Wolves are at our door

[publichunter]

Wolves are at our door — and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department is preparing for wolves to venture into South Dakota. Some have already passed through the state in recent years.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife reported in 2006 that wolves were in Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains and local officials are expecting them to wander east, at least in small numbers.

"We are going to start thinking about wolves in South Dakota because we are quite certain that they are coming, and we need to be prepared to manage them when they do get here," said John Kanta, a regional wildlife manager with the GF&P.

Currently the state operates under an August 1994 U.S. Fish and Wildlife contingency plan.

"It's more or less to address depredations with wolves," Kanta said. "What we would like to do is put together a full-blown management plan. In other words, 'Do we want to sustain a population of wolves, and if so how are we going to do that? How are we going to respond to the problems that come with wolves considering that we have a number of ranchers out there who are raising sheep, which can certainly be an issue with wolves.'"

 

[Soapweed]

Wolves are at our door — and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

It is easy to see that you are not dependent upon agriculture for your livelihood.

There were plenty of wolves in this country in the early days. I think it was around 1919 or 1920 when Clint Anderson of Cody, Nebraska killed the last remaining wolf in the area. It was cause for celebration. The wolves had killed great numbers of livestock prior to that time.

 

[per]

The only wolf policy you need is no wolves allowed. They wreak havoc on cows as well as sheep. It is not unusual for a pack to take a full grown cow every 3 days until they move on. When they do move on they will be creating trouble will someone else. If you are allowed to shoot them they are not an easy target and you will only get one out of the pack. No sheep in my area but I assume that if your ranch is near a sheep ranch the wolves might prefer the smaller nuggets.

 

[Northern Rancher]

Well we've ranched for 90 years with wolves at our door and were still surviving. in fact last week I saw a good bull moose and a good sized wolf about a half mile apart. Why don't some of you hop in your trucks and come up and see how it's done. Not saying they never kill stock but they sure as heck have never put anybody out of business up here and trust me we have wolves and bears and coyotes even the odd big cat. I've never heard more unadulterated hearsay and B.S as i read in some of these posts. Ninety Nine percent of you will never see a wolf or a wolf kill in your lifetimebut everybody has a third cousin whose grampa had his nephew eaten by a pack back in the old days.i don't necessarily love them but I can sure get along with ranching with them around us. Coyotes cause a heck of alot more losses in the U'S and Canada for sure.

 

[SHAWN]

Well we've ranched for 90 years with wolves at our door and were still surviving. in fact last week I saw a good bull moose and a good sized wolf about a half mile apart. Why don't some of you hop in your trucks and come up and see how it's done. Not saying they never kill stock but they sure as heck have never put anybody out of business up here and trust me we have wolves and bears and coyotes even the odd big cat. I've never heard more unadulterated hearsay and B.S as i read in some of these posts. Ninety Nine percent of you will never see a wolf or a wolf kill in your lifetimebut everybody has a third cousin whose grampa had his nephew eaten by a pack back in the old days.i don't necessarily love them but I can sure get along with ranching with them around us. Coyotes cause a heck of alot more losses in the U'S and Canada for sure.

The only difference from up there and down here is... correct me if I am wrong, you can hunt them in Canada legaly. I just got back from Gardiner Montana lion hunting and talked with some people out there next to the park, the wolves are not well liked they have decimated the elk population. If you lose your dogs chasing a lion 7 out of 10 times when you come back the next day all you will find is a spine and a skull. I do not mind wolves but they like everything else need to be kept in check. Shawn

 

[Northern Rancher]

They can be hunted by registered trappers but there are still lots of wolves up here-they do hate dogs-in fact a frozen dog is the best wolf bait you can have. What I'm getting at is there are lots of wolves,moose,deer and elk all around here-so I think the effects are being a bit overblown. the guys who ranch up a long the rivers wish they'd be better at decimating the elk herds. the reintroduction is a done deal down there from the sounds of things-why not lobby to get them declared a game animal and sell wolf hunts. they come into a predator call pretty easily. if they get too thick-nature has ways of dealing with that-they seem to get hit by mange harder than yotes do.

