Oregon wolf situation

[The Heretic]

Leave the wolves and coyotes alone. Shoot the real dangers like mountain lions, deer, elk, etc.

I've had more than one motorcycling friend put in the hospital by deer.

 

[Xaevian]

I've had more than one motorcycling friend put in the hospital by deer.

Well, deer are the deadliest animal in N America.

 

[Cavedweller]

I love it when people read 1 book and become experts in natural resource management. If I'd have known it was that easy I wouldn't have wasted 3 years in forestry school.

 

[Bobbygun]

I love it when people read 1 book and become experts in natural resource management. If I'd have known it was that easy I wouldn't have wasted 3 years in forestry school.

And probably would've saved you a bunch of money to boot.

Personally, I found Aldo's writing very boring. Fortunately, I was able to learn all I needed to know about interconnectedness with the planet by watching Avatar in 3D.

 

[Provincial]

One should consider that Aldo Leopold was writing about experiences from the Dust Bowl, where bad farming practices caused an "Unnatural Disaster."

Mark Twain wrote:

"We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it and stop there lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again and that is well but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore."

 

[joken]

There is a pack of five in the Wickiup Lake area. A local told us that they killed a 6pt Bull, and only God knows how much more game. I'm having none of it and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it.

 

[orygun]

The State of Oregon has either been completely inept at calculating wolf activity in this state or has been blatantly lying to us for years. I saw single wolf tracks on the White River side of Mt. Hood before the state said they had made their way into Eastern Oregon.

This wolf is approximately 50% larger than was was eradicated locally years ago. Those the live in the valley are completely out of touch with what these predators can and will do to ranchers livestock and wild life population. To say "It's the cost of business", is BS. It's the state stabbing them in the back. There's a reason that there haven't been any "tips" on who prisoned the batch of wolves last year.

Just like the crap that got cougar hunting with dogs stopped. We now have cougars where they certainly don't belong. But if you don't have one on your street, what do you care?

I think reintroducing bison would be cool, but I couldn't tell you the impact it would have on those that grow our food.

 

[JRuby]

The state of Oregon is inept at stopping poaching as well. Maybe we should start hunting poachers - any and all.

 

[Xaevian]

The state of Oregon is inept at stopping poaching as well. Maybe we should start hunting poachers - any and all.

Maybe put up some poach-free zone signs.

 

[Crockett9]

Always a conspiracy somewhere. To me its as much about the elk grazing for the same forage as cattle do. Thats why the elk populations are down not the wolves.

You're buying into what the animal rights groups are telling you!

 

[JRuby]

You're buying into what the animal rights groups are telling you!

I disagree. It is what I have seen

 

[nehalemguy]

You're buying into what the animal rights groups are telling you!

There is a grain of truth...IMO....to what JRuby is saying.

I hunt a private property in Central Oregon. Almost 30K acres. I have been going there since 1992.
Previous manager ran cattle 24/7 from top to bottom, Deschutes to Hwy 97. Great deer hunting, but it was very uncommon to see elk.

New manager took over in 2009 and immediately changed the program. Pulled cattle out of the top end, ran a rotation on the low end, and fed out of feedlots in the winter. Complete 180-degree change in elk numbers.

Three years ago, I sat on a high point and glassed 14 bulls in a single morning without a moo cow in sight. My story is anecdotal. I don't have another 30k acres for an experiment control, but I am firmly convinced that elk and cattle don't mix well.

P.S........and we shoot predators on sight.

-E-

 

[156256Hunter]

I disagree. It is what I have seen

Except I've been deer and elk hunting in NE Oregon for over 30 years. Cattle grazing had always been present during that time in parts of the Umatilla National Forest.

But before all the wolf packs popped up, elk numbers were a lot higher. So were deer numbers.

Now with the reintro of wolves (and earlier lack of predator control of cougars and black bears), elk numbers are a lot lower. So are deer.

That's what I've seen.

 

[156256Hunter]

There is a grain of truth...IMO....to what JRuby is saying.

