Bear Hunt Starts In New Jersey

In 2006, Lisa Jackson, the previous DEP Commissioner who is now head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, canceled the state’s bear hunt.

On July 21st, 2010, the Commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Bob Martin, announced his approval of the state’s new bear management policy. Part of the management policy includes a 6 day December black bear hunt that coincides with New Jersey’s rifle deer hunt.

The DEP indicated that the bear population has exploded from 500 in 1992 to over 3,400 today. Also according to the DEP there have been 1,261 black bear incidents between Jan 1st and June 20th of this year. 76 of those incidents were considered aggressive attacks.

This is great news for sportsmen. It’s always very encouraging to see our hunting rights take a step forward.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Wolf Poll Being Conducted In Utah

Hunters are losing this poll so please visit this site and vote "NO" that wolves should not be aloud to roam free in Utah.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=11722172&hl=4

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Update From Toby Bridges Regarding The Wolf Threat

LOBO WATCH Sportsmen Taking Charge of Predator Problems

Editorial News/Press Release July 20, 2010

Has The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Become A Rogue Agency?

There are now a number of very dark clouds hanging over the fish and wildlife arm of the U.S. Department of the Interior. And the tallest thunder cell has to be the manner in which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has handled the so-called Wolf Recovery Project in the Northern Rocky Mountain states of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana – especially in how the agency resorted to the manipulation of wolf science and wolf facts to expedite restoring wolf populations where they had been missing for most of the past 70 or 80 years. Or, were they?

The Endangered Species Act was established in 1973, to protect and restore endangered or threatened wildlife species. Back when that act became law, there were between 50,000 and 60,000 wolves of varying subspecies roaming freely across Canada (and likely just as many in Alaska). Still, since there were only about 700 to 1,000 wolves known to exist in northern Minnesota and in several small pockets in northwestern Montana, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pushed to get the “gray wolf” added to the ESA list of endangered species in 1974.

One of the tools used by FWS to facilitate their management of a species/subspecies that is endangered or threatened is to establish it as a “Distinct Population Segment”, separating it from the management of that species or subspecies as a whole. And this is likely where the “gray” area lies in the ESA listing and the management of the gray wolf as an “endangered species”.

First of all, the gray wolves of central Canada were never really endangered, or threatened for that matter. Despite ongoing wolf control efforts in Ontario, the wolf population just to the north of the U.S.-Canada border was not endangered back in 1973 when the ESA was established. Neither have wolves been endangered or threatened there since that act was put into place. Likewise, there has not been any efforts to prevent their migration south, into northern Minnesota. Even so, the mad wolf scientists of the FWS felt compelled to write themselves into the annals of wildlife conservation and took it upon themselves to classify the wolves of the upper Midwest as a “Distinct Population Segment” , and endangered – even though absolutely nothing separated them from the tens of thousands of wolves north of the Canadian border.

And their muddling with such wolf facts came back to nip them hard on their backside.

As wolf numbers began to grow and spread, from northern Minnesota into upper Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USFWS moved to remove them from the Endangered Species List in early 2008. At that time, there were likely close to 4,000 wolves spread across the upper Midwest, and the agency determined that the gray wolf of that region was no longer an endangered species. FWS decided to delist the wolf there.

In short order, the Humane Society of the United States (and a number of other “environmental” co-plaintiffs) challenged the USFWS “Final Rule” on removing Midwestern wolves from the protection of the Endangered Species Act. HSUS also asserted that the ESA does not authorize USFWS to designate and delist “Distinct Population Segments”. In other words, the act does not allow the agency “to carve out” healthy sub-populations of otherwise endangered or threatened species.

The court questioned, “Whether the ESA permits FWS to use the DPS tool to remove the protection of the statute from a healthy sub-population of a listed species, even if that sub-population was neither designated as a DPS nor listed as endangered or threatened beforehand.”

The delisting of the wolf in the upper Midwest did not happen in 2008, and management of those wolves is still on hold – even though there are now between 5,000 and 6,000 wolves across upper Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The whitetail deer herds in many areas where wolf numbers are at their highest have now been reduced by 40- to 60-percent, and moose have practically disappeared where they were once abundant. Likewise, years of trying to re-establish elk herds in these states is now in real jeopardy, with the wolves destroying spring calf recruitment.

