Officials in Idaho, all the way up to Gov. Butch Otter, will be likened to the anti-Christ for supporting a wolf hunt, scheduled to begin Sept. 1 in some areas, and later in the fall in other areas of the state.
The Idaho Fish & Game Commission set hunting seasons and dates, and a maximum limit of 220 wolves this year. Animal rights groups are seething. The Idaho Department of Fish & Game (IDFG) will start selling tags on Monday, Aug. 24.
My colleague, Shane Roe, discusses the wolf hunt controversy here.
Defenders of Wildlife and other anti-hunting groups are threatening a lawsuit to stop the hunt and at least temporarily put the wolf back on the Endangered Species List. It must be noted for the record that Idaho reportedly tried to offer some wolves for transplant to other states. Nobody wanted them.
Earlier this year, Director of Idaho Department of Fish and Game Cal Groen sent letters to each state to see if any was interested in taking some of Idaho's wolves.So far, Groen says 20 states have rejected the offer, and no takers are expected
At this point, it would be fair to ask which wildlife the Defenders of Wildlife is defending. According to the Idaho Mountain Express, members of the commission are convinced that wolf predation is taking a heavy toll on elk and deer herds. Montana Hunting Today reported that IDFG Deputy Director Jim Unsworth blames gray wolves for the estimated 13 percent annual reduction in the cow elk population in the Gem State’s Lolo Hunting Zone. The Associated Press reported that wolves in the Phantom Hill pack roaming Central Idaho near Ketchum are blamed for killing a dozen domestic sheep.
Idaho officials estimate that the wolf population is growing by 15 to 20 percent annually, and with that kind of growth, elk and deer herds are at risk. That translates to loss of game animals to predation, which in turn translates to the loss of hunting opportunity, and in Idaho – where wildlife officials still consider themselves game managers (as opposed to dipsticks who give priority to “watchable wildlife” efforts while curtailing hunting opportunity with shortened seasons, antler restrictions and timing the seasons to reduce harvest) – big game hunting is still an honored tradition, and it brings big dollars to IDFG coffers to support all wildlife programs, and additional revenues to state businesses, including motels, restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations, which translates to revenue for the state.
Fish and Game Deputy Director Jim Unsworth is blaming the gray wolf as the main reason for a 13% per year reduction in cow elk in the Lolo Hunting Zone.
This is not just about providing opportunity for hunters, though I’ll be up front and say that’s reason enough in my book. I like to hunt. Fall hunting season is my favorite time of the year. I’m not a simpering apologist who regrets killing fish or game for the dinner table, either. That’s always seemed like dramatic nonsense designed to soften the image of hunters for people who think meat comes from a grocery store or on a sizzling plate at the steakhouse.
But there is more to this debate that needs to be discussed.
Wolves are perfectly capable of killing people. They already have. With growing populations of wolves mixing with expanding human populations, eventually there will be trouble. In California, where mountain lion hunting was outlawed years ago, cougars have attacked and even killed people.
A pack of wolves killed a woman in the Kakheti region of eastern Georgia in the third attack in a month, leading authorities to hand out weapons to locals for self-defence.
Earlier this year, the Windsor Star reported that wolves had attacked and killed a woman in the Kakheti region of eastern Georgia (the European country, not the state), so the governor, Gia Chalatashvili, announced that local residents would be issued guns and ammunition for defense against the wolves.
Up in Saskatchewan, geologist Kenton Joel Carnegie was killed and partly eaten by a wolf pack (contrary to a claim by one biologist with the World Wildlife Fund that a bear was the culprit).
Which brings us around to carrying firearms in the wilds; packing guns for personal protection in the national forests and, starting in February, in national parks, is not some paranoid whim pushed by the “gun nuts.”
While predatory animal attacks on humans are certainly rare, they are not unprecedented. Far too many people who grew up on Disney cartoons think animals are benign, and they occasionally pay for that. Wolves, bears, mountain lions; to them, we’re just food.
Gun advocates simply don’t care to be part of the menu.
Gun activists claim victory in Seattle mayor’s ouster
Meanwhile, gun rights activists are claiming at least partial credit for the results of Seattle’s primary election which saw anti-gun Mayor Greg Nickels come in third place.
In a press release, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said Seattle gun owners were “furious” over the liberal mayor’s arrogant threat last year to ban all firearms, including those carried legally, from all city property by executive order. CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb likened the threat to an imperial edict, and he reminded people that “Mayors are not monarchs.”
Nickels insulted (gun owner) intelligence by promising to ban guns by executive order, which is the height of municipal contempt for the rights of citizens under the state Constitution. He literally threw away their votes. - Alan Gottlieb
CCRKBA, the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association have been poised to file a joint lawsuit against Nickels before the ink is dry on his executive order.
