Colorado wolves, public comment

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
All of CO is free graze. I can't see the ranchers letting those immigrants take over their sheep and cattle grazing grounds. Those guys and their LGD's don't play when it comes to predators.
I hunted that area for several years way back in the 90's, there were thousands of sheep that grazed all over those ranges back then.
 

wl704

Twelve Pointer
The feds classified them as experimental or something that allows them to be killed under state law in Colorado

So not sure federal charges will apply, just state
Not sure the Feds classified anything in this case, the state wanted to avoid NEPA and the red tape...also why they couldn't release on fed lands.
 
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CRC

Old Mossy Horns
Not sure the Feds classified anything in this case, the state wanted to avoid NEPA and the red tape...also why they couldn't release on fed lands.

I wondered why they couldn't or wouldn't release on federal land
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
Gray wolves are listed both state and federally as an endangered species in Colorado by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated the Colorado wolf population as Experimental under Section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act. This provides management flexibility that would otherwise be prohibited.
 

wl704

Twelve Pointer
CPW proposes to release a total of 10 to 15 wolves at a 50:50 sex ratio each year during winter for 3 to 5 years (CPW 2023b, p. 20), although exact numbers and sex ratios may vary due to factors associated with capture from source populations (CPW 2023b, Appendix B, p. B–34).
 
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“J”

Twelve Pointer
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan are dealing with wolves as well. They’ve decimated the deer heard as well as small game.
People are losing hunting dogs while hunting and finding their carcasses eaten.
Rumor has it the UP deer harvest is down 39% so far this season.
 

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan are dealing with wolves as well. They’ve decimated the deer heard as well as small game.
People are losing hunting dogs while hunting and finding their carcasses eaten.
Rumor has it the UP deer harvest is down 39% so far this season.

Same with Northern Wisconsin
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan are dealing with wolves as well. They’ve decimated the deer heard as well as small game.
People are losing hunting dogs while hunting and finding their carcasses eaten.
Rumor has it the UP deer harvest is down 39% so far this season.
I've got friends up there who echo this same thing. It's not only deer either, their fur trade is almost non existent because of the wolves. They're eating everything.
 

Cootmeurer

Eight Pointer
Brother has a small ranch out there and he says making comments is a waste of time. The politicians will do do what Denver wants, and F the rest of the state.

I have hunted with him off and on and when the lion hunting got harder and the populations started to rise it had a big effect on deer. In the North part of the state you won’t find many spots where you can hunt deer with archery successfully because those same sort of pinch points are the sort of spot lions like. Instead the deer are more and more out in the open sage.

Throw some more predation in there and it’s not going to do anything good. But the Denver suburbanites won’t care. As long as they can see some elk in Estes park and deer in their neighborhood parks, the rest of the herds in the state could be extinct.

I’ll say this as well, the ranchers will likely be agressive on the SSS plan
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
Wolves are not gonna make any ungulate go extinct. Sure numbers may go down but thats because they were higher than normal because of lack of predators(s).
Again, it falls on greed as the wolf is seen as taking an animal you/we may take.
 

timekiller13

Old Mossy Horns
They will blame a lot of things on the wolves.

But the fact that Colorado has purposefully decimated its deer herd in the name of CWD management will be never be mentioned.
 

stiab

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
...and hand feeding the wolves.
Tourists were doing exactly that last year with the "wolves" in ARNWR, until USFWS blocked access to that area. A gov't employee told me people were spending "all day" with them, including hand feeding the pen raised canines.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
The 100k fine and legal charges (state and fed) are a big deterrent tho...
Yep, but if you're familiar with how those systems work or better yet even possible worked for those type of agencies you may know the ins and outs enough to avoid getting snagged up in them. Hypothetically speaking of course.
 

wl704

Twelve Pointer
Yep, but if you're familiar with how those systems work…
Systems? Like a satellite gps locator affixed to a collar that caches locations and uploads them on some scheduled interval to conserve battery power and prolong their life? The social systems out side of Denver? Or dysfunction of government agencies?
 

BLOODBROTHER

Twelve Pointer
Just read that Wyoming is paying attention to the CO wolves as they are getting close to the border. They are not protected in Wyoming and can be shot on sight! lol. wouldnt that be something? All the hubbub and meetings and relocation efforts and monitoring for them to get killed 10' over the border.
 

Buxndiverdux

Old Mossy Horns
Big game hunting is a huge revenue generator for Western states. The hunter tourism dollars are a large part of local and regional income streams. Having popular wildlife to hunt brings in hunters spending money on goods and services.

The woof "conservation" is funded by tax payers. They eat the critters that sportsmen tightly regulate for hunting and sustainability. The woof's presence eventually decimates game populations in their areas, and wolves compensate for that by moving to new areas. The losers are the rural tax payers that make their livings in livestock, farming and hunting while being forced to allow a woof to decimate the game on their properties.

This experiment has already been done, in many states without the approval of the people that live in the rural areas that have to deal with the woof. All because the people in the concrete jungles think the woof's are Disney cute.

I'm not betting against these ranchers. They will protect their livestock any way they can, but a unmanaged woof free for all will eat all ungulates and small game available and move on when it's all gone. Hunters and tourism dollars will be lost simultaneously. Nobody wins when woofs are unregulated.
 
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