Wrongly, USFWS had established a line, an international boundary, that separated the wolves of the U.S. from the wolves of Canada. And largely because of that intervention and poor decision making, big game resources and livestock production across the upper Midwest are now being severely impacted. However, across the border, in Canada, aggressive control of the same “non endangered” wolves continues.

Faced with establishing a recovered wolf population in the Northern Rockies, USFWS threw professional wildlife management ethics right out the window. To say that the Wolf Recovery Project of the West has been plagued with lies and deceit from the very start is putting it mildly.

Well before Canadian wolves were dumped into the mountains of Idaho, northwestern Wyoming, and western Montana, many residents were aware of small pockets of wolves in several areas – wolves which had been there for years. However, since they had not been “discovered” by some recognized wolf expert, they were not accepted as a “Distinct Population Segment”. So, USFWS took it upon itself to ignore the possibility of any real resident wolves (similar to its decision to draw the line between the wolves of northern Minnesota and the wolves of Canada) in order to simply accelerate the “reintroduction” of wolves in the Northern Rockies, where in their opinion wolves had been missing for the past 75 or 80 years.

Research as hard as you may, you will not find where Congress authorized funding for the capture, transportation, care, or handling of those wolves before being released into what was America’s greatest wildlife wonderland. So, where did USFWS get all of those millions of dollars needed to fund such a major project?

Jim Beers, a former Chief of National Wildlife Refuge Operations, who spent the latter part of his 32-year career with the agency working with the disbursement of federally collected tax dollars to help fund state wildlife departments and conservation programs, says USFWS literally stole the money from those funds. Now, these aren’t the tax dollars collected from ALL U.S. taxpayers. Rather, these are the excise tax dollars that America’s sportsmen voluntarily pay on firearm, ammunition, archery gear, fishing tackle and other outdoor related product purchases – under the Pitman-Robertson Act. And those funds are, by law, to be used exclusively for wildlife habitat and fisheries improvement.

According to Beers, through the 1990s USFWS embezzled between $60- and $70-million from Pitman-Robertson funds, with a healthy chunk of that money used to illegally finance capturing northern Canadian wolves and transplanting them into the Northern Rockies. Once again, USFWS stepped way beyond its authority. The wolves they brought to Idaho, Wyoming and Montana are found all across northern British Columbia, the Yukon, northern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan – and are in no way endangered. Likewise, they are not the native wolf of the U.S. Northern Rockies. The transplanted wolves are a significantly larger and more aggressive wolf than the wolves that were native to the Northwest. Those residents who know that small pockets of wolves still existed here now accuse USFWS of actually violating the Endangered Species Act.

Plaguing this project even further is that it seems USFWS purposely eliminated any sort of paper trail that would document how much money was spent on bringing in several different invasive subspecies of wolves, the actual subspecies brought across the border, or even the true number of wolves involved in the initial releases. The agency did not file the required Form 3-177, which would have documented all of this. Ironically, this is a USFWS form, required for all importation of wildlife into this country.

Even the Environmental Impact Statement, filed by project leader Ed Bangs, is suspect of being filled with false information in regards to the impact wolves would have on elk, moose, deer and other big game populations, as well as on livestock production. The depredation numbers shared in that statement are only about a third of the impact now being realized. The residents of the Northern Rockies now feel that the “experts” who put together the Northern Rockies Wolf Recovery Plan either didn’t know enough about wolves to play a role, or the misinformation was presented on purpose to sway the opinion of the general public in favor of bringing back a major predator which was eliminated decades ago.

The sportsmen of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, who have paid the way for the conservation programs that brought big game populations back from nearly being lost during the early 1900s largely feel that USFWS, and their own state wildlife agencies to some degree, are now selling them out. They know that a large percentage of today’s wildlife managers do not hunt, and that they now tend to side more with the major environmental organizations which have a strong anti-hunting stand. Knowing they are paying these managers salaries angers many hunters – and so does the thought that USFWS could steal $60- to $70-million of their tax dollars to introduce a non-indigenous wolf subspecies that is now destroying the past 75 years of big game conservation work.

