CDOW - Wolves in Colorado

[putm2sleep]

Why was my big game survey packed with wolf questions? I reported that I saw one up 287 here years ago and was told that 'it was a coyote or someones dog'.

Funny!

Should I be on that sportsmans panel?

Guess I should have shot that big dog with a crossbow.

 

[arffdog875]

I have heard them, seen tracks, my buddy walked up on 3 snacking on his archery kill this year, but DOW didn't believe him or me. I got the same answer as you it was a large coyote or someones shepard got loose.

 

[Toadslayer]

This is all sounding historically similar for some strange reasons. hmmmm

uh-oh

 

[Zach]

I have heard them, seen tracks, my buddy walked up on 3 snacking on his archery kill this year, but DOW didn't believe him or me. I got the same answer as you it was a large coyote or someones shepard got loose.

They don't "officially" believe it, but off the record they know the wolves are here in CO.

Next time just shoot that "big" coyote and drop it off at a CPW office for verification..


BTW, I am in the same boat. I was up in 5 elk hunting, heard the howls, saw the tracks, never did see the wolf in person though.

 

[sreekers]

I know if at least one killed outside of Rock Springs this winter. Not far from the CO border.

 

[Elkmagnet]

If you shoot a coyote you don't have to even walk over to it.

 

[idnative1948]

Oh, this is NOT good. You are probably being watched

Why was my big game survey packed with wolf questions? I reported that I saw one up 287 here years ago and was told that 'it was a coyote or someones dog'.

Funny!

Should I be on that sportsmans panel?

Guess I should have shot that big dog with a crossbow.

 

[Southwind]

That is the same reaction the KDWP had on mountain lions here for years until it became so obvious they couldn't deny it anymore.

 

[putm2sleep]

Toadslayer, do tell!

Why do DWPs or DOWs do this?

 

[Oak]

What kind of wolf questions? I didn't have a single wolf question in mine.

 

[Toadslayer]

Toadslayer, do tell!

Why do DWPs or DOWs do this?

I've been banned from forums before when talking about the wolf issue in MT and WY. I don't want to go there, but I do believe this is always the step they take first...deny, deny, deny, spend thousands to study, deny, deny finally give in to public pressure, then claim they were there the whole time and they were on top of it. JMO of course

 

[putm2sleep]

Oak - that is interesting, and why I posed the question regarding the wolf. If there were multiple surveys based on what gmu hunted/accessed?, etc.

I should have made a copy, but they were all pretty basic like : did you see a wolf during your big game hunt in the 2012 season? Oh yes, another I believe was, did you see sign of wolf during your 2012 big game hunt? a few others like this.

 

[Oak]

I may have only done a survey for deer. Yours was likely an elk survey. It sounds like they are just trying to gauge how prevelent wolves might be in the state. I don't think anyone at CPW would deny that there are a few here.

Colorado created a wolf management plan a few years ago in anticipation of wolves making it here eventually. You can find it at the following link. The recommendations linked were adopted in their entirety by the Wildlife Commission in May 2005:
http://wildlife.state.co.us/SiteCol...s/SpeciesOfConcern/Mammals/recomendations.pdf

 

[sbhooper]

That is the same reaction the KDWP had on mountain lions here for years until it became so obvious they couldn't deny it anymore.

Exactly the same in Nebraska and now they are considering a season-GO FIGURE! Wolves are here, too, occasionally. A cousin of mine just saw one in northern Nebraska a few days ago.

It just bothers me when G&F offices treat outdoorsmen like they don't know what they are looking at instead of just saying,"They may be here, but we have no confirmation yet."

 

[PonoHunt]

Exactly the same in Nebraska and now they are considering a season-GO FIGURE! Wolves are here, too, occasionally. A cousin of mine just saw one in northern Nebraska a few days ago.

It just bothers me when G&F offices treat outdoorsmen like they don't know what they are looking at instead of just saying,"They may be here, but we have no confirmation yet."

That will make it easy for us Colorado residents than. No wolves in Colorado exist, so we get a chance to hunt them as if they are coyotes then Its easy to say that until you are the first guy to show up in the DOW office with a wolf in the back of your truck. They need to come clean and start discussing their management plan, I am not sure I would want to be the first to show up at DOW footsteps with one.

 

[wyoming556]

Exactly the same in Nebraska and now they are considering a season-GO FIGURE! Wolves are here, too, occasionally. A cousin of mine just saw one in northern Nebraska a few days ago.
It just bothers me when G&F offices treat outdoorsmen like they don't know what they are looking at instead of just saying,"They may be here, but we have no confirmation yet."

True. There is a pack in the Chadron area now.

 

[putm2sleep]

And not me.

 

[putm2sleep]

Well the elk grew fewer, so they moved east to feast on some fat whitetails! It would be interesting to know where they came from? Canada?, or west? Someone needs to kill one and find out.

(and yeh, I am a Cyclone '96.., and root for the Rams wife is an alum. also love my euro hanger

 

[NickJ1980]

This "CPW is in wolf denial" argument cracks me up. Although nobody has proven there are any packs with a home range in the state, the presence of wolves in Colorado over the last decade is pretty well documented.

Here's a video taken by a CPW employee in 2007 of a probable wolf on the CPW website: http://wildlife.state.co.us/WildlifeSpecies/SpeciesOfConcern/Mammals/Pages/GrayWolf.aspx

Not to mention the wolf that was killed on I-70 west of Denver in 2004: http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/pressrel/04-43.htm

Or the GPS collared wolf that was tracked to Eagle County in 2009: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_11786608

 

[MNElkNut]

Just a question, but if there is documentation that wolves are in CO, does that trigger some type of regulations per the ESA or other that would make them protected? Let that sink in a little bit.