Nickels, of course, had many other negatives, topped by the city’s snow storm shutdown last winter. The mayor also lost the city’s professional basketball team, he advocated a very unpopular highway tunnel project, and he supported a tax on plastic grocery bags that was also rejected.
But Nickels literally “threw away” the votes of gun owning Seattleites with his gun control threat, Gottlieb contended. He called the Nickels threat “the height of municipal contempt for the rights of citizens under the state constitution.”
Visit with other Gun Rights Examiners:
Skip Coryell
And Don’t forget to visit:
KeepAndBearArms.com
GunVoter.org
TheHighRoad.us
OpenCarry.org
For more info: Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
Comments (10)
Great job on covering the major issues on both ends of the state, Dave! So...what do we get instead of Nichols? (I'm almost afraid to ask...)
I've come full circle. The very first letter to a politician I ever wrote was.. had to be around 1969 or 1970, at around 10 years old. After watching some movie or news report about the Alaska government hiring people to hunt wolves from helicopters I wrote a letter to the Alaska governor opposing the idea. Not preserved that I know of, and I hereby recant. (laugh)
A game biologist of my acquaintance has echoed the late Colonel Cooper in commenting that too many of the earthy crunchy sorts don't realize that for a lot of dangerous animals, you end up facing a choice. Do you like animals or people better?
The extant species of statist is none too capable of fending for itself in the wild. Ideally would be kept in secluded reservations away from any critter of the bitey-scratchy variety. Now, me, I'm a believer in the "Think of it as evolution in action" school, and figure a few hoplophobes to feed the wolves is just desserts...
Dave, even being one of the 26 lone conservatives in the bluest of the corrupt blue states (MA) it looks like you all out there in Northwest Moscow have gone even further left that you were previously. The good King County comrades voted for an ultra-neo-leftist Sierra Club activist... Mike McGinn. Wow higher taxes and oppressive new enviro-regulations. I guess when you vote for oppression you get oppression. At least you will still have plenty of things to write about in future columns.
I have no idea who Dave Workman (the author of this article) is or why he considers himself an expert on wolves. Is it just because he "likes to hunt" like most of the imbecilic morons running around in the woods with loaded guns? It is more than apparent that Workman knows nothing about wolves and yet he is is spouting off as if he had a brain. He doesn't know squat!
Once again, stupidity raises its ugly head regarding any knowledge whatsoever about wolves. Workman needs to go back and study some more (if ever there was any done in the first place.) Workman, you are all sizzle and no sausage, so please spare us your two-bit philosophy and just go polish your guns!
As animal rights radicals push for laws against culling herds or keeping predators under control, we find the black Bear population in New Jersey growing rapidly roaming neighborhoods killing pets and terrorizing children, and breaking into homes in urban areas. Cougars in California have so far killed 11 people walking in their neighborhoods. In Texas 2 million feral pigs that can weigh up to 1500 lbs have ruined crop land, attacked people and burst into homes. Thanks to animal rights radicals they have pushed to keep predators protected even when they have become a threat to their own species. The protected cougar has moved into neighborhoods just outside Austin. Animal rights laws make you a target. They don't base their position on science or animal welfare, but on some quasi philsophical belief. They even try to rewrite the bible saying Jesus did not feed fish nor did God give us dominon over the animals for food. Ironic how many animals they have killed while protesting hunting
For people interested in hunting wolves you can find out more at www.huntwolves.com/how-to-hunt-wolves
I've lived in the great state of Idaho all my life and i'm still having trouble figuring out who in the hell wanted wolves in my state in the first place. It's a fact that we the people of the great state of Idaho did not. I live in the clearwater river drainadge and the elk calf survival rate is 10%. Hunting units 10 and 10A at one time had near 10,000 elk in each unit and now have been reduced to 2,000 head and struggling. Time to take action.
I live in Idaho and raise livestock. Wolf depredation is a concern for all livestock producers as well as sportsmen who go to the hill to hunt, fish of photograph things. For you people who want wolves, please call your own congressman and senator to get them moved to your state. Alternatively, I will provide you a tent and a trip to wolf country so you ccan experience them first hand. Be sure to bring your favorite pet dog. Wolves love them and the government will not recompense you for your loss of a pet.
The re-introduction of wolves to Idaho was brought on by the Feds. in Wasington [us fish & wildlife]. The animal chosen was the canadian gray wolf not the gray wolf living in Id MT WY fifty years previously. The defenders of the wolf wanted to hear wolves howling in Idaho again that is they're story. Of course the usual bs about being the saviours of balanace and harmony in the animal chain of life. It is by this writers opinion nothing more than deep seated statist realizing the opportunity years ahead of the curve to controll deer and elk herds without hunters hence a quicker way to bring more gun control.
What do you think?
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