Bears eat 95% vegetation.
Wolves eat no vegetation. Other than problem bears - bears do not need much management. The vast majority of problem bears are caused by problem people.
We know wolves have a social system. So do Honey Bees and Al-Qaeda - this has absolutely no bearing on managing wolves.
All of the Wolves prey are being managed, (open season, closed season, Limited Entry Draw, Guide Outfitter Permits and Habitat Conservation and Enhancement eg controlled burns and actual planting of buck brush or Cinanopis. There are far more Habitat enhancement programs than I can list, even the trapper who doesn't let his Beavers over populate and eat themselves out of house and home, thus ensuring willows for the ungulates also for future Beavers.
If we are going to interfere at all with the natural order of things, we must keep balance above all, at the forefront.
The first three years on this new to us trap line we observed a moderate amount of wolf sign - keep in mind - we are out on the line everyday, not just a few weekends a year. Moose numbers seemed
to be at a healthy level. Cows still had calves in the spring and so we never bothered going after Wolves. The fourth year there was a lot more wolves and far less moose. This year the situation has progressed ever further. It was another big snow year and so we couldn't trap wolves. Moose/Goat populations are definitely declining here. We only saw 2 Cow and Calf pairs in our whole travel area the whole trapping season.
I could stand by passively, shrug my shoulder, and say " Well, I guess we will fly in some Alberta feed Beef, but the alternative is, in my mind, is too take a few wolves next year to offset my harvesting a Bull Moose. Remember this, we are Predators, harvesting a moose on site, if the population can afford it, is far more environmentally sound practice than flying in beef, that is being raised on land that was once wild, at a huge cost to the environment. Even soy beans come at a much higher environmental cost that moose.
It is highly illegal for the general population to set snares or trap for wolves. This duty being allotted to trappers with registered trap lines and some Provincial biologists only.
When we took the Trapper Education Program it was pounded into us to keep the balance on the land. Half the book is about maintaining that balance. The snare in the previous post is a new snare set that dispatches a Wolf with incredible speed. It is to help trappers move to newer systems.
WE DO NOT HATE WOLVES OR CONSIDER THEM EVIL. We just can not stand by and wait for the 40 year cycle to pass, for the population to balance once more. First the wolves over harvest the moose, goat bringing the levels very low. Then the wolves die off or move off to another area. Not only moose and Goats are lost in this. The teachings to their young - the trail, the salt licks, where to go in Big snow years. This is all learned in the 1st year with their mothers. So when the Moose and Mountain Goats numbers are about down to nothing all this knowledge is gone. When ungulates are transplanted most fail from the lack of the knowledge about the area.
It is all about BALANCE.... Keep a healthy population of Predators and Prey.
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How often do wolves extirpate a goat population so knowledge of seasonal movements and food resources is lost? Is that more relevant for sheep?
ReplyDeleteYour photos of moose near your cabin which means they are readily available for harvest.
Trappers managing wolf populations in my mind is similar to outfitters assuming they own a large geographic area that only they know how to manage.
Moose and wolves have been in cycles for many years and the moose still seem to be able to rebound and colonize.
To Conserv...We report what we see. We see the Wolf pack tracks heading up to the Goat Mnt range in the winter. The wolves were howling at the end of our lake in the night & in the morning there were the Cow and Calf bedded down near us. Three years ago was another big snow year and 15 Moose stayed on the lake. This year was another big snow year and we saw four moose here over the winter.
ReplyDeleteGoats have to go from mtn range to mtn range through low valleys. Wolves, Bears, Wolverine, Eagles, Man and gravity are the Goats predators.
Trapping Wolves is not easy and once you have one it is a lot of work. A lot of Trappers just stop trapping wolves because the return is so poor for the time. You don't seem to comment on what you see. I'd bet you live in the city. We comment on what we see out here.
I move around so do not live in any area for long- like a rolling stone.
ReplyDeleteI have seen many wolves and bears in wild places though. I am innocent of book, but rich in lore of fields and brooks. There are wolves near where I live now but they come close many in the winter.
Two people close by have had their dogs attacked by wolves- one died. These were very hunngry wolves to ambush a dog just released from a pen and try to take another on the porch.
I also like to comment on what I see and I like to confront dogma and conserve wild things.
Minnesota is about to open up a season on wolves. It's a tough balance. There has been widespread logging which has resulted in more deer habitat which has provided a new food source for wolves and that population has increased and moved into areas that also have cattle...which also become wolf prey. Even with extensive deer permits there oversupply/undersupply which now necessitates taking a few wolves. We all love hearing and seeing the wolves. The only way to resolve all this is to have fewer people, and that's not going to happen.
ReplyDeleteGood luck w/ your harvest.
Wolves are highly territorial... if two packs met they may join after a tassel or there might be mass death. It has nothing to do with hunger... it is dogs killing dogs. The sound of a dog is enough for a Wolf to want to attach it. I've only read of it but it would be interesting if any of you dog sled runners have had encounters with wolves.
ReplyDeleteTwo summers ago we had a lone wolf try for a week to get our old dog Hannah to leave the fenced area. Vikki finally tied Hannah up.
When I was a kid in a small town in N. Sask. Meadow Lake. there was a pack of semi wild dogs that roamed the town. This pack relished killing lone dogs. They never ate them. I'm speculating that it was much the same as wolves, needless to say this pack did not last long. They were very aggressive and people feared for their children.
About 6 or 7 years ago Atlin Lake didn't freeze over to really late. The wolves were stuck on the East side of the lake. They couldn't travel to where the caribou etc were. 7 cases of tied up dogs happened that winter. Sometimes just the head at the end of the chain was all that was left.