HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE A PACK OF WOLVES TO WIPEOUT YOUR PETS OFF THE DECK?

About 17 years ago I shot my first bear about 4 miles up a trail not too far from Missoula. It was near last light and I had no experience skinning bears, so I hiked out and came back the next morning with a few friends. As we were leaving the trailhead, two guys on horseback that lived just down the road came riding by with four little beagles. As we hiked the trail we passed the guys while they were dealing with an angry horse, but their dogs were running around up to a mile away from them. As we got a 1/4 mile from where my bear lay, we heard one of the beagles start yipping and screaming down in the creek bottom. We ran over to where we could see down there, and that beagle had three grey wolves surrounding it. In the handful of seconds that it took to register what we were seeing, we watched one of the wolves nip at the dogs rear. When the dog spun around to defend itself, a wolf on the opposite side lunged in and took a bite at its rear as well. At this point, my buddy who had the only rifle, fired a shot in the air. The wolves looked our way and I yelled at them before they quickly ran up the drainage. The beagle took that opportunity to take off back downstream.

After packing my bear out, we stopped by the dog owners house and asked if the dog made it home. They hadn't seen the dog since that morning and said that they run off for days sometimes. After I told them about what we saw, they seemed a bit concerned. I talked to them again a couple weeks later and the dog made it home the next day, but died a few days later. They never brought it to the vet, but seemed pretty mad at the wolves. They said that they were going to start putting out poisoned meat. Obviously to me, if they were responsible dog owners this would have never happened. They didn't seem like the kind of guys that would take kindly to a helpful stranger telling them that they were more at fault than the wolves just doing what they are supposed to do. I did feel compelled to tell them that the poised meat idea was just asking for more dead pets since they already admitted that their dogs run free miles from the house and several of their neighbors also have outside dogs. I doubt they actually did it as it sure seems to me that most of the extreme anti wolf, SSS, "kill them all" attitudes rarely convert to actually getting off the bar stool or away from the computer and actually trying to hunt or trap them.

I am a dog person. Have had one or two almost my entire life. I take them with me in the mountains often. I have always trained them to stay within my sight. If a wolf happened to get ahold of my dog, I would obviously be pretty sad and angry, but I wouldn't start advocating for exterminating an entire species. Although, I would try to shoot or trap the pack responsible within the legal means available to me. There are a lot of things that are dangerous about living, working, or recreating in wild country, but wolves are pretty near the bottom of the list for me. My lab was caught in a snare awhile back and almost suffocated to death before I was able to get it off of him. I was pissed about where the trapper had put the snare, but I don't now advocate for outlawing trapping.

I still haven't managed to shoot or trap one myself yet, but I have been fortunate enough to dart and handle a bunch while working. Anyway, lots of words...need pictures
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Bad ass pics Travis! Looks like blacktail country but maybe not!

If I remember right, the first pic with me and the grey and the last two of the black one were from NW of Dillon. The other black and one of the grays was between Livingston and Gardiner and the rest were caught on the front range of the Boulder and Rosebud areas. I really need to make a trip down that way this winter. We caught wolves on public land in the same two spots in Paradise Valley three years in a row. Would be way easier hunting them there than what I am used to up this way!
 
And hounds are vocal when driving animals. The sound travels and signals to the wolves where the hound location is. No need to be down wind or scent trailing to find the dogs when the noise is being made.
 
Jesus! My lab ever did that and he would feed himself to a pack of wolves to avoid the wrath of my wife..
 
I wouldn't leave my pets or grandkids outside unsupervised. Too the two first comments you make the assumption for unknown reasons that I would leave my pets out unsupervised for hours on end and I am an idiot for doing so and I deserve to have my pets eaten.

The point I was making is it can happen in seconds. Those dogs weren't on leashes and they were on the deck. The owners obviously felt they were safe.

Where I live in upper Michigan is 16000 square miles and has 670 wolves compared to Wyoming which has 350 wolves in 100,000 square miles, Per Wyoming fish and game and national forest service sites. They are a little thicker here. Nearly ten times more per square mile.

There aren't any wolves in lower Michigan, this makes it hard for folks who live in more populace areas to believe that wolves are harmless and don't warrant control. These folks have no concept of wolves simply looking at any others animals as FOOD.


Again, it can happen in seconds.


documented humans killed by wolves: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wolf_attacks_in_North_America
Pretty sure there’s more wolves than that in Wyoming. They like to under estimate the wolf population for some reason, while over estimating the deer population. Doesn’t do them any good either,- less wolves=more deer=more deer tags for the game and fish. But they lowered the wolf quota this year, I assume because they want to see less elk and deer and moose(whatever’s left of the moose).
 
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