In some areas, wolves have already decimated elk herds by as much as 60- to 80-percent. The once great northern Yellowstone herd, which numbered around 19,000 at the time the first northern Alberta wolves were released inside the park in 1995, is now down to only a few thousand remaining animals. And those elk that have managed to survive non-stop pressure from the wolves are quickly growing old. Thanks to the near 100-percent loss of elk calves in the spring, the average age of Yellowstone elk is now 8 to 9 years. Before the USFWS “introduction” of an invasive wolf subspecies, elk there averaged 4 years of age.

Despite all the manipulation of wolf science and wolf facts, along with the theft of sportsmen provided money to illegally fund the Northern Rockies Wolf Recovery Project, and all the lies and deceit to hide the truth from the public, the wolf fiasco continues. Those who are feeling the bite of the wolf on their economy and way of life are now questioning a legal system that bows down to the demands of environmental groups, which have profited hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from frivolous lawsuits. Many sportsmen and tax-paying citizens now feel that the USFWS relationship with the greenie groups needs to be investigated. Likewise, that the financial loop hole known as the “Equal Access to Justice Act” needs to be eliminated, preventing environmental organizations from receiving financial restitution from the U.S. Government for grossly padded legal expenses when they do file those thousands of lawsuits. Their favorite “defendant” tends to be USFWS. Has the agency become an all too willing participant in these legal actions?

Most of all, Americans have grown weary of government agencies that repeatedly step beyond their authority, to use whatever means or methods necessary to achieve their desired goals. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is one such rogue agency. – Toby Bridges, LOBO WATCH

LOBO WATCH

100 Parker Court Missoula, MT 59801

Ph. – (406) 542-9751 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (406) 542-9751 end_of_the_skype_highlighting E-mail – wolfkill@lobowatch.com

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Good Words From Ted Nugent!

With the beautiful Atlantic Ocean whitecapping out my hotel window on Fort Lauderdale Beach this fine American rock ‘n ‘roll summer morning, the only thing more beautiful is my handsome, oh-so-utilitarian Glock Model 20, 10 mm semi-auto pistol and 12 loaded high-capacity magazines sitting on the little table next to me. I am such a man for all seasons. Can you say cocked, locked and ready to rock, doc?

I’m on my 47th annual blitzkrieg rock ‘n’ roll tour across America. I have many guitars, oversized amplifiers and plenty of guns and ammo. The American Boy Scout lives. Prepared is good. Unprepared is for losers. Know it.

By all intellectually honest considerations, my gift of life qualifies as supreme, and not only worthy of defending, but clearly demanding to be defended by all moral beings.

And speaking of losers, sadly and frighteningly, some weasels made their way onto the Supreme Court who apparently do not agree with me. Fortunately, I am a self-made man, have a firm grasp of logic, self-evident truth and its history, and I wait for no one to authorize my pure instinct to defend myself and loved ones. When in doubt, I whip it out.

Like many real Americans across this great country, while we are relieved and pleased with the McDonald v. Chicago ruling of five Supreme Court justices, I am appalled that any clear-thinking human being, much less an American sitting on the Supreme Court of the United States, could possibly believe that individual Americans have no right to self-defense. That four of the nine justices believe this is a monumental indictment against the very precepts of the American experiment, the premise of God-given individual rights and a cruel bastardization of our sacred U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.

If anyone thinks for one minute that I am waiting for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg or anyone else to give me the green light to practice the religion of my choice or to speak my individual mind or to write what I damn well please in song or on the pages of newspapers, magazines or websites, he has another painful thing coming.

Heads up, black-robers. I am in charge of my life, survival, thoughts, statements, writings, religious practices and, without a shadow of a doubt, my God-given individual right to keep and bear arms to defend myself from evil in any shape or form. With all due respect, I see and know clear and present evil in tyranny, dictatorships, emperors, kings, despots, slave drivers and the history of abuse of power. And I defy it out of hand.

If ever there was an abuse of power, it would be most egregious when people are voted into public office by “we the people” of America and those elected people have the audacity to attempt to deny me the right to self-defense, then have the unmitigated pomposity to steal more of my hard-earned tax dollars to hire their own armed security detail with my money while forcing me into unarmed helplessness. It must stop now. Know it.

