The same thing is now taking place in other regions of the country as well, now in the Upper Midwestern states and through plans to "reintroduce" wolves into other states. Have state wildlife agencies switched sides? Do they now cater to the wants of radical environmental and animal rights groups instead of the sportsmen who have funded those agencies since their inception during the early 1900's?
Following is an early 2009 LOBO WATCH release that shared what was happening in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Since this release was published, wolf numbers there have basically doubled...and several hundred thousand deer, moose and elk have been lost - not to mention the growing impact on livestock production and the loss of pets.
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LOBO WATCH
Sportsmen Taking Charge of
Predator Problems
News Release
For Immediate Release
December
16, 2009
Wolves Impact Deer Populations
In Upper Midwest
With
the close of the 2009 firearms deer season, Wisconsin deer hunters took home
nearly 30-percent less venison for the freezer.
They experienced the worst deer season in that state in 27 years. And the hardest hit were the northernmost
counties, which just also happen to be the heart of the state's wolf range.
In
Florence County, which borders the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the white-tail
deer harvest was down a whopping 62-percent...in nearby Oneida County the
hunter take was down 50-percent...and in Villas County to the west hunters took
59-percent fewer deer than they did during the 2008 season. All across Wisconsin's northern tier of
counties, the harvest was significantly down 40- to 60-percent from last
year. And that's mostly due to deer
populations that have plummeted during the past several years.
This
region is now home to a growing number of gray wolves. According to the Wisconsin DNR, the
population is at about 625 to 650 wolves.
However, the hundreds of thousands of sportsmen who hit these woods
every fall feel there are more - many more.
And, that is very likely. It
seems that today's wildlife managers do not have the savvy to get a very
accurate count.
A
great example can be seen far to the west, in Montana. Here, wildlife biologists have been stuck at
around 500 wolves as their "official count" for
several years now - completely disregarding the fact that wolf populations,
left unchecked, will typically increase
25- to 30-percent annually. Dr. David L.
Mech, arguably the world's leading wolf authority, was called on as an expert
witness for the 2008 hearings to remove the gray wolf of the northern Rocky
Mountain states from protection of the Endangered Species Act. The dynamics of wolf population growth he
presented during his declaration clearly show that the wolf population in
Montana is more likely 1,000 to 1,200.
And hunters tend to agree. In
western Montana's wolf range, which runs from the Canadian border south to
Wyoming, there has been a near "0" calf elk survival for several
years now, due to wolf depredation, and
elk numbers are dropping like a rock. In
one region, the 2009 elk harvest was down 45%, whitetail deer harvest down 50%,
and the mule deer harvest down 45% from the average past five year
harvest. Those hunters who did see elk
reported seeing no calves whatsoever.
The
same thing is now happening to the spring whitetail fawn crop in northern
Wisconsin, as well as next door in northern Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan.
One
Wisconsin study has shown that 55% of a wolf's diet in this state is made up of
white-tailed deer, and another DNR report claims that each wolf consumes
an average of 20 deer per year. That
would mean the wolves of northern Wisconsin are taking down between 12,500 and
13,000 deer annually. And for a state
that claims to have around 1.5 million deer at the start of fall, that seems
very tolerable. If the same "deer
kill per wolf" holds true next door in Minnesota, that means
hunters there are losing 60,000 whitetails annually to the 3,000 wolves claimed by the state - which the
MN DNR likes to tout as a conservation success story.
What
these figures ignore and hide is the residual impact wolves are having on the
deer population of northern Wisconsin, and likewise in northern Minnesota and
Michigan. "Out West",
where more is now being done to manage an out-of-control wolf population, it
has become very evident that the constant pushing of elk and deer by wolves is
creating enough stress to cause cow elk and doe deer to abort their young. In Yellowstone National Park, in 2001 there
were an estimated 16,000 elk. And thanks
to the annual birth of new calves, the average age of those elk was 4
years. Today, that herd is down to 6,000
- and the average age is now 8 years.