 

[Mrs.Greg]

After the Elk and deer ranch fiasco's in Alta. the decimation of the released herds really wouldn't be a bad thing. That being said,Gregs cousin lives in Northern Alta. is a trapper and raises cattle,he says the ODD calf may be taken down by a wolf,bear,cougar but thats even rare,the wolves or any animal in a natural setting with the feed and vegetation they're used to will rarely take a tame animal.

 

[Soapweed]

Well we've ranched for 90 years with wolves at our door and were still surviving. in fact last week I saw a good bull moose and a good sized wolf about a half mile apart. Why don't some of you hop in your trucks and come up and see how it's done. Not saying they never kill stock but they sure as heck have never put anybody out of business up here and trust me we have wolves and bears and coyotes even the odd big cat. I've never heard more unadulterated hearsay and B.S as i read in some of these posts. Ninety Nine percent of you will never see a wolf or a wolf kill in your lifetimebut everybody has a third cousin whose grampa had his nephew eaten by a pack back in the old days.i don't necessarily love them but I can sure get along with ranching with them around us. Coyotes cause a heck of alot more losses in the U'S and Canada for sure.

We have gotten along quite well without wolves for nearly a century now. We have gotten along quite well without dinosaurs for several centuries. This is just better cattle country without either one of these varmints. If an introduced wolf were to kill one calf, it would be one too many. The balance of nature in this area is doing just fine, thank you, without any wolves, bears, or mountain lions.

 

[Sandhusker]

People seem to think that reintroducing animals back into the geographical area where they once lived is "getting back to nature" and a restoration of sorts. The thing is, we're never going to get "back to nature". As long as there are towns, farms, roads, white men, etc.... that nature that once existed will never come back. Throwing a wolf or a bear back into lands that have been "tamed" isn't going to restore a dang thing.

If they want to reintroduce native species to former territory, I'm pretty sure Wolves and Bears once roamed freely in New Jersey.....

 

[Soapweed]

People seem to think that reintroducing animals back into the geographical area where they once lived is "getting back to nature" and a restoration of sorts. The thing is, we're never going to get "back to nature". As long as there are towns, farms, roads, white men, etc.... that nature that once existed will never come back. Throwing a wolf or a bear back into lands that have been "tamed" isn't going to restore a dang thing.

If they want to reintroduce native species to former territory, I'm pretty sure Wolves and Bears once roamed freely in New Jersey.....

There is absolutely nothing to be gained by the "re-introduction" of these predatory species. It is just touchy feely b.s. propagated by city dwellers who have nothing to lose from doing it, unless of course they think of all the tax-payer money wasted on this sort of malarky.

 

[Denny]

People seem to think that reintroducing animals back into the geographical area where they once lived is "getting back to nature" and a restoration of sorts. The thing is, we're never going to get "back to nature". As long as there are towns, farms, roads, white men, etc.... that nature that once existed will never come back. Throwing a wolf or a bear back into lands that have been "tamed" isn't going to restore a dang thing.

If they want to reintroduce native species to former territory, I'm pretty sure Wolves and Bears once roamed freely in New Jersey.....

They have alot worse animal's in New Jersey now in a 2 legged variety.

 

[Northern Rancher]

Pretty weak analogy Soapweed-I doubt you'll ever see a wolf in the wild anyway. As for myself I'm more than happy to ranch in country that isn't totally 'tamed'. As for New Jersey I'm pretty sure they have a black bear season even.All I'm trying to get across is that worrying about timber wolves eating your grandchildren and wiping you out of the cattle business-is about as likely as pig's flying.

 

[Soapweed]

Pretty weak analogy Soapweed-I doubt you'll ever see a wolf in the wild anyway. As for myself I'm more than happy to ranch in country that isn't totally 'tamed'. As for New Jersey I'm pretty sure they have a black bear season even.All I'm trying to get across is that worrying about timber wolves eating your grandchildren and wiping you out of the cattle business-is about as likely as pig's flying.

I know that you "get along" with wolves in your ranching country in the far north, but they were already present when you signed on to ranch up there. When I "signed on" to ranch in Cherry County, Nebraska, there were no wolves. My dad was born in 1923, so when he "signed on" to ranch in this area, there were no wolves around to bother. When my granddad started ranching here, there were a few stray wolves, but they were fair game and it was not long until they were completely eradicated.

