wolves...
- Thread starter SurfnFish
- Start date
Coach Potter
Life of the Party
According to a friend who is in Wildlife Management, wolf reintroduction has become very secretive here in WA. Unfortunately, this is due to the wolves inevitable slaughter once the word is out about their selected location.
That’s just not true!
First of all, WA has a shit ton of wolves already…I was getting pictures of wolves on trail cameras 15 years ago…in WA.
Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming all have an open season on wolves and they are never going to be slaughtered. Hunting and killing a wolf is THE biggest challenge in all of hunting.
Maybe a new thread on what we would like to happen before we die.
Number ONE on my list is the restoration of Hetch Hetchy.
https://hetchhetchy.org/restoring-hetch-hetchy/
When you see them it’s hard to not know it’s a wolf. I’ve mistaken more wolves for deer than coyotes at a distance over the years based on size. Once you see how they move it’s apparent it’s a canine of some kind. Special to see them IMO. I understand they cannot be everywhere but hope they end up plentiful in places where conflict can be kept to a minimum.
With all the modern camera equipment she has gathered over the years and time we’ve spent in WY, MT and AK since our college years, it’s hard to believe the best wolf pic my hobbyist wildlife photographer wife has ever gotten of a wolf was circa 1998 or 1999 in YNP, at sunrise, with a pawn shop 35mm. Right place, right time. Pic of an actual printed pic so this version does not do it justice. We actually got the film developed in Canyon in the park. They used to have a place to do so back then. First question when we went to pick them up…you did not take this wolf pic here did you?? Was this at a zoo? Let me see, it’s sandwiched between a pic of a bison in a wallow and a sunrise over Yellowstone lake, what do you think
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With all the modern camera equipment she has gathered over the years and time we’ve spent in WY, MT and AK since our college years, it’s hard to believe the best wolf pic my hobbyist wildlife photographer wife has ever gotten of a wolf was circa 1998 or 1999 in YNP, at sunrise, with a pawn shop 35mm. Right place, right time. Pic of an actual printed pic so this version does not do it justice. We actually got the film developed in Canyon in the park. They used to have a place to do so back then. First question when we went to pick them up…you did not take this wolf pic here did you?? Was this at a zoo? Let me see, it’s sandwiched between a pic of a bison in a wallow and a sunrise over Yellowstone lake, what do you think
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Flymph
Life of the Party
My friend's info is true and earlier introduced wolves were needlessly killed with a $20,000 reward for solid info leading to the arrest of their destroyers. I will say no more about an additional introduction or the area for the protection of the animals. As far as a "shit ton" as you put it, that is your opinion. As others have posted there our places that wolves could be reintroduced producing positive results.
Pink Nighty
Legend
What positive results are you anticipating seeing in the ONP? And can you show that there's a problem needing addressing?
I understand that "wolves not being where they use to be" is a problem for some, and i would like wolves to fill as many niches as they still can. But to treat them as some type of ecological cure all seems silly. It looks like they're beneficial to places suffering from way too many grazers. Is that a problem in the ONP?
Coach Potter
Life of the Party
I think wolves are awesome! I spend a lot of time where they live. I have seen them, I even have one in my house. I brought it home from AK 25 years ago. Hunting big game is by far my favorite thing to do. I have orchestrated my life around it.
I have been on the earth long enough to remember what the woods were like before they came back. I haven’t noticed that world is magically better with them around. I’m not saying it’s worse either and I wouldn’t want them to be gone. I just don’t understand the idea that nature was or is a disaster and wolves make it all better.
I have been on the earth long enough to remember what the woods were like before they came back. I haven’t noticed that world is magically better with them around. I’m not saying it’s worse either and I wouldn’t want them to be gone. I just don’t understand the idea that nature was or is a disaster and wolves make it all better.
Flymph
Life of the Party
The role of wolves in ecosystems
Gray wolves play a role as an apex species and can influence the dynamics of wildlife species across an entire ecosystem.
wdfw.wa.gov
I saw a Wolf in the upper Big Hole valley in the early 70's. No mistaking what it was; it passed within 50 yards of me & I watched it for 15 minutes or so.what do you think
I’ve been fortunate to have had 3 encounters/sightings with wolves, 1 in Canada and 2 in Alaska. A pack lived very close to me in Alaska and I never saw any but heard them often. They are pretty unmistakable when sighted, the eyes were almost feline to me. The Canadian wolf we saw was on the edge of the road in the Kluane NP as we passed it on a beautiful spring day with snow on the ground. It was red and white and calmly watched as we drove past and my wife remarked “what a lovely dog”. I said “dog, hell, we’re a couple hundred miles from nowhere; that’s no dog!” I stopped the car about 100’ past it and proceeded to back up as it watched us and calmly slipped into the willows as we closed the distance.