With the Mao Zedong fan club in the White House, a clueless, rookie president hellbent on spending like a maniac as unprecedented debt piles up all around him, and every other imaginable indicator of an America turned upside-down, it comes as no surprise that this insane level of madness has metastasized into a Supreme Court where the Bill of Rights is being trashed by clueless, dangerously insulated old people intentionally disconnected from the real world, where the possession of a firearm often means the difference between life and death for good, innocent Americans every day of the year.

Whose side are these “justices” on?

To dismiss this self-evident truth is literally to side with a failed court system and the evil perpetrators of its insidious, engineered recidivism, virtually guaranteeing stacks of dead victims at the hands of released monsters, while the supreme black-robers go about their professionally protected little lives.

Tell me these four Supreme Court justices don’t know this. Tell me they qualify to have any variation of the term “justice” associated with their names in any way, shape or form. Tell me you believe in forced unarmed helplessness of good American families. Tell me you care. Ask me if I do.

We’d better get crackin’, America. The Supreme Court indecision on the Second Amendment (and I don’t want to hear about the close call) is further proof that the American way is being attacked like never before. I hope all Americans are raising hell like I am, letting elected officials know that we are deeply offended by the course America is on. Fedzilla in all its ugly forms is beyond out of control. The Mao Zedong fan club is moving forward at a breakneck pace to disassemble fundamentally the American dream. It must be stopped.

This blatant disregard for the most basic human right and instinct to self-defense is as bad as it gets. It is time to clean house. Time for real hope and change. I hope we change back to the real America as fast as possible. My life is worth protecting, and my American dream is worth fighting to get back.

“To keep” means it’s mine – you can’t have it. “Bear arms” can only mean one thing: I’ve got some on me right here, right now. “Shall not be infringed” also needs no interpretation, unless you just don’t get it. Get it. And get it right.

Ted Nugent

“What better way to kick off the 4th of July then to read something like this from someone who cares more about our rights as Americans than anyone alive I know. You have our full support Ted Nugent.” – Jason Fackrell

Happy 4th of July America!

Freedom Is Not Free.

Jason Fackrell – Founder of Hunters Against PETA

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

The Anti's Are Banding Together To Fight For Wolves' Survival

The controversy regarding the wolf problem was recently heard by a federal judge on whether wolves should be put again on the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

This case is very important and will likely decide the future of wolves and other species and how they will be placed on the ESA in the future.

On June 15th, Judge Donald. W Molloy heard arguments from both sides over whether wolves should be removed the ESA or not. More than 14 anti-hunting groups such as the HSUS and Defenders of Wildlife banded together and filed a suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Resources (FWS) pressuring them to overturn the decision and get wolves placed back on the ESA.

(Feb 2008) – After much debate and study the FWS decided to remove the wolves from the ESA in Montana and Idaho but would not grant Wyoming permission to hunt wolves because according the the FWS, Wyoming did not have plans to properly protect their wolf population.

The anti’s are arguing that the “split protection” is wrong and that if the entire population is threatened that the entire population must be placed back on the ESA.

Back in September, 2009 the same Judge Molloy refused to block scheduled hunts in Montana and Idaho. However Judge Molloy did state that the FWS appeared to be in violation against the ESA because of their decision not to delist the wolves from Wyoming.

This is a direct quote from Judge Molloy, “the service has distinguished a natural population of wolves based on the political line, not the best available science” and went on to state “that by definition, seems arbitrary and capricious.”

Anyone who has read any studies regarding the wolves know what a serious threat they are to our big game population especially the elk population.

We at Hunters Against PETA will never stop fighting the serious wolf problem until all wolves are removed and taken off of the Endangered Species List.

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Toby Bridges Update Regarding Serious Wolf Problem

Dear Shooting & Hunting Industry Member;

The following e-mail went to Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle yesterday, in regards to the fast growing wolf populations in those states - and the now declining deer populations in those areas where wolves have a strong presence.

While hunters are now beginning to feel the bite of the wolf…the residents of these states have only seen the tip of that iceberg.

