# Rash of wolf kills.



## alleyyooper (Jul 6, 2007)

Rash of wolf kills in Upper Peninsula worry federal wildlife officials

By Victor Skinner, The Grand Rapids Press, found at Mlive.com

January 24, 2010









Officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimate
there are 600 gray wolves in the Upper Peninsula. In December,
six wolves that were fitted with radio collars were shot and killed. (AP File Photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN -- A recent rash of gray wolf killings in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota have alarmed wildlife officials and prompted some to consider better ways to punish those who kill the endangered animal.

In December, six gray wolves fitted with radio collars were shot and killed in the Upper Peninsula's Ontonagon, Iron, Menominee, Schoolcraft, Luce and Mackinac counties, federal wildlife officials said.

In total, state officials and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are investigating about 10 dead wolf cases above the bridge, said Tom Tidwell, USFWS's resident agent-in-charge.

"We have suspects for some" cases, Tidwell said, adding roughly 7 percent of Michigan's collared wolves were killed last month. "We have interviewed some folks, and some folks will be charged.

"It certainly makes you curious to know what percentage of uncollared wolves are being killed."

The USFWS also is looking into two wolf killings in Minnesota and eight in Wisconsin in the last two months of 2009, bringing the total to 16 federal investigations between the three states.

Tidwell said agency officials are unsure why more wolves are being shot.

Dale McNamee, president of the Upper Peninsula Sportsmen's Alliance, said some residents likely are fed up with the animals attacking deer and livestock.

"The fact of the matter is there is probably more wolves than the area has to have," McNamee said. "Because the government doesn't allow management of these wolves people are taking it into their own hands."

Without proper management by the state, McNamee said "actions like you see now are going to become far more common."

Gray wolves in Michigan and Wisconsin are listed as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, which makes it unlawful to kill the animal except in defense of human life. In Minnesota, gray wolves are a threatened species.

Last year, federal officials attempted to delist the wolves, which number close to 600 in the Upper Peninsula, but failed when the decision was challenged in federal court.

Tidwell, however, said few, if any, wolf poaching cases have been tied to management problems, attacks on property or legitimate safety concerns. He said federal prosecution of wolf poachers might help prevent future cases.

"We need a stronger deterrent, and I know the federal court system would probably be a heavier hand than what we have seen in the state courts," Tidwell said.

The maximum fine for killing a gray wolf under Michigan law is 90 days in jail, $1,000 in fines and $1,500 in restitution. Poachers could receive a $50,000 fine and one year imprisonment under federal law.

State Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Chief Russ Mason recently spent a week touring the Upper Peninsula to discuss wolf issues. He said the wolf remains listed as endangered in Michigan largely because of political and economic reasons, and illegal wolf kills only undermine the state's efforts to gain management authority over the animals.

"Wolves numerically have been recovered for over a decade not only in Michigan, but in Wisconsin and Minnesota as well," Mason said. "We want our jurisdictional authority back, but unfortunately, there are people who want to keep wolves on the Endangered Species List.

"Every time something like (an illegal wolf kill) happens, they will say people in Michigan can't manage wolves. That's wrong, and it sets back our efforts," he said.

*He is a buracrat that probably lives in a city.*

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf ... er_pe.html

 Al


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## bearhunter (Jan 30, 2009)

kill em all!!!. the feds need to butt out and let states manage. :******:


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## MOB (Mar 10, 2005)

"Last year, federal officials attempted to delist the wolves, which number close to 600 in the Upper Peninsula, but failed when the decision was challenged in federal court."

Why do the nut cases that challenge always get to put a stop to every thing they challenge before proof? Why can't common sense prevail, go ahead with the delisting as planned and if the delisting decision is proved wrong in court then stop it?


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## brittanypoint (Feb 15, 2009)

They should have never introduced them back to the states without a vote from the people. Welcome to what wyoming is fighting. The feds dont like our management plan cause they could be shot as a predatory animal so they blocked the delisting in WY. If its not one place its another. Whats really ironic is the wolves are an endangered species. How can that be when canada has more than they can handle? This whole thing is crap. Its the federal government trying to run things and spend more money on stupid causes. Its no wonder we are broke


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## alleyyooper (Jul 6, 2007)

First off you can't kill them all it is ilegal.