You had to go to Kluane NP and Alaska to see wolves!!
I watched a bedded down wolf pup from my vacation home just south of the Big Y off Highway 97. I suspect he was part of the Wenatchee pack that lived in Number 2 canyon just above the Racquet Ball Club in Wenatchee for years.
They do run off the coyotes. It has been a few years since I have seen a coyote on the meadow. The elk in the meadow definitely have changed their behavior as well.
Ran into a big wolf while hunting birds in the Snake River country just north of Starbuck.
My brittany who hated walking on heal comes running back to me and stays on heel. I kept trying to get her out in front of me and get back hunting but she refused. In about 50 yards we flushed the bedded down wolf. They are BIG. He gave us a dirty look and ambled off.
The previous day my dog ingested some marijuana and that necessitated a emergency trip to the vet in Dayton. Then the wolf. I was hunting by myself and at that point decided to end the hunting trip from hell.
I watched a bedded down wolf pup from my vacation home just south of the Big Y off Highway 97. I suspect he was part of the Wenatchee pack that lived in Number 2 canyon just above the Racquet Ball Club in Wenatchee for years.
They do run off the coyotes. It has been a few years since I have seen a coyote on the meadow. The elk in the meadow definitely have changed their behavior as well.
Ran into a big wolf while hunting birds in the Snake River country just north of Starbuck.
My brittany who hated walking on heal comes running back to me and stays on heel. I kept trying to get her out in front of me and get back hunting but she refused. In about 50 yards we flushed the bedded down wolf. They are BIG. He gave us a dirty look and ambled off.
The previous day my dog ingested some marijuana and that necessitated a emergency trip to the vet in Dayton. Then the wolf. I was hunting by myself and at that point decided to end the hunting trip from hell.
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Aside from seeing the same grizzly multiple times in the Bob Marshall Wilderness area, the most 'exotic' animal we ever saw was in the Steens mtns during the 90's. We had set up camp in a meadow alongside a stream when late in the day a Wolverine strolled across the meadow with rolling shoulders and 'DNF with me' swag, making sounds unlike anything we had ever heard , a combo of growling, screeching, muttering...want to hear wolves at night, the Steens is the place.
West of Interstate 5 the elk herds have been struggling with a bacterial foot disease. Anecdotally I lived where (southwest Washington) there was a herd in the high twenties that cycled through where I lived and I watched them dwindle down to presently a group of three, sometimes four, with only one animal appearing to be healthy. If wolves had been in the mix, this disease may have been nipped in the bud at the outset. I first witnessed sick animals in about 2001. Wdfw has taken a do nothing approach, except for giving folks a new tag if they happen to shoot one, I think the situation would be better with a predator like a wolf in the mix.
Since we shifted from Oregon to Washington on this thread...
The Teanaway is a new pack as the old pack was gone after the last lone wolf (WA106M) left the area and was actually seen south of I-90 back in 2023. Surveys in 2024 found a new pack in Teanaway and Naneum. Now that there are 2 "healthy" packs in that area it will be interesting to see if any mating pairs cross I-90 and establish packs in the South Cascades. I would argue that the South Cascades might be better suited than the Olympics, but I guess we'll see.
Source of the map- https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/gray-wolf/packs
I have seen cougars, bears and all hooved animals in the wild, but never a wolf. I would love to see one someday. At a distance.
The Teanaway is a new pack as the old pack was gone after the last lone wolf (WA106M) left the area and was actually seen south of I-90 back in 2023. Surveys in 2024 found a new pack in Teanaway and Naneum. Now that there are 2 "healthy" packs in that area it will be interesting to see if any mating pairs cross I-90 and establish packs in the South Cascades. I would argue that the South Cascades might be better suited than the Olympics, but I guess we'll see.
Source of the map- https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/gray-wolf/packs
I have seen cougars, bears and all hooved animals in the wild, but never a wolf. I would love to see one someday. At a distance.