Posted on 06/06/2006 9:19:05 AM PDT by tgusa
GRANGEVILLE — Hello. My name is Scott Richards. I have lived in Grangeville for the last 17 years. I have enjoyed training my hunting dogs for the past 34 years.
To do this it takes a great deal of love for your dogs and for the great outdoors. I have always prided myself in the manner of which I train my dogs and take care of them. When I choose a new pup, he or she spends the first 6 months in my house. He or she is loved and a bond is there forever. I do not believe there are bad dogs, just inexperienced owners. I have spent the last four years trying to introduce this sport to as many young people as I can. My photo albums are full of pictures with children sitting under a tree with the dogs, telling them they did a good job.
(Excerpt) Read more at idahopress.com ...
Here's another tid-bit for your viewing pleasure:
"She was trying to get up; her stomach was ripped open and her guts were hanging out a foot. She had more than 60 bite marks and deep gashes all over her body. Her stomach was torn in multiple spots.
Bryon went into action. Off came his shirt, and we wrapped it tightly around her stomach. I carried her back to Bryon’s truck and put her in the front seat; Brian headed for the vets. I remember thinking I wouldn’t see Halley alive again.
I started tracking Blackey next; it did not take long to find him. He wasn’t far from where the wolf came after me. He was dead and lying in a pool of his own blood. He was bit and torn so full of holes that I just fell to the ground bawling and crying. I could not quit thinking, “He gave his life to save me.”
I was sitting there when it hit me: “Lady! I’d better get to Lady.” When I tuned her in, I knew she was within a 100 yards. I lined up with her collar, and the next thing I knew there she was in a heap, her eyes wide open, looking straight into my eyes. For one second I thought she might be alive. When I knelt down beside her, I knew she was dead.
It’s very difficult to describe the type of death these dogs were handed. It was easy to see that the wolves want to cripple their prey, torture it and then kill it. I have never seen a worse way for any animal or person to die.
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It did not take long before we were standing over the remains of the dog that saved me from harm. All that was left of him was his head and backbone. Had we been an hour later, there would have been nothing left of him.
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We piled heavy stones on his grave, and I walked away thinking that it could have been me. I could have been just a pile of wolf scat lying on the ground and leaving people to wonder where I had disappeared to.
I couldn’t help but think of the 22-year-old man who was killed and eaten by wolves in Canada this winter. There’s been a slaughter on hound dogs and pets in Idaho, and it is getting worse daily. I have been assured that if these wolves kill any cows, sheep, goats, pigs or horses, they will become a problem and will be dealt with, and the owners will be compensated.
That’s a relief.
Dogs have no value to anyone in the government, it seems.
So what I love to do is over; I will not send another dog to slaughter or feed another starving wolf pack. My concerns now are that the wolves are running out of easy prey and are now eating dogs.
In wet, muddy areas where elk and moose have always been plentiful, I no longer can find even a track.
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The general public is unaware of the danger that awaits them. Since I retired, I have spent no less than four days a week in the mountains. What has amazed me are how many of these wolves are right around people’s homes. When they are out of easy prey, be ready.
For as long as I can remember, when you were in the mountains for any reason, a dog by your side was a great defense to warn you of predators. I used to believe in this. But now a dog is nothing more than bait to lure wolves.
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The most important thing, in my opinion, is to pack a firearm. I personally believe pepper spray will not work in a pack attack. Keep your dogs quiet when you are walking — no barking. If they are tied up in camp, no barking. And don’t let your children play with your pets and have them barking while they’re playing.
My personal belief is that the war has been lost. It’s too late to save our big-game herds in my lifetime.
What I have loved to do for most of my life is over, so enjoy it while you still can. Be prepared. I pray you never encounter a pack of Canadian gray wolves.
And you would write about it with your real name attached? He might be doing just that, but sensibly keeping it quiet.
Guess he doesn't realize his dogs are just a step removed from wolves. Dog packs do the same thing.
I wonder what prompted the attack. I know canids in general hate others of the family--wolves will run down and kill foxes just on principle. The other possibility is they really were starving, in which case the population is not being managed properly.
Someone had dumped two dogs out in the country near us. They were some kind of mixed breed. One looked alot like a husky. I don't know why they dumped them. The dogs got very hungry and started hunting on people ranches. They started with small animals like rabbits. We woke up one morning to find them attacking our three bottle fed calves. The smallest calf is probably about 140 pounds. The other two were more like 180. Anyhow these dogs, which were wild at this point, more like wolves, tore the calves hind quarters to shreds! I had no idea how viscious this could be. We had to put one of the claves down immediatley. She was missing a lot of muscle on her back legs, and had wholes torn through them. The other two were also chewed up. We got them to the vet. Infection is presented the moment they get bit. Generally vets don't sew up these wounds right away because they have to drain. It has been almost two weeks. Today we have to take one of the calves back to have her hind leg amputated. The attack destroyed the blood supply. The wounds from these type of attacks get much worse looking before they get better. This is because this type of attack causes so much tissue damage that the tissue has to rot away before new tissue can regrow. On one of the calve, one of the initial bites had about a one and three quarter diameter. Now that all the damaged tissue has fallen away it is about a 5 inches longs and three inches wide. It's really terrible as you can see the muscle and bone. The good thing is that both calves, despite their injuries seem to feel good, and are eating well. As for the wild dogs, well, we caught up with them and no one will be seeing them anymore.
