I support hunting wolves, cougars, coyotes and the other four legged predators to keep populations in check, instill a fear of man, and leave a huntable population of the prey species for us. I suspect the motivation of some who want wolves etc protected is to remove the necessity / opportunity of man to hunt to control populations. just my guess...
In NW wisconsin we have only seen or heard of probably 6 wolves. And last year during bow season i saw lots of deer. But, I do agree they're a problem. I would'nt mind if there was'nt any wolves. Our taxidermist in the Spooner area says they don't see hardly any deer any more, and thats only 20 minutes away.
That's where I hunt, between Spooner and Hayward. Sure the wolves are around, but I think that 8 years of unlimited $2 bonus tags had more to do with the lower deer numbers.
Here's my take on the wolf thing. Sure, they might be a bit of a problem, but I think more of a problem of people "not seeing deer" is the fact that they don't put in the work to do it. I have gone up to the chequamagan national forest every spring to fish for the last 7 years, and I bet I see 3-400 deer on the 20 minute drive from Hayward to cable on a nightly basis. There are still a lot of deer up there.
