Wolves

[cowboydoc]

Unless you want the wrath of redtape and federal agents at your door and getting thrown in jail, right or wrong, do not under any circumstances but being close to death shoot those wolves. I promise you they are tagged. As soon as they stop moving you will have more federal agents on you than you care to count. You will be arrested and booked if you shoot one. It's your responsibility to prove that you were justified in your killing of one. Usually if it's a dog that is not justified in killing one. It's a screwed up deal the way they protect them. I would get in touch with the fish and game and let them know the situation. My advice though is do not shoot them unless you want to tie up the next year of your life defending yourself. It has happened to my uncle and two other friends of ours that are ranchers.

 

[LMTC]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( there is no recorded history of wolves killing a human )</font>
While exceedingly uncommon, it is not non-existent.

Here
Here

And here

 

[EddieWalker]

From what I understand the 2002 study couldn't confirm a wolf kill on humans in the last century. The one confirmed kill in the lower 48 was in the 1800's and isn't confirmed. The one in Canada last years is probably an animal kill, but they don't know for sure if it was a wolf or not.

I'll concede that I made a broad statement that I can't back up one hundred percent on human deaths, but it does point to how extremely rare it is.

I was only infering to wolf attacks in North America. India, Europe and Asia are in a whole different category. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Thanks for the links. Obviosly there's some new information out there that I wasn't aware of.

Eddie

 

[KentT]

Though they're definitely pro-wolf, the International Wolf Center in Ely MN, might have some info of value:

http://www.wolf.org/wolves/index.asp

They have quite a bit of educational information on their site...

It's a neat place to visit, and to go lake trout or walleye fishing also... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[AKfish]

I agree that most wolves are wary and seeing one during the day is unusual. However, they have a territory (everybody marking, now...?) and cruise it routinely. If you dropped in with your 5th wheel; unannounced --- well, I'll bet they were just as surprised as you were!
They're also smart and read threatening postures, body language pretty well, too. They sized you up and you weren't likely to do them harm -- they moseyed off. Most wild critters figure out real fast if you're out to get 'em! Ever been out and about hunting, armed to the teeth, and come across an elk (in deer season) and they know pretty quick that you're not gonna bother 'em.
I've had the same thing happen with bears and wolves. Seen them -- they seen me --- pass on by. Startled wolves and they run off a ways and stop; check me out from a safe distance -- shootin' range, though, and then leave. Never startled a bear; thank God... and don't want to, either.
Never had to try and make a livin' with "government protected meat eaters" so, I can recognize some of the frustration. Thought the landowers were reimbursed for losses, though. So, guess I don't completely understand the full extent of the problem...
Lived with a great-uncle who raised cattle. One year a pair of coyotes started killing newborn calves. Called in the government trapper in a SuperCub and shotgunned 'em. That ended that!
He didn't hate coyotes or skunks or any of the critters that roamed around the hills. Don't recall that he ever killed anything that didn't need killin'. (Like the skunks that took up residence in an old house on the place!)
Liked seein' and hearin' the different animals that shared the same space --- so long as they weren't of a mind to set up headquarters in the calf or hog yard! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Long post -- get to ramblin, sometimes.

AKfish

Oh, yah; Eddie, you're right as rain --- never seen definitive proof that a wolf ever killed anyone in North America. But they sure do get to be a 100+ pounds in the wild. Shur enough!

 

[CurlyDave]

After looking at the map of wolf habitat, I have come to the conclusion that these must have been either large coyotes or feral dogs of some sort -- maybe a crossbreed.

According to this map: Wolf Population Map there are no wolves in Oregon and the nearest ones are in Idaho, where there are less than 550.

 

[Westonium]

Curly Dave: There ARE wolves in Oregon. Just like there ARE poisonous snakes in Indiana. I *personally* caught several in central Indiana, brought them in to the Childrens Museum (I was about 10 or so), and they took them away and refused to acknowledge it. The state refused to change its claim even though every fisher in Indiana has seen water moccasins close-up and personal.