I hunt a private property in Central Oregon. Almost 30K acres. I have been going there since 1992.
Previous manager ran cattle 24/7 from top to bottom, Deschutes to Hwy 97. Great deer hunting, but it was very uncommon to see elk.

New manager took over in 2009 and immediately changed the program. Pulled cattle out of the top end, ran a rotation on the low end, and fed out of feedlots in the winter. Complete 180-degree change in elk numbers.

Three years ago, I sat on a high point and glassed 14 bulls in a single morning without a moo cow in sight. My story is anecdotal. I don't have another 30k acres for an experiment control, but I am firmly convinced that elk and cattle don't mix well.

P.S........and we shoot predators on sight.

-E-

That's fantastic news, really. But as more wolf packs head to Central Oregon, things will unfortunately change. If you look at the ODFW map of "confirmed" wolf packs covering the elk and deer units I hunt (54 and 56, mostly), you can see they're ground zero for several packs. Not as much fun hunting any more.

In addition, it appears many of the remaining elk have moved to lower elevations out of the mountains, closer to people (and grazing cattle), so they can try to get away from the wolves.

 

[Bobbygun]

As much as I don't appreciate the negative impact wolves have had on my elk hunting, I've decided not to get too worked up about it. After all, hunters are a smaller minority than gun owners in Oregon, so how long before the next ballot measure is passed outlawing hunting? Emboldened by the shaft voters gave gun owners in the lovely Ballot Measure 114, it won't be long before the real wolves take aim at hunting. Oh well. There are better hunting states to reside in.

 

[nehalemguy]

That's fantastic news, really. But as more wolf packs head to Central Oregon, things will unfortunately change. If you look at the ODFW map of "confirmed" wolf packs covering the elk and deer units I hunt (54 and 56, mostly), you can see they're ground zero for several packs. Not as much fun hunting any more.

In addition, it appears many of the remaining elk have moved to lower elevations out of the mountains, closer to people (and grazing cattle), so they can try to get away from the wolves.

A lot of the Central Oregon units are heavily comprised of private lands.....where wolves are not tolerated as well as they are on NFS lands.

-E-

 

[The Heretic]

 

[156256Hunter]

As much as I don't appreciate the negative impact wolves have had on my elk hunting, I've decided not to get too worked up about it. After all, hunters are a smaller minority than gun owners in Oregon, so how long before the next ballot measure is passed outlawing hunting? Emboldened by the shaft voters gave gun owners in the lovely Ballot Measure 114, it won't be long before the real wolves take aim at hunting. Oh well. There are better hunting states to reside in.

Oregon already did a lot of damage to big game hunting in NE Oregon, first in the mid 1990s with the banning of hound hunting for predators, then later by not doing anything with all the wolves. That's probably why in part ODFW has to come up with "premium hunts" for people to apply for (throw money at) -- to offset a drop in tag and perhaps license revenue.

 

[Bobbygun]

Oregon already did a lot of damage to big game hunting in NE Oregon, first in the mid 1990s with the banning of hound hunting for predators, then later by not doing anything with all the wolves. That's probably why in part ODFW has to come up with "premium hunts" for people to apply for (throw money at) -- to offset a drop in tag and perhaps license revenue.

I hear you. The elk hunting I was referring to was in the Imnaha Unit. I've bow hunted over there 8 of the last 10 years and it has gone steadily downhill.

Just think of the drop in tag and license revenue once they get a hunting ban initiative passed by the urban voters.

 

[MikeGMU108]

This is true and I believe I read one time they are some sort of a cross between the timberwolf and some sort of larger, and more aggressive Canadian variety.

Reality being what it is there has never been a 'natural order' of things and all animals have to either adapt to their environment to survive or they will eventually disappear.

Wolves had their chance environmentally and apparently couldn't survive. Compare them to coyotes which can survive nearly anywhere and anything - including humans - and are doing quite well.

'Forced' reintroduction of a non-indigenous species of any animal, and then having to monitor it's lifestyle and movements to ensure it's safety and survival is hardly 'natural'. It's nothing more than an arrogant display of power by leftist liberal earth muffins.

Very well said!