*******Wolves don’t bother people**********

[Boaz]

It's like California (and others) perfectly willing to offer up a few cyclists and joggers on it's bike trails to cougars every year . No big deal I guess ? Got to have plenty of cougars !

[Finster101]

I do not go wandering around the woods without at least a 357 mag or a 45 ACP. Like any other predator that threatened me, a wolf dumb enough to get too close is on borrowed time.

I think there are a bunch of us that pretty much don't go out of the house without doing that.

[10x]

On another site, specific to firearms issues in the Northwest, there was a guy who posted about a supposed cougar attack on the West side of Washington state within the past couple of years. IIRC, it was a female out hiking alone and unarmed.

Well, the poster had a good friend that worked for the sheriff's office or WDFW, that was on scene to the gruesome site and had seen cougar attacks and bear attacks before. He reportedly said that this was no cougar or bear attack and was obviously a wolf or dog attack. I guess a WDFW expert on scene also confirmed that it wasn't a cougar or bear attack and said it was a wolf or large dog. Based on the location and remoteness of the location, it was logical to assume it was a wolf. Apparently tracks at the scene confirmed it was a wolf, or multiple wolves.

However, the WDFW ruled it as a cougar attack. Purely political move, as having a confirmed wolf fatality would hinder the leftist agenda.

When I bought my house in a tiny town in Eastern Washington a few years ago, a neighbor came over and said that she had seen a wolf walking through my yard and then down the street at 3 am one time. A year later, my daughter and her husband were visiting and on the drive out of my town, saw a large black wolf up on the forested ridge running along the tree line in the middle of the day.

My father, who lives 12 miles away out in the country, had one show up in the field up behind his house. It's still there...

Another friend who lives way up in the woods about 10 miles away shot and killed a wolf-coyote hybrid going after her goats. I saw the picture and it was huge. Idaho Fish & Game showed up and confirmed it was a hybrid, but said his department would never officially admit it or recognize it's existence.

I've seen wolves twice in the wild, and only in the last ten years. I've seen cougars twice, as well, in 40 years of being in the woods. And there are a heck of a lot more cougars than wolves in the woods.

My brother came upon a wolf caught in a leg trap a few years ago and said it was like a big nervous dog. Wagging it's tail when he appeared, and whining. He said he felt sorry for it and wanted to end it's misery, but knew better to let the trapper do his job. He heard later that someone else came along and killed the wolf and stole it. Hides were getting around $400 then.

I've been camping alone and had wolves come down and lurk in the trees and watch. Never saw them, but when going out in the woods about 50 yards from camp, found their scat. It's a creepy feeling.

In the early 1970s we had a number of black bear attacks, injuries, and fatalities in Alberta that never made the news. They kettled the stories and no information was released "Pending investigation". At that time few black bears had ever encountered a human on foot and had no concept of avoidance With the advent of quads and side by sides, most wildlife has seldom seen a human on foot, and that includes bears and wolves.
All predators who have never had contact with a human will be curious about where humans stand on the food chain.
Pepper spray is nice, but a 12 gauge with triple aught buck beats pepper spray.
When a predator decides you are part of their food chain you want the most positive outcome ever. A gun is a step up from a spray...
I have lived in bear country for over 60 years and have numerous encounters, most with a positive outcome for me and the bear. Cute but I do not trust them, nor do I trust the spray defense people who force encounters to 'test' their spray defense system. A forced encounter is not an encounter with a predator who has decided you are a meal.

[GhostHawk]

Timber wolves and Coyotes are a natural part of my area, I hear both from time to time when working my land but I always watch for the decoy and shoot it dead as soon as I can solve the range. I have seen it happen to deer, the decoy stays in sight while the pack flanks them then spooks the deer and drives them to the pack. On soft ground, the pack eats every time.

Friend of mine with a plane was up fishing walleyes on Lake of the woods, up in the islands.

He came across a big wolf pack track. From the air it was plain as day before they got close to the island a pair of wolves would split off the pack, left and right. Staying well away from the island they would work their way into an ambush position. Then hunker down in the snow out of sight. The pack would have one set of flankers on each side that stayed out in the open. They would be a bit ahead of the rest of the pack. Anything trying to break out sideways would run into them.

The rest of the pack would go through the woods of the island. Driving any animals of any size in front of them.

They would do this until they found deer, killed, ate. And the next day they would do it again.

From the air all this was all laid out plain as day.

A good sized pack is a killing machine. Each has its job, they know what it is and how to do it.

Inevitably the big red spot on the snow would be just past the far end of the island.

I've heard it said/read that a Cougar will eat 1-2 deer per week depending on weather, cubs, etc.
A wolf pack will eat a 200 lb deer every day all winter long if they can.

[Dapaki]

Friend of mine with a plane was up fishing walleyes on Lake of the woods, up in the islands.

He came across a big wolf pack track. From the air it was plain as day before they got close to the island a pair of wolves would split off the pack, left and right. Staying well away from the island they would work their way into an ambush position. Then hunker down in the snow out of sight. The pack would have one set of flankers on each side that stayed out in the open. They would be a bit ahead of the rest of the pack. Anything trying to break out sideways would run into them.