I've friends that have seen wolves here in Oregon, and there was recently a big to-do over the state's "Wolf Plan" because the ranchers raised a stink over the wolves they were finding.

Yes, they are protected.
NO, there is no open season for them.
NO, even if there was you couldn't use dogs to hunt them - they banned using dogs to hunt cougars in Oregon.
NO you can't trap them and NO you can't do diddly squat legally UNTIL they kill something of yours because so far the only things they've been caught killing have been commodity animals vs. people's dear pets or CHILDREN.

They used to talk about how cougars never killed anyone, but the Californians can give you an ear full on that. People have been attacked by cougars in very popular parks and near towns in So-Cal.

We learned this in school: Food population increases then behind that curve is an upward curve of predators increasing, then there is a downward curve of food population as the predators over-populate, then there is a downward curve of predators because they get desperate and die of hunger, disease, and humans killing them. This takes a while to repeat and probably thrown a bit out-of-whack when we humans cleaned house in the 1900s.

Things are going back to the natural order. We are not outside of that natural order. The predators become a problem, we deal with it. Just watch - the damage they do increases of (heaven forbid) children get killed and suddenly it will be open-season on them. Then the elk and deer populations will rebound, get ridiculous, and the process repeats.

I don't know what the penalty would be for shooting a wolf, but I know what the penalty could very likely be for not shooting ones that come around. I love my son. I love my pets. It would be un-natural for me to ignore such a threat.

I'd go with the 3Ss. I take that back. I'd Skin the suckers and then shovel them.

Wolves make coyotes look like morons.

 

[EddieWalker]

Dave,

I agree that they are "probably" crossbreeds and its very unlikely that two of them that large are wild. But I also know that the maps are just a general rule of thumb.

Mexican Red Wolves have been found in Utah and confirmed by DNA to be pure wolf. It was big news for awhile way back when.

Jaguar's have been recorded in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, yet they only exist in central and souther Mexico. Officially, they don't exist in this country.

An Elk that was tagged in Yellowstone wondered all the way to Missouri. The Fish and Game in Missouri had let some wild Elk free and noticed one with a collar on it. Funny thing is that it wasn't one of their collars!!! There was a map that showed the path he probably took and all the highways, rivers and country that he crossed, on his own to get there.

Anyway, my point is it's very common for animals to wonder off range by hundreds of miles. To me it's very interesting, but meaningless information.

Eddie

 

[LMTC]

And to add to that....I remember (yes, I am probably an official "Geezer") when the mention of coyotes, cougars, and other things in Ohio brought gales of laughter from the ODNR folks. They're always about a decade behind. No rattlers in SW Ohio either. Right.

As recently as 12 years ago I was hunting with several trappers (you know, the guys who are in the woods more than the critters themselves) and all but one called me everything but a liar for telling them I had been seeing coyotes here for several years. They stopped laughing at me when one of them dropped a coyote that year during deer gun season. Point is, maps are maps. Nothing more. The critters don't have access to those maps, nor do they feel obliged to abide by them. We had a black bear here last year, roaming the area. Not "supposed" to be anywhere near here.

Did I mention the lion and the baboons? They don't belong here either, but here they were (yes, escapees. Dangerous nonetheless. Lion was recaptured, some baboons were, some were shot by the Highway Patrol)
After an ugly incident years ago when I spoke with someone first about an unruly (read "aggressive as H*** on MY place") animal they had and then had to deal with it because they would not, I choose S-S-S every time. I wouldn't even post anywhere about it beforehand, as you might have your computer seized with a search warrant if the dot gov types want to push it.

Best of luck. I can't imagine allowing a threat to any of my family to exist when I had the power/ability to make it go away.

 

[greatrandini]

U said that they looked like gray German Shepherd Dogs. I think maybe they were! Gray sable is a common GSD color. I would still build a good fenced play yard for your dogs....