Fitz based on what you have seen, not counting duplicates you have seen about about 10% of the Minnesota wolf population according to the DNR do you believe it? The numbers are way higher than what the DNR is basing their management on.
The MN DNR says there are 2500-3000 wolves in Minnesota if you get hundreds of trail cam Pics of wolves either you have a pack that never leaves or the numbers are way higher than what the DNR says. If we are getting regular sightings from Ely to central MN we either have wolves that love being on trail cam or way more wolves than what is being reported
I have two packs nearby. One was 6-7 strong last year. Wolves can also cover 15 miles or more in a day. So the wolf I see here, could be see by 5 or 6 other people/cameras in the area withing minutes. I would guess 90% of my sightings were from the same two packs. the other 10% would be lone wolves (possibly still from those two packs). Saw a tons of these guys last year. Just ask Chase (BHOD) [video=youtube_share;Z-tfua1vtfE]http://youtu.be/Z-tfua1vtfE?list=UUdAwb4WyZ6HGVrBm__VzzVg[/video]
Today an adjoining landowner called me who I had shared my wolf pictures with, he told me the guy that rents his pasture for cattle found a dead calf ripped open this morning. He called the DNR and the officer confirmed it was a wolf attack. That's all the farther I think it has gotten but this may cause DNR to trap them now Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I am also confused and dismayed when people who don't have to live with wolves killing their buddies dog and 5 others (one of which made it back to the house trailing intestines---which was confirmed to be from wolves), killing farmers calves, and endangering livestock and pets, think that we should welcome wolves when they dont have to live with them. Since Minneapolis/St. Paul was once wolf territory, should we then try to get wolves into the metro area? Why not? Because there are too many people there? So it is not only fine for the rest of us to have to deal with that, but we should welcome it in the name of conservation? Case in point, there was a black bear in Savage, MN ,which is just south of the Mpls area, and they ended up killing it because it was a bear. It had not attacked anyone, it was just being a bear. So apparently, it was too dangerous to have a bear by the good folks of Savage. However, the good folks of Grand Rapids, Duluth, Walker, Ely, etc just have to live with them --- maybe those bears arent so dangerous. It is a complete double standard. The classic definition of the NIMBY syndrome. Now some people like living with wolves. Great. I am happy for them. But that doesnt mean I have to like it. So yes, I consider myself to be a true conservationist (and do a lot in that regard), but that doesnt include wolves IMO.