If it took a vote of the people to have wolves we would have wolves. Their are more voteing tree huggers living in apartments in cities town and villages than there are rual folks. The vote passed 3 to 1 for.

Courts ruled before the delisting so the killing would not start and be hard to stop. Read the section above city people out number rual people.

But I believe the wolves at least one breeding pair should be turned loose in a park of every city, town and village. Why should country folks be the only ones who get to experiance and have all the plasure of wolves roaming our lands?

By the way Canada is a country all it's own. What they have isn't part of the USA.

 Al


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## HUNTNFISHND (Mar 16, 2004)

bearhunter said:


> kill em all!!!. the feds need to butt out and let states manage. :ticked:


This statement really makes sense. :eyeroll:

If states are allowed to manage wolves they certainly will not be advocating "kill em all". That attitude is precisely what got us into the mess we are in currently. Wolves have a place in the ecosystem just like every other animal. The population certainly needs to be maintained through proper management! There is no doubt that individual state game departments are in much better position to handle the management of their own wolf populations, not the feds or some court judge!


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## bearhunter (Jan 30, 2009)

kill em all oke: oke:  perhaps you have intimate knowledge of wolves and wolf behavior??? I do :beer: i've seen what they do many times and it ai'nt pretty. do they have a place in the system??? sure, but not at the #'s there are. here's a given. if you bought a nice 200 acre piece of deer heaven and spent $$ and sweat turning it into the best you could and wolves moved in i'll guarentee you you would want to "KILL EM ALL" :thumb:


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## OverLord (Jan 16, 2009)

a good wolf is a dead wolf


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## alleyyooper (Jul 6, 2007)

I know a person who lives in Northern Wisconsin. He seen a doe 3 years ago while deer hunting, Since then he has not even seen a track of a deer. He has plenty of wolves around, In fact he recently had to call the dept. of wild life because wolves had killed two of his young stock.

Yes wolves have a place. Zoos are good places as well as the remote wilds of Alaska or the Yukon. Where there are pouplations of people living is not a Place for wolves, if it were you can bet you butt they would indeed be turned loose in cities.

 Al


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

When I went to the International Wolf Center in Ely, MN for a high school class, that was the biggest bunch of bunny huggers in the world. In their eyes, the wolves could do no wrong. I mentioned that I hope they delist the wolves so we can hunt them and they got really mad.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

> kill em all!!!. the feds need to butt out and let states manage.


I agree............... And lets kill all the deer too cause I'm tired of dodging them with my car. And those damn pesky Pheasants too.

I don't want to see wolves disapear. Should they be managed? Yes. Why not put them on a quota system like ND does for mountain lions. When the quota is hit, hunting stops. It's not like wolves have difficulty breeding like some protected species. If they are lightly hunted they will "keep up".


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## jrp267 (Dec 17, 2007)

HUNTNFISHND said:


> bearhunter said:
> 
> 
> > kill em all!!!. the feds need to butt out and let states manage. :ticked:


This statement really makes sense. :eyeroll: 
Wolves have a place in the ecosystem just like every other animal. quote]
Then why are we not bringing the caribou back to minnesota?


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## HUNTNFISHND (Mar 16, 2004)

I'm just saying the "kill em all" mentality is not going to get us anywhere!

Do you guys think that helps our cause for state management by seeing people posting to "kill em all"?

Think about it! :roll:


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## alleyyooper (Jul 6, 2007)

Wolves in Washington DC, New York city, Boston, Detroit and all the other places they used to be at one time.

While we are at it I would like to see free roaming bufflo on the plains on my next trip west. I would also like to see the sky dark with passanger pigeons too. Lets put a bit more effort in getting the whooping crane numbers up too.

