Wolves In Co

[Turtle]

I have now heard 3 different wolf stories from very valid sources.  Two of them the wolves were only heard, one of them the gentleman actually saw two wolves.

I am concerned about the impact this will have to the elk and deer (not to mention all the other impacts) but I was wondering how it has impacted other states that have wolves.  Like Montana, Idaho or Wyoming to name a few.....what have you guys seen as far as the impact to the elk and deer?

I'm sure the DOW probably has data on this but I would prefer to get information from Graybeard members that actually live there and have experienced it.

[BeanMan]

I heard what I belived to be a wolf howl in the Hahn's peak area north of Steamboat Springs.  This was in the summer of 2003.  My Wife tried to tell me it was just a coyote but I hear coyotes almost every day.  

Chalk it up as a maybe but it would not surprise me if there are more than just the lone female killed by a car on I-70 near Idaho Springs.

BeanMan

[crow_feather]

I live in Idaho near Yellowstone,............................. what elk, what deer.

[Turtle]

That's what I was afraid of........

[gwindrider1]

Spring five years back, I had just gotten a new ATV, and although the high country was still mostly choked with snow, I just had to try and ride.  I didn't get too far in one of my favorite areas around Kenosha Pass bordering South Park, and was headed back to the truck when I saw a large animal loping through the sage.  I stopped to get a better look at what I first thought was a coyote, but I realized that this critter was head and shoulders above the surrounding sage brush.  It stopped to take a look back at me, and I realized this was no coyote.  It appeared to be a classic grey wolf.  We swapped gazes for a long moment, then it trotted on it way.

My feelings about the wolf's presence in Colorado is that they are a natural predator, and are meant to be here, but then again, I don't have the concerns that a rancher raising livestock would have.  But make no mistake, they are here!

[canonF-1]

I live in Idaho near Yellowstone,............................. what elk, what deer.

That ain't no lie.  The Southern and Southeastern Idaho Deer herds have had some problems over the past couple of decades but the elk herds were pretty sound, that is until we got wolves.   One of the biggest alarms to me is how few mooose I see anymore.  I mean it is rare that I see one or two each fall wherein I used to see large numbers and good bulls too.  

They only elk hunters bagging elk in Idaho are the ones hunting private herds, which is a dam shame to me as I feel it is hunting's only future and our real hunting heritage will become history.  It will only be for the rich man and only on private estates and ranches...fenced hunts if you will.  This is not for me.

If you see some wolves in Colo. I'd recomend shooting them.  It has been beleived that in Idaho, Wy., and Mont., there is no way to gain control of wolf populations even if they were delisted and classified as a pest with no shooting controls.

As I understand, the wolf changed with a reintrodution that the wolves didn't want and man didn't either and no longer is the breeding left only to the Alpha Pair...but now all adult wolves breed and they produce young like rabbits.  

Good luck.

F-1

[Turtle]

I was having a similar conversation with a fella at a rendezvous this past weekend. I mentioned to him that with the wolf population continuing to grow that we could very well right now be big game hunting in the "good ol' days" and not know it until a few years down the road.  
Then our conversation will be...."remember back when we used to see elk"....time will tell I guess.
Needless to say...I don't like them and believe that past generations knew what they were doing and got rid of them for a reason.
Like I say.......time will tell.

-Turtle-

[Dogshooter]

They are devastating the deer and elk in my area. A shot in this area is a dinner bell. If you hunt on foot and have to pack game out, you only get one trip to do it. within an hour, your kill will be cleaned up by wolves or grizzly or both. I'd like to see all hunters practice the three S's anytime they see a wolf.

[NONYA]

In the areas I hunt that now have higher numbers of wolves the elk have either moved or thier numbers are VERY low,I see them every hunting season in a few different areas.We have lost some of our late season elk hunts along our southern border with Idaho because the elk are GONE.Last year the elk count on the Winter range near Jackson WY was the lowest it has been since they started counting,calf to cow numbers were 3 calves per 100 cows,it should be 40-60 calves per cows.Thier little expiriment has knocked the elk herds there down to where they were many years ago,the Feds dont give a rats ass they will just take the hunters out of the equasion and let the wolves thin the herds.I have seen a BIG pack of about 22 dogs twice this year near Lincoln MT and i always see then near Augusta during rifle season in pairs or alone.With the new rules we have now about six have been killed legally by ranchers who caught then chasing or eating thier stock,cant wait till its legal for me to take one,or two,or three.....

[Couger]

Wolves!

What magnificent creatures ......  ought to round up every damn wolf and send them with the West's compliments back to the tree-hugger states like Conneticutt, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, etc., etc., etc. - where the damn animal right-ests types live!

Do I sound a little piode?  I remember in the mid-seventies when Alaskan's and Canadian's warned ......

DON'T DO IT!!

Don't introduce wolves to the lower 48 states!  But who insisted on doing it anyway? Friggin LIBERAL easterners!

If gubmnt hunters were still eradicating wolves, when the gunshot "dinner bell" sounded, they could spike a deer carcass with as much stricnine poison as possible, and hopefully wipe out most of a pack.

Not the same as the "S-cubed," but a possible alternative.   :wink:

I'm astounded that wolves have shown up in states they weren't "officially" reintroduced; like Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona and new Mexico - and that's just the grey or timber wolf.  Have also heard the red wolf is now in the South.

[NONYA]

The tree huggers love to play thier God games in states far away and they dont give a s*** how it effects the PEOPLE that live there,to hell with the people let the wolves live there!!They are the worst thing to happen to the ecology of my state in recent years,and the taxpayers are funding it,rediculous!

[bigeye]

lets see doesn't the goverment let land owners or employes kill wolves that are feeding on livestock?  isn't the goverment supposed to kill or remove wolves that kill or feed on livestock? i think some where i saw where the goverment paided for livestock killed by wolves they turned out.

my granddad used to tell me they tryed to kill out the wolves because the ate all the sheep insted of wildlife.

man i am glad i dont have a few acres leased near where i hunt, stocked with high dollar sheep and have to check and make shure thouse wolves arent eating on one every weekend and pay my hunting partners to check it the days i can't!!

[crow_feather]

in the Idaho Post Register (Idaho Falls) it states today, recent studies by wildlife experts show that wolves are not denting elk populations.

C F