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Re: [RC] Re; Wolves Killing - heidiIn the late 19th century, cattlemen taught wolves and other predators that they should not stay near a kill. They poisoned the kills, and ambushed predators coming back. More comment on this following your closing statements. But this is essentially true. However, the Lewis and Clark journals and the oral traditions of the Shoshoni don't support your contention that there were much in the way of wolves around Dillon in 1805, though--as you say, a few fringes may have followed the buffalo that far west in a migratory situation, but they sure didn't make it over the hill from Dillon into Idaho... The next thing that happened is that some of the prey, especially Elk, does not comfortably live near people. The Bitterroot is an example. As the ranches get cut up into small tracts, the Elk that used to winter in the almost snowless valley floor, have to stay in the mountains increasing the chances that a group of young will be caught in the snow and killed. Uh, Ed, have you come over the hill to the Lemhi lately? Those Bitterroot and Bighole elk all winter over here in my yard. Drive down the North Fork sometime--I have counted several hundred elk in ranchers' fields routinely on winter trips from here to the Bitterroot. We have a herd of roughly 140 that winters right here along my upper fenceline--they are in two subgroups, one that visits my neighbor and one that visits me, but sometimes they get together. Elk are more wary than deer, certainly (the deer get right in the back of my pickup truck outside my office window in the winter), but I've stepped out on my back porch in my bathrobe to take the dog out to go potty on many a winter morning to be face to face with a bunch of elk. I've felt like that Leanin' Tree poster with the ugly old cowboy in the yellow slicker "flashing" a bunch of startled old cows, with the caption that says "Expose yourself to the West!" The solution? It is hard. One part is being done. Wolf packs that specialize in cattle are eliminated by the government. The next step is to allow limited and regulated hunting. If hunted, predators learn that people are something to be avoided. It doesn't solve all the problems but it helps. We also will have to learn to live with some losses of domestic livestock. <snip> There are lots of mountain lions in MT, but attacks on people seem to be rather rare in comparison to the reports we get from south CA. I'm sure that the greater population density in CA has something to do with it, but part is that they are hunted with dogs here and thus think of people as a danger, not an easy meal. This is essentially the bottom line. Predators are not stupid when it comes to self-preservation. If the rogues are shot and the others are shot at, they steer clear of people and inhabited areas. This is true of wolves as well. What we have here that is such a catastrophe is that Canadian wolves who were far enough from civilization that they were NOT used to being shot at were transported into our area, where they are NOT native. They have found an abundant food source (elk, deer, cows, sheep, etc.) and have reproduced like wildfire. And they are not shot at--and they know it! Some controlled hunting of wolves and the legalization of being able to shoot them when they mess with livestock would solve about 90% of the problem. And as you say, it is one thing to live with the occasional encounter and loss, as we do with cougars, and something else entirely to be at the mercy of a rapidly expanding wolf population with no checks in sight until they run out of cattle, sheep, elk, and deer. Heidi ============================================================ Far back, far back in our dark soul the horse prances... The horse, the horse! The symbol of surging potency and power of movement, of action... ~ DH Lawrence ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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