I would also like to see the Lamphry eels, gorbs, Starlings, Ring Neck phesants and a bunch of other imported stuff gone because it doesn't belong in this system. Sounds about as dumb as saying wolves belong for some reason.

 Al


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

alleyyooper said:


> Lets put a bit more effort in getting the whooping crane numbers up too.


That's the last thing we need to do is pure more money into a worthless project.


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## alleyyooper (Jul 6, 2007)

About as dumb as this one. *"Wolves have a place in the ecosystem just like every other animal".*

How far back do we go to right the ecosystem to what it once was????

 Al


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

> How far back do we go to right the ecosystem to what it once was????


Dinosaurs... I want to see dinosaurs

Seriously.. There is a managable number even for wolves. I lived in northern MN for 5 years as a kid. I never saw a wolf but we heard them and saw tracks regularly yet there was never a serious problem with them. The sytem was in pretty good balamce so they didn't cause problems. I'd find it a sad world if we didn't have an occasional wildlife problem to deal with. Remember they were here first and will likely be here long after we are gone.

As a matter of fact I propose a trade. Get rid of the politicians and save the wolves. At least wolves are honest about what they do.


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## rbol121 (Dec 11, 2008)

I live in Michigan and hunt int he U.P about 20 days every fall. However; I live in suburban Detroit area. The wolves are a major concern to the U.P. deer heard. I wish I could find the article that I read last year about how the wolves are devastating the deer in their winter yarding area's. If I recall the Michigan DNR found a Wolf den in Luce County in the spring of 2009 and located the remains of over 100 deer carcasses near that den, and that was just one wolf den. Although I dont really agree with "poaching", per se,something has to be done. Our deer camp is in Schoolcraft Co, and we have seen 2 single wolves in the past 2 years, during rifle season. Although its tempting to shoot one, its still illegal and Im not willing to take that risk. I know that alot of 'locals" definately will shoot every one they see without hesitation. This issue has been going on for years. I have a good friend who is a DNR CO, he estimates that wolves kill, thousands of deer every year in the U.P. My true opinion is the ecosystem in the U.P. just cant handle the current wolf population and the numbers need to be reduced. If the govt can get their act together, delist the animals, and perhaps have a lottery hunt for a select number of wolves, they could reduce their numbers and at the same time make $$ for future mgt practices. Just my .02..............................


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

> My true opinion is the ecosystem in the U.P. just cant handle the current wolf population and the numbers need to be reduced.


I suspect that is 1/2 right.... What the UP herd cannot handle is the pressure of hunting AND the current wolf population. If there were no hunting the wolves and deer would balance themselves out. But as a hunter I don't want to see that. Such resources can be reasonably balance to benefit all if the tree huggers would let it happen.


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## mahmoodmahi (Aug 10, 2009)

How much damage do wolves really do? They can definetly bring deer numbers way down in specific areas, and that sucks when you are a deer hunter, but can they really destroy deer hunting in an area for good? In the fifties there were wolves in only a few parts of the US, but then there were also very few whitetails in most of the US too. I think a lot of the problem with wolves is partly a culutral fear of them, and then also the very real fact that they kill livestock. But the DNR and the feds pay for each animal killed so there is no real loss there. I am all for wolf hunting, with a quota system as a form of population management, but really I just don't get why some many people hate wolves so much? If anything bears are a heck of lot worse to have around, and there are a lot more of them.


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## alleyyooper (Jul 6, 2007)

I don't hate the wolves, They just have no place in rual settings such as the lower 48 is.
Ya you get paid for the killed live stock after a while. You have two yearlings ready for the spring market (April). They get killed by wolves, but your word isn't good enough so a wild life expert has to come out and determin if your a lier or not. then you have to fill out the paper work and get all the signitures on said paper work. then you wait and wait and wait for the goverment to remove their heads from where ever they keep them and send paper work higher up. where you wait some more. Maybe in six months you will get a little check for the yearlings maybe it will be longer. In the mean time you still have the wolves to worry about getting more stock.

Put the wolves back on isle Royal, I am happy we have wolves in Michigan but not around the populas areas.

 Al


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