To add to Mike Willands article http://www.bowhunting.com/publisher...R-Hopes-to-Delist-Wolves-from-Endangered-List 5 years ago I would hope to catch a glimpse of a wolf rather it be in a stand or on trail camera. Fast forward to now, so far this year I've seen one wolf in person and I have atleast one on camera everytime I check them. This weekend was no different, I made my 200 mile journey up to Black River Falls, WI the first thing I did was check the camera's. As I made my way through the 3000+ pictures from 3 different cameras the result was no different. I had 3 pictures of wolves in 2 locations. The attached picture is the best picture I have off the last round. With a number like 800 wolves in the state of Wisconsin we have to take control of the population before it gets to far out of hand. I would hope to see limited wolf hunting by 2013 if not sooner.
Thats a really awsome picture! I agree with you. There needs to be some type of control over a predator like that. Where I'm from in WI the lower half its year round coyote season and that doesnt even put a dent in them. My father tells me tails of pheasent, quail, turkey and deer herds of his childhood. It's too bad I'll never experience that type of hunting.
Not to be argumentative but I beleive that the population well exceeds 800, we need a season of sorts. I also have wolf pics almost everytime I check the cam's. Frustrating.
I would come up there if they opened season on them , i've been wanting to wack some wolves with my bow for a long time , and get them on video , i'm nocking the sh!t out of the Yotes here in Indiana and Kentucky .
Ive always wondered how they got rid of wolves in the early 1900's, never seemed to me that hunting would be that effective. Talked to a old timer who claimed his father used to poison meat for them, said it was a science because too much and the wolves wouldn't touch it. It was interesting talking with him. I think they need to open a trapping season, many trappers in the UP are getting many it there sets, guess they're actually very easy to release. Trapping would allow for the radio collared animals to be released to keep studying while keeping the population under control by taking noncollared, saving the cost of radio collaring more. Plus wolf hides are actually worth some money.
Wolves can drastically reduce yote populations. They'll chase off and or kill coyotes. Same with your dog too. We have coyotes here in Northern MN, but their populations are not near the densities of the rest of the state.
Worst thing they ever did was reintroduce thos in WI. Bear hunter have lost many hounds to them not to mention the deer hear in northern WI is dwindling.
First, I'm not a fan of wolves where they haven't been for the last century. But, to solely blame wolves for the dwindling deer herd is ridiculous. The real problem with the deer population is the DNR and the hunters themselves. After years of handing out doe tags like crazy and guys filling them, what do you expect? If you want to blame any predator for the dwindling deer herd, you need to start blaming the booming populations of bears and bobcats. In the fawn mortality study from this spring not far from my cabin in the "Northern Region" they radio collared 30 fawns. In three weeks 15/30 were dead. 4 bear kills, 4 bobcat kills, 4 unknown predators, 2 possible starvation and 1 unknown. Yes, there are wolves in this area, but its not confirmed that they even killed any of the 30 fawns in that first 3 weeks. You want to see more deer in WI again? Its simple, quit filling every doe tag you get and encourage other hunters to get on the bandwagon for increasing tag numbers for bears and bobcats.
Well put Dan! Do you have a link for this? I thought I had read a similar study and it showed that Coyotes were the number 1 killer up there. I will see if I can find this study and post a link. I also agree that hunters had a lot to do with this issue especially from 2000-2007 about.The last 3 years at least have showed this in the areas that I do hunt in North Eastern, WI.
Ok it was a study from South Carolina that mentioned one has been started here in Wi. http://www.jsonline.com/sports/outdoors/98677064.html
I do not have a link. I got the info in an email from a director on the Wisconsin Conservation Congress board and he got it from a DNR Biologist. Here is a quote from that email.....
Dan you do have some good insight on what's going on with the deer populations but I've seen a significant drop in deer numbers since there was only supposed to be 2 small wolf packs in my area. Over hunting is one problem and so is the fawn mortality rate a adult wolf eats up to 13 deer a year. That's more then any hunter I know would put down. With the increase in the wolf population you will see a decrease in your adult deer population not so much the fawns.IMO
I've also seen studies that state an adult wolf eats 17 and 26 deer annually. I'm not disagreeing that wolves can and are a problem in some areas. I just think they become a good scapegoat for guys when they're not seeing as many deer as they once did. See, its easier to point the finger at wolves, than ourselves. I also don't know any one hunter that can, or does, kill as many adult deer in a year as a wolf does, but there are a hell of a lot more hunters out there than wolves. See my point?
I see your point and I know it easier to say the wolves are eating all the deer and that's why I can't bag a deer. It's been my personal observation over the last few years the more wolves I get on camera the less deer I get. Are the two related? I don't know for sure but I think it does. There are more hunters then there are wolves but as they move though an area they can do some serious damage to the herd numbers in that area quickly.IMO more then any group hunters could effect the same area.