The following includes two LOBO WATCH links, to a two-part report written by former USFWS Chief of Operations for the National Wildlife Refuge system, Jim Beers - and it takes a hard look at what lies ahead.

When is the shooting & hunting industry going to organize and get involved with a strong, unified stand against the idiocy of allowing wolves to continue spreading into other wildlife rich regions of this country? Hunting opportunities are now beginning to dry up in Montana, Idaho, and northwestern Wyoming. And wolves are now moving out of these areas and into Washington, Oregon and Colorado…just as they moved out of Minnesota and into Wisconsinand the UP of Michigan.

And as it has everywhere wolves are allowed to establish strong population levels, the amount of huntable big game quickly crashes.

Is the shooting and hunting industry going to sit on its ass and watch the past hundred years of conservation efforts simply be lost? Many of those who live in the West have witnessed the loss of 60- to 80-percent of some very fine elk herds to wolves, and they already feel as if the industry has deserted them.

Toby Bridges
LOBO WATCH
100 Parker Court
Missoula, MT 59801

wolfkill@lobowatch.com

www.lobowatch.com

Jim Beers retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after 32 years of service, during which he filled positions as a wildlife biologist, a special agent, and even as the Chief of Operations for the National Wildlife Refuge system, among others.

He has seen USFWS at its best, and at its worst.

In a two-part report published on the LOBO WATCH website, he shares the true reason why wolves are being reestablished as the primary predator, wolf impact, their spread, and the danger they pose to all Americans.

Whether you are for or against having wolves among us, these eye-opening reports share details about wolves that most Americans have not been told by those who are forcing us to accept them. If we’re going to be faced with living with wolves, here is the start to the education every one of us will require.

Part 1 – Wolf Country in 2010

http://www.lobowatch.com/WhyWolves.html

Part 2 – Wolves, A Deadly Threat Coming To Urban America

http://www.lobowatch.com/WhyWolves2.html

Ironically, as I was building the page for Part 2 of Jim Beers’ report on LOBO WATCH yesterday, I received a phone call from a local predator controller who had just been alerted that 15 wolves had been spotted on a mountain side only about 3 miles from where I sat. The pack had crossed just above the big white “L” (Loyola Sacred Heart High School) on Mount Jumbo…right at the edge of Missoula.

It’s happening.

Toby Bridges
LOBO WATCH

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com

Press Release From Toby Bridges Regarding The Lack Of Wolf Control

Are The Northern Rockies In A Predator Pit?

Just what is a “Predator Pit”?

Wolf researchers have come to use the term when referring to an area where predators have pulled prey populations down so low that recovery of those populations is impossible, unless there is a drastic reduction in the number of predators. The situation results from how predators affect prey numbers in two different ways. One is the manner in which predators, especially wolves, kill far more adult prey animals than needed to survive, commonly referred to as “surplus killing”. The second is the destruction of the prey age class, due to the loss of newborn young of the year. And the loss of that recruitment can be either due to outright killing of fawns and calves in the spring (with excessive surplus killing), or due to the stress predators (especially wolves) place on pregnant females in winter, causing them to abort their fetuses. In the classic predator pit situation, a rising number of predators results in a constant decline in prey numbers, with the average age of surviving prey animals becoming older and older with each passing year – to the point that reproductive growth becomes impossible and the prey base begins to die off from old age.

This accurately describes the situation in much of the Northern Rocky Mountains of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming today.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, populations of elk, moose and other big game had recovered well from the record lows of the early 1900s, and by the mid 1990s many areas of the Northern Rockies boasted record wildlife populations. And through all of that recovery from the market hunting era of the late 1800s, there were still viable populations of mountain lions, black bear, and in some areas even a few grizzlies. The only missing predator was the wolf. America’s sportsmen had poured billions of dollars into modern conservation projects, many of which took decades to accomplish, and they had been rewarded with an abundance of game. So much so, that during the 1980s and 1990s many joked that “The Good Ol’ Days Are Now!”.

Now, they know there was more to that feeling than anyone at that time could have realized.

