Posted on 09/10/2021 7:11:56 AM PDT by marktwain
Wolves from a game camera in Wisconsin, courtesy Dean Weingarten
On 20 August 2021, the Montana Fish & Wildlife Commission voted to follow the intent of bill SB314, passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Greg Gianforte, on 30 April 2021. SB314 was passed with the goal of reducing the wolf population while maintaining a minimum of 15 breeding pairs or 300 wolves in Montana. The 15 breeding pairs or 300 wolves are mandated to keep the wolf in Montana from being re-listed as an endangered species by the Federal government.
Re-listing would remove management of the wolf population from state control. The bill passed 62 to 35 in the House, 29 to 20 in the Senate, and was signed by Montana Governor Greg Gianforte on 30 April 2021. From ktvq.com:
After a public comment period that drew more than 26,000 comments, the Montana Fish & Wildlife Commission at its August 20 meeting adopted several changes to the 2021/2022 wolf hunting and trapping regulations.
Changes include eliminating quotas, increasing the number of wolf trapping and hunting licenses allowed for individual hunters, extending wolf trapping seasons, and the allowance of snares for trapping wolves.
Here is a summation of the rule changes, from a transcript of the Commission adoption of Wolf Harvest rules for 2021-2022.
There is no quota for the number of wolves to be harvested. A review of the harvest by the Fish & Wildlife Commission is required when 450 wolves are reported as taken. Another review will be triggered whenever an additional 50 wolves are harvested.
Wolf trappers are allowed a total of 10 wolves for the season. Wolf hunters have to buy a license for each wolf taken,
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Many federal decisions are based upon input from people who do not have to live with the predators.
Good news.
I’m ok with protecting predators. Having said that I do believe ranchers should be compensated for predator kills.
“Many federal decisions are based upon input from people who do not have to live with the predators.”
Many state decisions are based on input from people who do not have to live with the predators also.
The liberal pukes in Ann Arbor and Detoilet don’t have to deal with the wolves up north in the UP.
I’m OK with killing them on sight.
I've just been having some strange nightmares lately.
They voted to follow the law?
Hm, trapping and using wolves as a business model.
I would suppose wolves eat coyotes, deer and Canada geese?
Thinking rent-a-wolf with a shock collar, set to the perimeters of a farm.
I’ll keep the pets in.
Yes.
Apparently, many found their action to be controversial.
“...Having said that I do believe ranchers should be compensated for predator kills.”
Here in Montana there is a fund for just this very thing. It had to be put in place in order for the wolf to be reintroduced BACK into Montana, politically.
They didn’t “reintroduce” wolves. There are several different species of wolves. The species they inserted into Montana were Canadian Gray wolves which are larger than the species that was there.
BTW - what they did was illegal. But the Feds in concert with environmentalist wackos got away with it.
https://www.huntingfishing.com/index.php/canadian-wolves-got-yellowstone/
Fortunately wolves are not a problem in Texas, but we do have coyotes and feral hogs, both a big problem. Wolves have been gone or mostly gone for a long time.
Coyotes are a problem though, they will wipe out your chickens in no time if they can find a way inside the fence. Hogs do a lot of damage to crops every year, and they have rooted in my yard several times, the last time they did it I watched 3 roam across the yard, and before I could get inside and grab my 243, they were gone again and had rooted up a patch of my mother’s yard you could park 2 cars in.
A neighbor has been losing chickens to the coyotes for a long time, and I saw 2 run across the yard a month ago. Couldn’t make it outside with my 22 pistol (all I had with me) before they disappeared.
Both coyotes and feral hogs are considered non game animals, and pests, legal to hunt any time but a hunting license is required. No bag limits. Hogs are often hunted at night, when they roam around more. About 30 years ago, Texas had a bounty on coyotes, I think it was 2 bucks per ear. You bring in just one ear off every animal you take, they would pay 2 bucks each, coyotes were that big a problem.
I’ve heard that in west texas they sometimes organize large rabbit hunts, to thin out the thousands of rabbits that sometimes beccome serious pests, when they attain those numbers. No natural predators, or few, not many people hunting them, they sometimes become such pests mass hunts have to be organized.
I read an article not long ago, probably here on FR, about the organized helicopter hunts for feral hogs. They have been a big problem for years, millions live in Texas.
Last time I saw any hogs around my neighborhood, I saw 4 or 5 adults and at least 4 young about 100 yards away, in the edge of a large patch of woods. Some of them are huge, probably close to the 400 pound mark. I used to work in cattle auctions, where hogs are brought in too, so I have a good general idea of the size/weight ratio. 300 pounds is a very large animal, and they are dangerous if they get mad or cornered. Don’t even get close to a 300lb sow with 3 or 4 little ones...bad idea...hogs in cattle auctions put me on the fence more than cows did by far. Most of the time your only option is to hop on top of the fence and let it run by...all wooden fences.
About 2 years ago one of them, about a 300 pounder, decided to create a nice wallow under my mother’s house next door, (unoccupied) and broke every water pipe under there. I had to turn all the water off until I found where the actual leak was, which is when I found the hog wallow, and of course replace all the pipes, and had to shoot the damn thing to get it out of our yard, it had decided to live there. There is still a depression over a foot deep and about 5 feet long by 3 feet wide under the house. 3 weeks after I shot the thing it was still too wet to get underneath and work on pipes. The day I found it no way, mud puddle over a foot deep.
I wish the word ‘harvested’ was not used. They are not a crop : )
Just say kill. It is concise and it is what needs to be done or you will have them as a bigger problem then the coyotes in your neighborhood.
Bumper:
Smoke A Pack A Day
“Many federal decisions are based upon input from people who do not have to live with the predators.”
A profound statement...applies to city, state, and local governments, as well! (and not just regarding actual wildlife)
“They didn’t “reintroduce” wolves”
YES they did. The wolf was hunted to extinction. It was a good thing
My point was that they introduced a species not native to Montana. Wolves is a generic term.
But not if the ranchers are using federal land.
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