The rest of the pack would go through the woods of the island. Driving any animals of any size in front of them.

They would do this until they found deer, killed, ate. And the next day they would do it again.

From the air all this was all laid out plain as day.

A good sized pack is a killing machine. Each has its job, they know what it is and how to do it.

Inevitably the big red spot on the snow would be just past the far end of the island.

I've heard it said/read that a Cougar will eat 1-2 deer per week depending on weather, cubs, etc.
A wolf pack will eat a 200 lb deer every day all winter long if they can.

My same experiences in the same general location. It was moose they hunted back then though, when the Timber Wolf was considered endangered.

[Three44s]

There were two objectives in bringing the crossed wolves out of the north to the lower 48:

The first was to run livestock out off of public lands.

The second was to run hunters off by decimating game herds to the point that wolves were THE apex predator.

In the lifetimes of the bureaucrats in charge they knew they would never get there with the native Yellowstone wolves so way before Clinton/Gore/Babbit strode into the picture, I think it was about 1967, there were individual agency staff trying to do a quiet insertion of those souped up wolves but it never caught hold. When Bruce Babbit gained the reins of power, it was full throttle ahead!

At the release ceremony, a guy high up in the food chain at USF&WS announced that “this release will drive XXXXXX number of livestock operations OFF of public lands!”

NOW, did I hear somebody complain about wildfires lately? Hmmmmmm?

Three44s

[brewer12345]

I think there are a bunch of us that pretty much don't go out of the house without doing that.

I don't generally feel the need for more than a snub 38 rolling around the milquetoast burb where I live.

[waksupi]

There were two objectives in bringing the crossed wolves out of the north to the lower 48:

The first was to run livestock out off of public lands.

The second was to run hunters off by decimating game herds to the point that wolves were THE apex predator.

In the lifetimes of the bureaucrats in charge they knew they would never get there with the native Yellowstone wolves so way before Clinton/Gore/Babbit strode into the picture, I think it was about 1967, there were individual agency staff trying to do a quiet insertion of those souped up wolves but it never caught hold. When Bruce Babbit gained the reins of power, it was full throttle ahead!

At the release ceremony, a guy high up in the food chain at USF&WS announced that “this release will drive XXXXXX number of livestock operations OFF of public lands!”

NOW, did I hear somebody complain about wildfires lately? Hmmmmmm?

Three44s

True story. We should have shot all of them in the cages when they landed them at Missoula.

When wolves were being removed from the lower 48, the last ones were in Yellowstone. The trappers went in to locate the dens, and killed all the pups.

[nelsonted1]

I live in southern Minnesota. An old woman in our church called the game.warden about a mountain lion eating put of the dog bowl. (The dog began to stay in the house.). The game warden came around and was not supportive at all "there's no mountain lions around here". The, when she offered to shoot it with her 12 gauge he told her " You better not!". She said which is it- no mountain lions around here or I better not shoot it? He did a lot of talking then left.
Dad told me about it 20 years ago and have no idea what came of it. Dad loved the way she stood up for herself.

[nelsonted1]

My sister heard of a neighbor who had a chained up MT lion in his junk car -he must have had 50 of them. She being a genius.teenager went looking for the cat. She and her friend were creeping around when the cat pounced, knocking her down and licked her face. She would have easy lunch if the cat was wild

[nelsonted1]

My daughter lives in boulder co and sees mountain lions in town eating out of dumpsters. She and her boyfriend are avid hikers and mountain climbers. They have two very big Anatolian Shepherds that always hike.with them but they are both hyper aware of the ways they could get on trouble.

[Three44s]

A dumpster can be used as a temporary refuge from a mountain lion!

Had a neighbor do that one night. He went out with the garbage .... turne to go back in the house probably 50 to 100 feet away only to have a cougar siting down 20 feet away watching him.

The teenager climbed into the dumpster and closed the lid!

When the coast was clear, he got out and went in the house!

Three44s

[cwtebay]

The "dog is my protection" thing makes me laugh every single time I hear it!! I've seen whole PACKS of lion and bear hounds wiped out from wolves - Pyrenees, Kuvasz, Anitolian shepards, cow dogs, pit bulls....they don't have a heathen's prayer against a couple of their wild ancestors. That's become a relatively new thing in this neck of the woods - don't turn out on a fresh lion track with wolf tracks in the area. I could tell you stories and show you pictures, but needless to say; ain't no domestic dog that has a fighting chance against something that doesn't get its meals from a kibble bag.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[megasupermagnum]

There seems to be two parts to this issue, and neither really have much to do with the wolves themselves. The first is which has more rights, the farmer or the wildlife? The other issue is who gets to decide?

I'd like to start by saying I like wolves. I have no problem with them. If I didn't and I wanted to be have livestock, I would not recommend doing it in northern MN or WI. I've lived in areas that wolves lived, and they never bothered me. I'd see them sometimes early in the morning. They don't howl as often as coyote, but wolves howl louder. I currently live south of their range. I consider wolves about as dangerous as deer. Probably not an issue, but I'm not about to push my luck. I don't own any land, but if I did, I would not mind them at all. I do think there should be a hunting season again. Keep the population where it is at, and be able to take out the problem animals. Wanting to make an animal extinct for our own gain is not a thought line I can understand.