Now with the stupid liberal policies, any re-introduced wolves will be safe to do as they please. If a modern rancher were to shoot a troublesome wolf, the rancher would be more in the wrong than the wolf. There lies the problem. If the bunny huggers truly wanted to hug bunnies, they also wouldn't want wolves re-introduced. We don't need any wolves. It is that plain and simple.

 

[Northern Rancher]

Well want them or not it sounds like you have them. The government has dealt you some lemons so it's time to make lemonade or wine. I can garantee they aren't going to change their mind and depopulate them even if they could. If you can reach a solution whereby they become a harvestable game animal or you get compensated for any losses you won't be that bad off. Heck if a pack moves through and runs a herd of mulies off an irigation pivot or hayyard you might even see some benefit. We don't receive any compensation at all for wolf losses up here and we get by. On our place we have maybe lost one calf to wolves-we are two miles from a 45 mile stretch of provincial forest that has alot of wolves. My whole point is that you've got them now-right or wrong-so it would be best to find a way tomake the best of it. Fairy tales and misinformation probably isn't the best recourse.

 

[rainie]

NR, if you've only lost 1 calf count yourself lucky. We live close to a provincial park, federal park, and a community pasture. Ever seen a mature cow trying to walk around with just her ligaments and tendons holding her back legs together. Wolves ate all the meat off her hindquarters. Why they didn't just kill her I don't know. It's not something you will ever forget, and you start to develop a real hatred towards them. That's just one case, I've got lots more. We have a lot of wildlife in this area too but they still seem to prefer beef. For quite awhile they were sticking to mostly charolais but now they have made the switch over to angus and seem to prefer it. If I follow your live and let live theory, I might have to dump my angus cows and start raising charolais.As much as I don't want to.

 

[I Luv Herfrds]

Too true Rainie.
As for a wolf not killing alot of animals I suggest a trip to Stanford Montana and see the history of the Ghost Wolf. This wolf would kill livestock for just the pleasure of killing.
When these animals are allowed to not be hunted and see people as no threat they will become the aggressor.
We have lost 1 known cow and 2 known calves. We were NEVER re-imbursted for our loss. The federal trapper told us that they had been ordered since 1984 to ingnore any and all wolves caught in their traps. Our first lost calf was in 1996. The trapper told us that because of the re-introduction there was nothing he could do for us, but set a few snares. We caught a few coyotes though.
Talk to the people in Jordan Montana also they will tell you all about that hybrid wolf that was killing sheep. Now they have 2 more there. Where are these hybrids coming from? The Defenders of wildlife will not re-imburse for the sheep because DNA says it is not a "true" wolf.

 

[Northern Rancher]

Ive seen wolf damage before but that's the risk we take by ranching in the bush. I just read a book about the ghost wolf-I'd tajke some of those tales with a grain of salt. Go ahead hate them all you want but they are a fact of life up here.

 

[Neil Waugh]

In southern Alberta we have a neat drill where Fish and Wildlife stockpiles road kill all winter. Then hauls it up to the high country just in time for the hungry grizzlies to come out of their dens. Instead of killing spring calves like they used to which created all kinds of mayhem they eat frozen whitetail.
It's pretty well solved the problem as far as I can tell.
Sounds like you folks in Dakota could use a little good old Alberta knowhow.
Although I've got to admit there's a wolf cull underway on the woodland caribou range north of Hinton. So I guess we shoot a few too.

 

[jodywy]

Green River Drift use to have a 2 to 4 % death loss with just grizzly bears coming of their high summer range. With wolves added to the mix it up around 7% and a lot more open cows. They now have 3 range riders for every one before; The Sheep in the upper Green have even more losses since wolves.

 

[per]

Northern Rancher I used to think I had a symbiotic relationship with the predators here on the eastern slopes until 5 years ago. We have been here since 1883 so I understand the local history. In the last 5 years we have lost many cows and calves in confirmed wolf kills, 6 cows this year alone. Yes in the past we have had a few "cost of doing business" bear and wolf incidents but unless you have tasted a hungary pack you are just spouting the same air that you accuse us of spouting. If these folks have a chance of keeping the wolves out, especially in a non traditional area then let it be.