Wolf researcher on Meateater

[LuketheDog]

I'm a subcontractor. I have definate opinions on hack contractors or horrible subs. But if I was on a homebuilding podcast it wouldn't be the place to expose them.

Ha, sure it would!

 

[huronmtns]

I think the paper you cite supports her claim of no wolves in Michigan at that time. Generally, when a biologist says there are no xyz in Somewheresville, he or she generally means there is no breeding population.

While a mountain lion roams downtown Des Moines Iowa at the moment, showing up on various security cameras, there are no mountain lions in Iowa. Yes, I know it sounds like a contradiction but an individual does not a population make.

I may have to apologize that the link I provided did not have all the information that I was considering as evidence of wolves populating Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Link from Northern Michigan University for this study content was not edited or condensed for content and had more pertinent information. https://commons.nmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1335&context=theses
The information shown above (from the NMU library) is what I would interpret as evidence that wolves did in fact exist in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan prior to the 90's contadicted by Diane. She also stated that The upper Peninsula wolf population came from the Minnesota. This may have some truth to it but was not entirely true. There was a wolf population in Chippewa and Mackinaw Counties that are located on the very Eastern end of the Upper Peninsula. These wolves came from Ontario near Sault Ste Marie and also crossed the St Mary's River, the border for the UP and Canada. The reason I am posting this information is to present more factual information than that of what she had discussed in the Meat Eater Podcast.

 

[BrentD]

Hard to say what to make of that. It sounds like hear-say and one person's opinion. It does not look like an extraction from a peer-reviewed publication. I don't want to dismiss it out of hand, but it certainly seems, at best, pretty trivial and worst, just guesswork. "no more than two animals ... in the last 13 yrs" and "possible breeding" does not a very strong argument make. I think I'll give her a pass myself.

 

[huronmtns]

More information.

 

[walking buffalo]

She was obviously very knowledgeable, and more supportive of individual wolf harvest than most on the pro wolf side. I was disappointed that she never acknowledged or promoted hunting as a management tool for deer/elk. She frequently cited the fact that wolves reduce prey populations to more sustainable numbers and that those population number ebb and flow with weather and habitat, and that wolves don’t eat ALL the game etc., but never suggested that hunting deer/elk could/should be a part of that population management.

An argument I never like on the pro predator side is that the predators were here in Lewis and Clark’s time, and there was plenty of game. Well yeah, but there were no people here. Today we raise cattle and sheep and every pound of feed they eat is a pound of feed that a deer or elk cannot eat. Every deer or elk harvested is a deer or elk that a wolf or grizzly cannot eat. Humans have replaced a certain number predators by eating wild game, and replaced a certain number of game animals by raising domestic animals. The fact that predators and game existed in abundance during Lewis and Clark’s time/pre-European etc. is not evidence that those same numbers could be achieved with human presence.

Many people, including educated scientists, are unaware or ignore that there were vast areas devoid of game animals during the time of Lewis and Clark's expeditions.

Recall that the Lewis and Clark's entourage nearly starved in the Columbia basin. They resorted to eating their dogs and ponies as a last resort.

Many Indian wars and tribal migrations were due to a lack of food.

Back in the truly wild west, as we are again seeing today, prey species gather closer to humans as a result of high predation by wolves and bears.

Fantasies of the great Balance of Nature is just that, a fantasy.

 

[BWALKER77]

For the most part, Diane is consistent with the other wolf biologists that I have known, worked with, and spoken too. In this podcast she states that there were no wolves in Michigan until the early 90's. She was wrong. A very close family relative who I have worked with on a few graduate wildlife studies was the professor that was in charge of this project and study.

https://ia800303.us.archive.org/3/items/anexperimentaltr35006gut/35006-8.txt

. The information in this study contradicts her statement of wolf population in Michigan.

I actually saw one in Wildcat Canyon circa 1995. Not supprising given there were tons of deer in that era in the fall of 1995. Not so much after the winter if 96 and almost none after the winter of 97.

 

[huronmtns]

I actually saw one in Wildcat Canyon circa 1995. Not supprising given there were tons of deer in that era in the fall of 1995. Not so much after the winter if 96 and almost none after the winter of 97.

There is a pack that I have seen sign for the last three years very close to Wildcat Canyon. And yes the winters you speak of were brutal for winter kill on the deer. This winter started off late for the normal weather conditions than hit us hard with tremendous amounts of snow in March. I was very concerned about another bad winter kill year but the late start must have allowed the deer to feed longer with out being forced on a winter diet food sources. The deer numbers and health look better than I imagined after the extreme snow depths so late in the winter.