Against the wishes of the vast majority of sportsmen in this country, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began releasing wolves back into the Northern Rockies in 1995. And as wolf numbers quickly grew, thanks to federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, the dynamics of the predator to prey ratio likewise quickly changed. When the first 31 wolves were dumped back into Yellowstone National Park (1995-1996), close to 20,000 elk made up the northern Yellowstone elk herd. Today, there are more than 400 wolves within the Greater Yellowstone Area – and the northern Yellowstone elk herd, which is one of several herds in the region, has plummeted to fewer than 6,000 remaining animals. And those that have managed to survive the constant pursuit of wolf packs, some of which are now known to number 20 or more adults, have become a very geriatric herd. In 1995-96, the average age of that elk herd was around 4 years of age, today the remaining animals are an average of 8 to 9 years of age. Calf recruitment in the spring is presently near zero.

Yellowstone’s elk herds are dying. And so are the elk herds in many other areas of western Montana, northwestern Wyoming, and the northern half of Idaho. The area is definitely well into a predator pit situation. And the elk aren’t the only big game that’s now quickly disappearing. Moose, which were once plentiful in the Northern Rockies, have become nearly non-existent. In fact, within Yellowstone National Park, they could probably qualify as an “Endangered Species”. Likewise, throughout the entire region, mule deer, bighorn sheep and mountain goat populations are also in serious decline – and the problem is wolf depredation.

Sportsmen and others who are concerned about the future of wildlife in this once wildlife rich region of the country are now beginning to organize to take on those who seem to have one goal in mind – and that is to put an end to sport hunting. Who are the enemies?

Topping the list is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We now know that when Congress denied funding for capturing Canadian wolves and transplanting them into Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, USFWS literally stole the money needed for the project from the excise taxes sportsmen paid on firearms, ammunition, archery equipment and fishing gear, through what is known as the Pitman-Robertson Act. These funds are to be used exclusively for wildlife habitat and fisheries improvement. USFWS helped itself to somewhere between $60- and $70-million dollars to finance several unauthorized uses – including the funding needed to dump wolves back into the Northern Rockies ecosystem.

Right there with USFWS is a long list of anti-hunting “environmental” organizations, including the Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, the Human Society of the United States, and a few dozen others. These groups have learned to use wolf impact on big game populations as a tool to put an end to hunting. Without a surplus of big game, there’s no need for hunters. It’s that simple. And one former upper echelon USFWS division chief, who blew the whistle on the theft of millions from Pitman-Robertson funds, also says that USFWS has entered into under-the-table agreements with the environmentalists – those who want more wolves, and fewer hunters.

And as absurd as it may sound, several of the state wildlife agencies which sportsmen have funded and supported since those agencies were founded have also bought into all the lies, deceit and theft that has now been associated with the Wolf Recovery Project of the Northern Rockies. And as these same sportsmen learn more about all that’s wrong with introducing non-native, non-endangered Canadian wolves into Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, upper management within a couple of these agencies continues the cover up of the damage wolves have already dealt big game populations, livestock impact due to wolf depredation, the loss of hunting opportunities, how USFWS manipulated wolf science to justify the introduction of an invasive wolf subspecies, the true number of wolves in their respective states, and what it is going to take to gain control of this problem.

Perhaps the worst of the state wildlife agency lot has been Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Sportsmen in this state have become extremely agitated at MT FWP’s inability to get a handle on the impact wolves are dealing elk, moose and other big game – and that was very evident at one of the agency’s regional meetings to discuss wolves and wolf “management” on June 2, 2010. That meeting took place in Missoula, for the state’s Region 2 management unit.

A presentation by Regional Supervisor Mack Long, Regional Wildlife Manager Mike Thompson, and Regional Wolf Coordinator Liz Bradley, to detail the impact wolves were having on big game populations and various proposed wolf season harvest quotas, only tended to further agitate the 150 or so attending the meeting. Their anger was very evident, and some of the accusation very pointed. It was clear that they had had enough of wolves, and enough of losing the wildlife populations they had funded to build. And they wanted something done, and done quickly to turn things around.

But, there was no encouragement from those making the presentation. They presented three different levels of harvest. If the statewide quota was set at 153, they claimed it would reduce the number of wolves in the state by only 9-percent. Should FWP go with a harvest quota of 186 wolves, that would reduce the state wolf population by 13-percent. If the quota was set at 216, Thompson claimed that the overall state wolf population would be reduced by 20-percent.

