What do Native Americans think about aerial wolf hunt? (Tok: house, buying)

[Huckleberry3911948]

to be fair, its "animal control" not "hunting". to be fair that 120 pit bulls who were picked up from a farm a few months by SPCA, SPCA destroyed 80 of them. so concept of animal control is very much with us, its just when SPCA does not do it they call it "hunting" ---- not so.
hunting is something different. killing of animals is very much part of our culture we kill them for lots of reasons. for that matter we kill infants in late stage of pregnancy too, legal killing is very much with us. strangly we have tremendous reluctance to killing dangerous humans. innocents--- no problem.

[Marty Van Diest]

Originally Posted by notreesininceland

How did the wolves get to be so numerous? Is it because they have no predators over them, assuming that they can outrun the bears?

They became overpopulated because they have no natural predators so they will prey on the moose and caribou until they crash that prey population. Then the wolf population will also crash. There is no such thing as a balance. It has always been boom and crash. In the past, the human population crashed as well when there was no food.

For the Alaska Native population, it is better if we can keep a higher level of moose and caribou at balance. That can only be done by management. Management means that we need to keep the wolf population at a level which allows the moose to raise their young. Currently some areas see 80% of the moose calves killed by wolves in the first few months.

No one in Alaska that I know wants to eradicate wolves. We like wolves. We just want to keep their numbers at a lower level so that there are more moose. Moose taste better than wolves.

That will be better for the wolves, the moose, and for the humans as well.

Bears are another predotor of moose and they are also being controlled. You don't see the outcry against that I guess because bears also prey on humans.

[tcrackly]

Originally Posted by stiffnecked

It's okay. Come up and visit. Get some real first hand views of what goes on in Alaska.

I would like to see Alaska some day. I hope there is still a significant amount of wildness left(not urban wildness, mind you) if and when I do get a chance.

[Nephler]

Wow, first intelligent and adult post/start of thread, on this subject.

Nice tcrackly.

[icarian]

Originally Posted by tcrackly

I would like to see Alaska some day. I hope there is still a significant amount of wildness left(not urban wildness, mind you) if and when I do get a chance.

Get up here and EASILY get away from the built up areas (Anchorage and its burbs / 10 miles outside of Fairbanks, you're starting to hit it) and you'll find it almost beyond comprehension how quickly you are in "the wilderness". There is a communications boom in Alaska (means to communicate via the web/sat/etc), but there is no population explosion up here. It can not really be fathomed until experienced. The key is to get OUTSIDE of the few cities / towns we have up here.

p.s. enough "wildness" to get yourself into trouble...common sense, preparation and a conservative response (no political / ideological meaning!!!) are rules to live by if you get out there to experience it.

[mongazid]

Alaska's wolf man, and Shadows on the Koyukuk are a couple of books that talk about the boom-bust cycles that Marty talked about and the effects it has on native villages.
GOOD READS!!!

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Emotionally, the aerial program leaves me cold, as does the practise of "denning", which is how the Natives managed the wolf population back in the day....

But, as Warpt stated, the people in rural Alaska really do depend on wild game for survival.

I would be more comfortable with the aerial program if the first predator to be taken out of the mix were the great white out of state hunter.

In reality, it's a lot cheaper for non-Canadians to hunt moose and caribou in Canada instead of Alaska. Compared to Canada, only a very small portion of lower-48 hunters make it to Alaska.

However, most of the money foreign hunters leave in Canada goes to Native organizations, guides, etc., not to the provinces.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by tcrackly

I would like to see Alaska some day. I hope there is still a significant amount of wildness left(not urban wildness, mind you) if and when I do get a chance.

Most of Alaska is owned by the Federal Government, a portion of it by the State, and another portion by Alaska Natives. There aren't many roads in Alaska, so there will be wilderness for many years to come.

[FiveHorses]

Can I ask - and it really is just curiosity - if the special interest groups that "BudinAK" refers to in his post - are those special interest groups from within AK or has it become more of a nation-wide cause?

I have to admit complete ignorance of it up until yesterday - but unlike yesterday, today I'm learning something. Thanks folks.

Edited to add: "it" being the aerial program

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by tcrackly

I have my own notions about wildlife management.

That's okay... but if you have no perception of what we are doing or why, do not expect anyone in Alaska to show even the slightest respect for your particular notions...

Let me provide an example:

I'm further disgusted because I see hunting becoming not a sport of everyman's quest for subsistance and closeness to nature , but , instead, an elite social club limited to lands made off limits to most residents.

Granted that the social club aspect if indeed disgusting, but make no mistake that hunting for half the populaton of Alaska has absolutely nothing to do with sport or closeness to nature.

Subsistence is food production.

Not a sport.