Wyoming wolves return to Endagered Species List

[jody_wy]

Livestock Guard Dog= LGD

http://www.lgd.org/

[jody_wy]

[GregW]

Put more people out with the flocks and the wolves stay away. The guard dog is there to tell the Sheppard there is a threat not to fight the wolves. I have read that without the wolves the are becomes overcrowded with deer and elk that wind up starving during the winter.

[Sheepdog5749]

Originally Posted by GregW

Put more people out with the flocks and the wolves stay away. The guard dog is there to tell the Sheppard there is a threat not to fight the wolves. I have read that without the wolves the are becomes overcrowded with deer and elk that wind up starving during the winter.

That's why we have us hunters. The biologist manage the herds and issue tags based on population, food resource availability, etc. We do not need an nonnative, invasive species to help regulate populations of deer and elk. Also, a rancher should not have to employ more labor to combat the threat of an invasive species that could otherwise be regulated.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by GregW

Put more people out with the flocks and the wolves stay away. The guard dog is there to tell the Sheppard there is a threat not to fight the wolves. I have read that without the wolves the are becomes overcrowded with deer and elk that wind up starving during the winter.

Fish and Game has a well regulated program to take care of population. Plus, it feeds a lot of families that would not necessarily get that meat in the freezer. The P robpem with an "all encompassing program" is that its not regulated. F&G can turn on and off tags. They demonstrate that with the mountain luon population. They issue x number of tags, but stipulate that it will be so many males and so many females. Say the number of females is reached, it is announced and tags out there are nulled and no longer any good. How can you tell the wolves, "That's enough bull elk for that hunting area, don't kill anymore". It can't be done.

Many times I have seen tags issued and the game checks showed that there wasn't enough elk/deer harvest in particular areas so season was extended for this areas. Maybe there was a nasty amount of snow keeping migration down or whatever. One year, a particular elk area normally ended the last day of November. We had nasty conditions and the elk didn't move off the top like they normally do, so season was extended, and then extended again, then again.... 15 days at a time. It ended up being extended clear into March. We tried unsuccessfully to convince the wolves to regulate that. haha

[GregW]

Considering Wolves were in North America before people came across the Bearing Strait only 15,000 years ago I wonder just who is the "invasive species".

We do not live with wolves here in New Hampshire but we do have coyotes and bears that can mess with sheep and other livestock. Yeah, some people do raise sheep, beef, dairy cows and alpacas here in the Northeast and do worry about predators.

Maybe the shepherds in the West could just consider any livestock or elk losses to wolves in the same way that whisky distillers consider the 3% loss per year of ageing the "angels tax".

[jody_wy]

Ranch manager up a Dubois that had lived with grizzlies for years. Thought they could handle the wolves... after a couple years he said please no wolves they are just killing machines. They lock a small flock into a huge barn at night 365 days a year. They have to keep dogs in 24/7/365. The lose way over 3% of the calves , that used to be just a grizzly number. No it 8 to 12 % . That with extra help hired to herd so even add expenses don't help much... So you add new cost and still lose 10% of your gross how fair is that?

[branDcalf]

Originally Posted by GregW

Considering Wolves were in North America before people came across the Bearing Strait only 15,000 years ago I wonder just who is the "invasive species".

Which wolves and where were each in No. America. The currently popular and promoted species is not native to Wyoming.

We have always had wolves. Got along okay with them. The currently popular ones, promoted for the money they could make unethical con men, are very different.