Wolves are the reason for the decline in numbers, due to both the direct
loss of elk to escalated wolf kills, and the loss of calf recruitment. Yellowstone's elk herd is quickly getting
old, and sportsmen know it's headed for a disastrous crash. Many feel that within five years, it could be
totally lost.
Deer,
or elk, that are constantly hunted by wolves don't have the luxury of fattening up for winter. Consequently, they go into the toughest part
of the year undernourished. And when an
extended stretch of cold and snowy weather sets in, those that have been run
thin by the wolves are more apt to be the first to succumb. Across the snow belt of the upper Midwest,
where 3-feet deep snows are very common in February and March, the deer are
often trapped in "yards" for a month or longer. For those that are even moderately
undernourished at the beginning of an extended period without sufficient feed,
it's a sure death sentence.
The
most troubling impact wolves are making are the documented occurrences of
wolves killing for the mere pleasure of killing. In one instance alone, a small group of
wolves in Montana went on a blood-letting spree, and in one night killed 130
domestic sheep - without eating anything.
And they are doing the same thing with deer and elk. Despite the claims of "wildlife experts"
that wolves only kill the sick, weak and injured, there are now many cases that
strongly support that wolves kill as much, if not more, for sport than for
food. Many times, dozens of wolf-killed
deer or elk carcasses have been found - without any evidence of being fed
upon. And as wolf numbers grow, so do
such instances.
What
astonishes many veteran big game hunters is how state wildlife agency
biologists continue to down play the impact wolves are having on deer and other
big game. Minnesota DNR fur bearer
biologist John Erb has stated, "The data continues to support a
conclusion that wolves in Minnesota have not caused, nor are they likely to
cause, a substantial multi-year decline in deer numbers."
Sportsmen
are now crying "Hogwash!" to
such "data". Despite
Erb's claim, northern Minnesota has now had back-to-back deer harvests that
have been significantly down.
Ironically, although the state's wolf population has basically tripled
over the past 25 or 30 years, Minnesota's big game biologists just can't put their
finger on why moose numbers are crashing.
There
is a fast growing resentment against state wildlife agencies which now seem to
put far too much effort toward covering up for the wolf. Likewise, most hunters want wolves in the
northern Midwestern states removed from federal protection, and to get much
needed management hunts established.
Sportsmen are losing faith in these departments to wisely manage these
apex predators, which are now making a very negative impact on deer and other
big game.
Mark
Johnson, of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, observes, "It
is pretty obvious that the public tolerance of increasing and expanding wolf
numbers is nearing its limits in part because of lower deer numbers, but also
due to more wolf sightings and caution caused by reports of more aggressive
wolf behavior."
In
regard to a 2009 season harvest that was 30-percent lower than the 2008 season
in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, one hunter says, "I live in the Upper
Peninsula and hunt in the lower peninsula and I did shoot a deer this
year. They don't shoot deer in the upper
Peninsula anymore because wolves have ate a majority of them. It is not what the DNR tells you. They don't want to say that wolves go into
the deer yards in the winter and have a deer killing frenzy."
The
manner in which the game departments in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan are
handling the wolf issue has a lot of sportsmen wondering if these agencies now
have a new agenda - to let wolves replace the human hunter's role in wildlife management. Most hunters are not happy with how these
game departments continue to turn a blind eye to the devastation wolves are
dealing wildlife populations. - Toby Bridges, LOBO WATCH
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What has happened to wildlife management in this country? It's as if state wildlife agencies are now working hard to insure that major predators destroy big game populations to the point that human hunters have little to harvest - or even the opportunity to hunt. Educate yourself to what's really happening in America. For dozens of other LOBO WATCH releases, go to the following link...
http://www.lobowatch.org/adminclient/NewsArchive/go
http://www.lobowatch.org/adminclient/NewsArchive/go
