Free Republic

We've all been there...walking around the local gun store (or, as I like to call it, the Magic Goody Shop) and seen Russian-made steel cased .223 ammo selling for quite a bit less than the brass versions of the same rounds. And, many of us have fallen to temptation and bought scads of the stuff, thinking of how much money we'll save, and how we can plink 'til our heart's content for pennies on the dollar. And then, many of us have faced the bitter disappointment of repeated malfunctions and losing money when we give away a large pile of...

I became hyper-interested in canids awhile back when I read something about coy-wolf hybrids in the northeast part of the US. I've been reading about them lately. I know there is an ongoing effort to "re-introduce" wolves into certain parts of the united states. This upsets a lot of folks and makes others giddy with excitement. So, I am sharing my only personal wolf story I can because it is the only one I have. It isn't much since they've been extinct in these parts for a very long time. My cousin used to tell me stories about the old-timers...

Over 20,000 years ago, humans won the evolutionary battle against Neanderthals. They may have had some assistance in that from their best friends. One of the most compelling -- and enduring -- mysteries in archaeology concerns the rise of early humans and the decline of Neanderthals. For about 250,000 years, Neanderthals lived and evolved, quite successfully, in the area that is now Europe. Somewhere between 45,000 and 35,000 years ago, early humans came along.They proliferated in their new environment, their population increasing tenfold in the 10,000 years after they arrived; Neanderthals declined and finally died away. What happened? What went...

A former banker who blew the whistle on thousands of secret bank accounts rich Americans held at Swiss giant UBS claimed Thursday some U.S. politicians also kept off-shore accounts with the bank. "We had an office in Washington that we all referred to as the PEP office - for 'Politically Exposed People,'" Bradley Birkenfeld said. He was speaking by phone - on tax day, no less - from Schuylkill County federal prison in Pennsylvania, where he is serving a 40-month sentence for his role in the tax evasion scheme. "Only top managers from the bank knew the names of the...

Who Is Funding Barack Obama? by Paul Hollrah In a July 10 installment of “The World According to Barack,” we discussed Obama’s phenomenal fundraising juggernaut. Obama boasts of having built a contributor base of 1.5 million people, each contributing $5, $10, $20...or, as Obama assures us, “whatever they could afford.” Please do the math with me. The Obama campaign has disclosed that one-fourth, or $66.25 million of the $265 million reported as of May 31, 2008 (he has raised an additional $70 million during the month of June), came from those contributing $2,000, or more...which means that the remainder, or...

Wednesday, the Wisconsin Assembly voted 69 to 25 to concur with Senate Bill 411, sponsored by state Senator Terry Moulton (R-23), which passed in the state Senate by an overwhelming 24 to 9 vote. This bill is now with Governor Scott Walker’s desk awaiting his signature. If enacted, SB 411 will create the first wolf hunting season east of the Mississippi since the wolf’s delisting from the endangered species list. Like Assembly Bill 502, its companion bill in the Assembly sponsored by state Representative Scott Suder (R-69), SB 411 would authorize the Department of Natural Resources to establish a season...

HELENA, MONT. — The wolf population in the Northern Rockies rose in 2011 despite the removal of federal protections and hunts held in Montana and Idaho, federal wildlife officials said Wednesday. The animal's numbers rose by more than 7 percent to 1,774 wolves, as state officials look for more ways to reduce the population under pressure from hunters and ranchers who blame the predators for livestock and big-game losses. Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/03/07/2025566/northern-rockies-wolf-population.html#storylink=cpy

Wyoming lawmakers appear ready to change the state’s wolf management law to accommodate an agreement that Gov. Matt Mead and U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar reached last year on ending federal protections for the animals in the state. Under the agreement, wolves could be shot on sight in much of the state. The Republican governor has made wolf management a priority, saying the animals threaten agricultural interests and other wildlife. Officials say there are about 300 wolves in the state, and Mead has said the population grows by 10 percent every year. Under the deal, Wyoming would commit to...

MADISON – At least seven wolves appear to have been illegally killed during the recently completed Nov. 19-27 gun deer hunt, according to state wildlife officials. The shootings are being investigated. “It is unfortunate that some individuals have chosen to illegally kill these wolves. We understand that there is frustration with the slow response of the federal government that would allow us to actively manage our wolf population, but it is an illegal act and a federal offense,” said Kurt Thiede, land division administrator for the state Department of Natural Resources. “What we need is federal authority to legally deal...