It was probably hungry and waiting for YUGO to go by, which it knew it could run down and feast on ;-)
nice article, here in georgia it's the wild hogs (tuskers) and if there is a more evil and cunning son of a bitch than these brutes, i don't know of any.....carry a .357 mag when quail hunting because many times these critters will attack without provocation upon sight....at least when i'm deer hunting i'm usually up a tree, but imagine stumbling upon of of these at 4:30 in the morning getting to the tree....
What is truly amazing is the early settlers in this country understood the dangers of wolves very well and worked very hard to eradicate them. Then memories of just what type of vicious predator they are dimmed and we have all been sold a bill of goods to bring them back. If wolves were not a major problem, the pioneers would not have worked so hard to rid us of them to begin with. JMO
As late as '71-'73, the local mini-mart sold ammunition for rifles and shotguns, and the guns themselves. They even had one like mine, although with the manufacturers, High Standard, brand on it, rather than J.C.Higgins. Generally I call such combination gas station mini store a "Stop and Rob", but not that chain at that time. :) I recall riding bicycles with a bunch of 14 year olds, all of us with shotguns, some in soft cases, some not. The year would have been 1964. It was hunting season, but in those days that was mid October through mid January. This was on an arterial street, in a city of about 100,000. Nobody said anything, since it wasn't illegal nor unusual. These were mostly 12 gauge shotguns, at least one 20, mine.
With all due respect I am sorry that this guy's dogs were attacked HOWEVER this could have easily been a bear or mountain lion. They were treeing sows and were obviously in the wilderness where wild animals are and belong. Bears and mountain lions can be just as dangerous to humans and livestock, should we eradicate them too? This article reads like some hero story out of Boy's life magazine.
I am all for destroying wolves and other animals that attack humans and livestock but it is absurd to whine about dangerous encounters with wild animals when you are in their element. Carry a pistol or rifle and take care of the problem if one arises but otherwise enjoy the wildlife and remember that the wilderness is their world.
You did those dogs (and yourself and your neighbors) a favor.
hahahahahaha
Wild boar are an introduced species and quite damaging to their habitat, I wouldn't mind having them exterminated in the US. They're also doing a number on Australia's environment, I hear.
Sounds good, but that is not the way it has worked out. In areas where wolves have been reintroduced ranchers were assured they would be paid for wolf kills. The reality is the rancher has to have absolute proof that the livestock was killed by a wolf. Photos of wolves eating the killed livestock are not even enough proof usually. In order to get paid the rancher pretty much has to have photos or video of wolves killing the stock- which of course is nearly impossible to get. Ranchers in wolf areas have lost many calves, and there is usually no evidence of what happened to them- the rancher knows he had a bigger calf crop before the wolves were released, but no proof that wolves are the cause of lower calf crops now.
In reality the ranchers are suffering from wolf reintroduction and are seldom paid for kills.
In a very real sense, they are the same species. They can mate and are such matings produce offspring. Those offspring, unlike a cross between an ass and a horse, are fertile as well. There are of course behavior and physiological differences, the later primarily related to the estrus cycle of the females, not to mention the wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors and behavioral characteristics we have forced on the poor dogs for our own reasons. None the less, they are the same. Coyotes too for that matter.
"Frank Robbins runs about 3,000 head of Angus cattle... one 3-5 year old cow weighing 1,200 pounds is valued at about $1,000. "
"We're missing 10-15 head," Robbins said. His neighbor, who runs 300 head, is missing five.
He says the federal government "turned my ranch into a recovery zone for the wolf," adding they "are willing to sacrifice us to get (wolves) delisted."
In 10 years Robbins says he has never received any payment for loss of cattle to predators.
In one case he said a predator control officer observed a wolf eating a dead cow, but the officer could not say what killed it.
http://www.codyenterprise.com/articles/2004/03/08/news/news2.txt
Yep, the gray wolf, red wolf, coyote, and dogs are all almost subspecies of one species, it seems. However I would like to preserve the gray wolf and red wolf. Coyotes and dogs need no help!
Six Wolves kill 650 pound yearling steer
By PERRY BACKUS
Montana Standard
ENNIS – Jim Nelson nearly had wolves at his doorstep Tuesday morning.
When feeding cattle in a nearby pasture in the Bear Creek area of the Madison Valley, Nelson was surprised to see six gray wolves feeding on a 650-pound yearling steer.
“He was so close that he could have thrown a baseball at them,” said his stepdaughter, Bennie Clark.
Clark said three houses are located within about 200 yards of the kill site.
“The kill was right in the center of all three,” she said.
That marked the fourth confirmed wolf kill in the Madison Valley in less than a week .
“We’re not moneyed people who can just absorb this kind of loss,” said Clark. She and her husband, Gary, owned the yearling that was killed.
“This has a huge impact on us ... we’ve told Ed (Bangs) that we have to live here and want to make this work.
Now we’re begging for help.”
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