010 as part of an ongoing study into coyote predation on whitetail fawns.

“From our perspective, it’s an extremely rare, isolated animal, based on the sampling we’ve done,” said research biologist John Kilgo, whose team has trapped about 500 coyotes and examined another 200 animals killed during SRS deer hunts in recent years.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I believe they've been turning up in Loooozianna of late. I know someone in southern Arkansas that claims to have seen two.

BKB

[DeputyDog]

There is a wolf breeding/sanctuary in Battle Ground Indiana. They interact with the wolves from birth so there isn't any reintroduction done but it's open to the public and they put on a really neat talk about the wolves.

We took our daughter for her birthday one year to their howl night. They get everyone seated outside the several acre enclosure and have the crowd howl. You'll hear the wolves answer then they come over to where the crowd is so you can see them. It was really cool to hear them howling back and forth.


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[BarryBobPosthole]

I've known four or five hunters who've told me they had seen wolves in SE Oklahoma. They may truly think they've seen them but I'd be hard pressed to believe it. I've seen some big coyotes that'd give a wolf a run for its money.

BKB

[Old Den]

I shoot them whenever I get the chance. I haven’t started to target them as in howling like coyotes but once or twice a year I get a chance at one. I’m more interested in putting a hole in one the last 10 to 15 years since we have lost so much moose elk and deer habitat due to the pine beetle infestation we have gone through and which has made it easier for predators and major decline of game. We have an open season except for July and no bag limit in our area.

[Big Muddy]

Welcome, Old Den....sounds like you know your wolf stuff....stick around, you can prolly teach us deplorables a thing or two.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Welcome Old Den. Post number one!

BKB

[airbud7]

Hey Old Den :wavey

[Thumper]

Welcome O/D! Dang! Registered a year and a half ago and just now posted? What took you so long? We won't bite! Well, Posthole might, but he's had his shots. AND ... we even speak Canuckian around here also, eh. ;)

I hope you hang around ... the crusty old farts around this joint are getting a bit tired. :D

[Old Den]

Hi Folks used to stop here a few times a while back had the handle Dennis but had to sign up again as system wouldn't accept me. I've been checking in once in awhile but haven't posted.

[quercus alba]

Anybody that thinks there are no wolves in southern Arkansas need to go down in the red river bottoms and sit on the tailgate of their truck and listen for a while. Every now and then you'll hear one cut loose.

[LJ3]

Welcome O/D! Dang! Registered a year and a half ago and just now posted? What took you so long? We won't bite!

Don't be creeping people out, Jimmy! FFS!

[LJ3]

I don't think I could shoot one, much for the same Reasoner as BBP. I have problem with them being hunted, though. I mean, if you like shooting puppies and shit like that.

Now if I was still hunting big game every chance I got and wolves were affecting that, I'd consider whacking one.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Hi Folks used to stop here a few times a while back had the handle Dennis but had to sign up again as system wouldn't accept me. I've been checking in once in awhile but haven't posted.

Dennis! Welcome back! It has been a long time. How's tricks?

BkB