Hunters and Trappers call for fewer wolves

[Sytes]

https://flatheadbeacon.com/2019/02/01/hunters-trappers-call-fewer-wolves/

Heh... No shnitz!

Mark Lambrecht with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation ticked through the roster of bills that lawmakers will consider this session concerning wolves and voiced support for the bills that Brown is carrying to expand wolf harvests.

 

[tjones]

I am more than disappointed that the RMEF through in the the other 2 groups. Extremists at best.

the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Montana Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and the Idaho-based Foundation for Wildlife Management.

 

[mtmuley]

Supposedly going to be a meeting here in the Root. mtmuley

 

[MTGomer]

It is strange to see RMEF take a stance on something.

 

[Irrelevant]

I struggle to understand why RMEF seems to be putting more effort into predator management than into increased wildlife social tolerance. As many people have pointed out, MT would have a lot more elk if you could either raise the elk management objectives through increased social tolerance or stop allowing large land owners to steer the ship with regard to big game management.

 

[BuzzH]

Meaningless laws in my opinion. Wolf seasons in MT, ID, and WY are already more than liberal enough.

You can give people all the tags you want, most aren't good enough hunters to kill elk and deer, let alone a wolf.

 

[Sytes]

http://www.mtpr.org/post/hunters-trappers-take-aim-limiting-montanas-wolf-population

A great move I support, add into the Sportsman's package.

Also, would be great to re-categorize wolves so MT law re: $ for game killed would be available - or tweak that law. Currently, this is such an opportunistic harvest... Limited annual leave for many Montana residents combined with family affairs hinders a focused hunt for an animal that does not support food on the table. More power to you if you appreciate the taste of dog though I like the taste of elk much more. More incentive to focus hunts on wolves would be a great step.

He described two bills from Rep. Bob Brown, a Republican from Thompson Falls, that would add wolf tags to combination licenses for residents and non-residents to boost the number of license holders. A third bill would reimburse licensed wolf trappers for their costs.

"Something similar to what has been working in Idaho," Lambrecht says.

A non-profit called Foundation For Wildlife Management started offering reimbursements of up to $500 for Idaho wolf trappers in 2013. Last year, thanks to funds from RMEF and a grant from Idaho Fish and Game, the Foundation offered reimbursements up to $1,000 in some districts. The group doesn’t currently have a chapter in Montana but many at Wednesday’s meeting expressed interest.

 

[tjones]

More incentive to focus hunts on wolves would be a great step.

5 tags, 6 month season and a great trophy. Not sure what more incentive hunters need to get off the couch. Guys that are good at trapping and hunting wolves will continue to do so, the rest will be opportunity hunters regardless of incentives.

 

[Jcs271]

5 tags, 6 month season and a great trophy. Not sure what more incentive hunters need to get off the couch. Guys that are good at trapping and hunting wolves will continue to do so, the rest will be opportunity hunters regardless of incentives.

Exactly! They also conveniently forget that we have mountain lions literally at a ratio of 10 to 1. And then I suppose we can discuss how many fawns and Elk calves are taken every year by black bears. There are literally hundreds of Dynamics at play in regards to deer and Elk populations and all anybody wants to scream about is wolves.

 

[Sytes]

Pretty interesting results and increased activity within Idaho's Foundation for Wildlife Management Co-op membership and appreciatively supported / sponsored by RMEF.
http://www.rmef.org/NewsandMedia/Pr...upportforFoundationforWildlifeManagement.aspx

RMEF Renews Support for Foundation for Wildlife Management

MISSOULA, Mont.—The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is providing $25,000 in grant funding to assist the Foundation for Wildlife Management (F4WM) with wolf control efforts in Idaho.

“RMEF strongly supports the North American Wildlife Conservation Model which emphasizes the importance of wildlife management so all populations can thrive and be forever sustained,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO. “That includes predator management, especially in areas where wolves and other predators have profound impacts on elk and other wildlife.”

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) reported a minimum of 786 wolves at the end of 2015 which is more than 600 percent above original agreed upon minimum recovery goals. Biologists also documented a minimum of 108 packs across the state and an additional 20 packs with territories that overlap into Montana, Washington and Wyoming.