Some Wisconsin residents will be able hunt problem wolves as early as next week according to the state DNR. This comes after wolves were removed from the federal endangered species list last month. The DNR says landowners with wolves that have killed livestock will be able to get a permit to hunt the problem wolves by this Friday. That same day people without a permit will also be allowed to shoot a wolf if it is attacking personal property. Minnesota has also promised a brief wolf hunt, although nothing is set up yet.

The recent killing of an aggressive Mexican gray wolf by federal agents at a ranch near Winston could lead to a reassessment of the already struggling recovery effort for that species. The wolf was reportedly shot by agents with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services division on Dec. 14, after it paced across the porch and gazed through the window of John and Crystal Diamond’s Beaverhead Ranch home. The Diamond residence is located in Catron County, although near enough to Sierra County to be in the Winston mailing area. The wolf was killed just weeks after the Arizona Game...

Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife The alpha wolf in the Imnaha pack was collared in May and is being tracked by state biologists. A pack of wolves roaming grasslands in Eastern Oregon killed another cow over the weekend. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said a yearling heifer was found dead on a ranch east of Joseph in Wallowa County. ODFW officials said the rancher had coraled his 700 cattle Sunday night in a pasture near his home and that the wolves broke in and chased them out, killing a heifer. The wolves returned the next night...

At least two wolves chased down and killed a teacher who was jogging on a road last year outside a rural Alaska village, according to a report released Tuesday by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Unanimous adoption of a controversial wolf management plan by the Washington Fish & Wildlife Commission has ignited a firestorm in the hunting community, with concerns over the future viability of big game herds combining with a sense that the commission has turned its backs on sportsmen and women who pay the tab for wildlife management. Anger and frustration may turn to political action and with the Legislature convening next month, if this state’s sportsmen finally figure out how to speak with a single voice, it could be rough on lawmakers who normally pay no attention to the hook-and-bullet crowd. Hunters...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska— The Anchorage Police Department reports a dog was attacked and injured by a wolf in Eagle River early Sunday morning. Otto and Theresa McLean say they called dispatchers shortly before 5 a.m. to report that a wolf had attacked their Dachshund, Sandy. The dog had just been let out of their home when the McLeans heard a yelp; they opened the door again and Sandy ran inside, while a white wolf ran away from the scene.

Hybrid offspring of coyotes and wolves have spread south along the eastern seaboard, a new DNA study confirms. Scientists already knew that some coyotes, which have been gradually expanding their range eastward, mated with wolves in the Great Lakes (map) region. The pairings created viable hybrid offspring—identified by their DNA and skulls—that have been found in mid-Atlantic states such as New York and Pennsylvania. Now, new DNA analysis of coyote poop shows for the first time that some coyotes in the state of Virginia are also part wolf. Scientists think these animals are coyote-wolf hybrids that traveled south from...

Story of the Week WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG, BAD WOLF? MamamaMEEE!! This wolf was shot recently in Drayton Valley , Alberta.which is near Edmonton about 3 hours North of Calgary. The wolf weighed over 230 lbs smashing the previous record of 175 lbs. Wouldn't want to run into this puppy in the woods. Apparently a bear hunter witnessed this wolf chase off a big black bear at his baiting station..

Environmentalist arguments that wolves do not pose a potential threat to humans took another hit when bowhunter Rene Anderson took what she is convinced was a defensive action and fatally shot a wolf that had moved aggressively to within ten feet of her on a remote ridge near Headquarters, Idaho. Anderson, speaking to this column Friday morning, said the animal loped toward her while she was elk hunting back on Sept. 25. Her story is just now moving into high gear across the Internet, and she is being supported by friends and co-workers in Pierce, a community about 13 miles...

Following approval of a revised wolf management plan by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed to remove the gray wolf population in Wyoming from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. Due to recovery efforts and the provisions of the revised state plan, the Wyoming wolf population is healthy and stable, current and future threats to wolves have been addressed, and a post-delisting monitoring and management framework has been developed. Today’s formal proposal follows an agreement with the state of Wyoming that serves as the blueprint for returning wolf management to...

Your Sept. 23 editorial “Way of the Wolf in Wyoming” implies that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Fish and Wildlife Service have somehow betrayed the species we worked so hard to recover. And it is recovered. Today, more than 1,650 wolves, in 244 packs, occupy the northern Rocky Mountains, exceeding recovery goals for 11 consecutive years. We understand the emotional reaction to wolf hunting, but the facts don’t support your conclusions. Wyoming’s plan will maintain a healthy wolf population...