But, 9-, 13- or 20-percent of what? The sportsmen of Montana are fully aware of the fact that MT FWP does not have a clue about the true number of wolves within the state. During an Environmental Quality Committee meeting at the State Capitol Building in Helena in early March, the agency admitted they had not done an official wolf count since 2008. The Chairman of that committee questioned the accuracy of their counts when he shared that two years ago, when he asked how many wolf packs were in the area of his home in northwest Montana, FWP told him just one. Then, this past winter they admitted they knew of at least six, maybe eight packs there.

Extremely few of the sportsmen in that room for the meeting bought FWP’s claim of having just 500-550 wolves in the state. Most feel there are at least twice that many, as evidenced by the loss of big game numbers all along the western side of Montana.

Attending the meeting was Bob Ream, Chairman of the MT FWP Commission, who had willingly worked with the introduction of the non-native Canadian wolves throughout the Northern Rockies at the start of the project. He angered the crowd even more when he stated, “More than 60-percent of the wolves now in Montana came here from Canada on their own.”

If that’s true, why did USFWS feel so compelled to embezzle more than $60-million dollars from the funds provided by sportsmen for improving wildlife and fisheries habitat – in order to introduce wolves? Many of those at the meeting felt that it was just more of the agency’s cover up of a mad-scientist experiment gone bad.

So, what would it take to bring Montana’s (along with Idaho’s and Wyoming’s) elk, moose and other big game populations out of the predator pit situation they’ve been thrown into by misguided federal and state wildlife agencies? One thing is for certain, it’ll take a heck of a bigger reduction of wolf numbers than 20-percent!

Before writing his acclaimed book, “Wolves in Russia – Anxiety Through the Ages”, author Will Graves spent several decades researching and studying wolves and their impact in that country. He shares that to reverse the negative impact wolves have on wildlife populations, livestock production, plus the emotional, health and safety threat to human inhabitants of a wolf populated region, the Russian government found it necessary to reduce wolf populations by as much as 80-percent. And they did so by using semi- and full-auto gunfire from helicopters. During Grave’s research, wolf control in that country carried a price tag of about $45-million annually.

Will Graves claims, “Wolves cannot be managed…they have to be controlled!”

In his May 2008 declaration for the wolf delisting hearing and pending “wolf management hunts”, Dr. L. David Mech stated, “It has not been demonstrated that ‘a substantial reduction’ in wolf abundance will occur, and my opinion is that it will not because merely to hold a wolf population stationary requires an annual take of 28-50% per year.”

Mech went on to declare that wildlife agencies outside of the Northern Rockies recovery area try to kill 70% of the wolf population annually in order to achieve a reduction in wolf numbers. He was referring to what it takes to keep wolf levels low enough to prevent a predator pit situation in Alaska and areas of Canada. According to this wolf biologist and researcher, who is considered by many to be the top wolf expert in the world, sport hunting as currently being implemented by the wildlife agencies in Montana and Idaho normally do nothing to reduce wolf populations.

Even if MT FWP goes into the 2010 wolf season with a quota of 216 wolves, and that quota is met, it simply means that by next spring there will be still more wolves on the landscape of Montana than there are as this is written – and that western Montana’s predator pit situation will only worsen. More elk, more moose, more deer, more bighorn sheep, more mountain goats will be lost to the wolves, and those animals that do manage to survive the continuous onslaught of those apex predators will inch one more year closer to being lost to old age. The big game populations that have provided food for western families, an opportunity for sportsmen to harvest the surplus bounty and enjoy time afield with family and friends, and which have simply provided viewing enjoyment for countless wildlife watchers are dangerously close to being lost forever.

Sportsmen fully realize what they are losing, and they feel those who they have entrusted to wisely manage these wildlife resources are now asleep at the wheel – or just don’t care anymore. Wolf impact on the Northern Rockies is a bomb that’s about ready to explode, and the fuse keeps getting shorter and shorter. - Toby Bridges, LOBO WATCH

www.LoboWatch.com

100 Parker Court - Missoula, MT 59801 (406) 542-9751

http://www.HuntersAgainstPETA.com