“IDFG has stated time and time again that wolves in several areas have unacceptable impacts on elk and other wildlife. This funding will enhance trapping efforts to assist F4WM in the work,” added Allen.

The F4WM also received $25,000 in RMEF funding in 2016.

https://missoulian.com/news/local/n...cle_6119eff0-7671-11e3-87a2-0019bb2963f4.html

Wolf hunters have a success rate of less than 1 percent, while trappers enjoy a success rate near 25 percent.

Second, wolf trapping is time consuming and expensive. Traps need to be checked at least once every three days, and that can involve driving hundreds of miles.
“It costs me $48 a day on an average day, and I have to go every 72 hours,” said Jack Hammack of Sandpoint, a founding member of the group that is based in the Idaho Panhandle. “It’s typically between a 10- and a 13-hour day.”
It takes so much time and money to be a serious wolf trapper that group members feared many hunters, even those like themselves who desperately want to see wolf populations thinned, would either not take up trapping or not stick with it. So they formed the foundation, a sort of wolf-trapping cooperative that essentially pays regular-joe trappers to kill wolves.

People can join the group for $35. Those who join and then successfully trap a wolf, can submit their expenses and be reimbursed up to $500 per wolf.

 

[TheJason]

You can give people all the tags you want, most aren't good enough hunters to kill elk and deer, let alone a wolf.

I’d bet a case of beer that even if wolf tags are free, you wouldn’t see an appreciable increase in wolf harvest. It certainly wouldn’t be enough or sustainable to have an affect on deer and elk populations.

 

[TheJason]

It is strange to see RMEF take a stance on something.

Not exactly the stance I’d like to see them take.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Seems to me to be a clear violation of the NAM's prohibition on commerce of dead wildlife.

I hope the MT bill on this dies. It's a bad example to set related to fair chase hunting & trapping.

 

[TheJason]

Maybe someone can start a co-op to reimburse gas for folks who kill cows during shoulder seasons.

We can poison them too, since there are too many per the EMP.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Maybe someone can start a co-op to reimburse gas for folks who kill cows during shoulder seasons.

We can poison them too, since there are too many per the EMP.

Or who travel to kill birds, since we're participating in the management of wildlife.

Or...

 

[Sytes]

5 tags, 6 month season and a great trophy. Not sure what more incentive hunters need to get off the couch. Guys that are good at trapping and hunting wolves will continue to do so, the rest will be opportunity hunters regardless of incentives.

From my understanding, this is not about rifle hunting wolves. The Idaho successful Co-op endeavor seems to aid trappers and the expense involved.

 

[Gerald Martin]

One bill in the queue that I do support is changing the setback rules for traps on seasonally closed roads. In areas of high road density the wolves habitually travel gated roads. Current rules do not allow for the setting of traps close to the roads. (I think it is currently 150'.) I don't know the exact language but if a buffer zone were maintained beyond the gated points of entry and the setbacks were eliminated beyond that it would be helpful for trappers trying to catch wolves in their natural travel patterns with scent post sets.

 

[TheJason]

One bill in the queue that I do support is changing the setback rules for traps on seasonally closed roads. In areas of high road density the wolves habitually travel gated roads. Current rules do not allow for the setting of traps close to the roads. (I think it is currently 150'.) I don't know the exact language but if a buffer zone were maintained beyond the gated points of entry and the setbacks were eliminated beyond that it would be helpful for trappers trying to catch wolves in their natural travel patterns with scent post sets.

Is that going to lead to an escalation in number of domestic dogs caught?

 

[mtmuley]

Is that going to lead to an escalation in number of domestic dogs caught?

That's what I thought. Even one caught dog will be a huge problem. mtmuley

 

[Jcs271]

I'm as pro hunting and trapping as they come but I must admit I was absolutely Furious when my lab got caught in a Bobcat cubby less than ten feet off the side of an Open Road. I raised hell with the warden and the guy got cited. Had that been anybody elses Dog I guarantee it would have been on the front page of our local paper. I know guys like doing that because it's easy to trap along those roads but it's just asking for conflict.