The other issue is who gets to decide? This is where I draw a hard line. If you don't own/rent property where these animals are bound to end up, then you have NO BUISNESS at all in deciding. In MN, nobody who lives south of about highway 210 should have any swing on the issue. About 10 years ago I witnessed this first hand with a lake not far from where I grew up was slated to be drained. This was pelican lake near Buffalo, MN. I went with my dad and his friend (land owner across the road from Pelican lake) to a local meeting on the issue. Ducks Unlimited was dumping millions of dollars to turn it into prime waterfowl habitat. Admittedly this state is hurting badly for good waterfowl habitat, but I don't think this was a good answer. It is still open to hunting, and is very popular. The other problem is there are not a lot of lakes in the southern half of the state with big northern pike. Pelican lake was THE lake for big pike until you got way up north. Even Millelacs was not as good. It was nothing to pull in a 10+ pound pike out there every weekend. Every other lake in a 1 hour radius, a 5 pound pike is rare, a 10 pounder is a trophy.

Anyway, we went to this meeting, and I don't think even half the people there were from anywhere close by. I distinctly remember one guy from Brookings, SD that was mouthing off to the locals. Why he was out this way, I have no clue. At one point he started arguing with a local guy, and said "Just fish one of the other 10,000 lakes". I thought the guy was about to throw him through the window. Instead the local spit on his shoes, walked out the door, and never came back. The project was ultimately squeaked through with a few lies from the DNR, a lucky hard winter that killed most of the fish, and large funding from DU.

I haven't fished the lake since, I've heard some of the pike are coming back. I have yet to find a lake as easy to fish as that was, although I've got some nice ones up around Virginia, MN. I never will understand the mentality of some people to butt in on issues that do not even pertain to themselves.

[dangitgriff]

The "dog is my protection" thing makes me laugh every single time I hear it!! I've seen whole PACKS of lion and bear hounds wiped out from wolves - Pyrenees, Kuvasz, Anitolian shepards, cow dogs, pit bulls....they don't have a heathen's prayer against a couple of their wild ancestors. That's become a relatively new thing in this neck of the woods - don't turn out on a fresh lion track with wolf tracks in the area. I could tell you stories and show you pictures, but needless to say; ain't no domestic dog that has a fighting chance against something that doesn't get its meals from a kibble bag.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

I’m guessing properly trained Irish Wolfhounds are up to the task.

[cwtebay]

I’m guessing properly trained Irish Wolfhounds are up to the task.

Funny you ask... I'll pm you a picture of one if you wish.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[nelsonted1]

I was talking to my daughter last night. She sent a picture of a herd of elk that had ended up in a park in boulder. She said the idiot tourists lost track that wild animals are wild and not to be trifled with. She said she and her boyfriend settled in and waited sure enough a guy sidles up to a big male and touched him. That was when he got blasted with a hoof knocking him right off his feet. I asked if he had his stern hem crushed. She said didn't seem so since he got again. Sometimes people who get hurt put themselves in a bad spot they can't get out of.

[Three44s]

Mega ......,

We can agree to disagree about having wolves because you recognize the first tenant I believe in, that of listening to local folks when making such critical decisions.

You see if you owned land and stock, your ox would be gored overnight and then that local decision making we agree up on would kick in.

I am not in favor of zero wolves but I think they need to be kept very much in check and the folks that want them the most should have them in their locale in the numbers they think are sufficient for other folks to handle.

Three44s

[.429&H110]

Everybody that moves to Alaska is required to read:

"Alaska's Wolf Man
The 1915-55
Wilderness
Adventures of
Frank Glaser"
by Jim Rearden
isbn 1-57510-047-9

Glaser walked from Valdez to Fairbanks before there was a road. Glaser could walk all day, every day, in the Alaska range. He was a federal predator agent, market hunter, road house owner. My favorite chapters, he had a half wolf, Queenie, living with him. Book is a good look at wolves and Fairbanks long ago.
Required reading for this cheechako. I never did get promoted to sourdough.
Couple of guys in my shop trapped wolves, brought in very big pelts.
If you had a pack of Irish wolfhounds, the wolves would go next door.
One Irish wolfhound would be lunch in five seconds.
I never saw a wolf without binoculars,
but found fresh tracks everywhere.
They could hear a sled a mile away.
Illegal to harass wildlife with a snowmachine.
Sorry. Just dashing through the snow.
I can't describe how thick the Chena river alder swamp is. A wolf or moose could run through it. I had to go the long way around. Sometimes the river was frozen enough for a sled. Sometimes it wasn't. How to tell? Wolves don't need much ice at all.


Wolf Man is one of my favorite books.

[MT Gianni]

Wolves have interesting habits. The game animals are active at night and eat until daybreak then hole up by 10 AM. Wolves are most active in the middle hours catching deer and elk while they are resting.