One down all of them to go!

[Freedomflyer]

MGoing to apologize in advance to those that have a soft spot for wolves. They are definitely not my favorite species of animal.  They continue to grow bolder and bolder even with the population exploding all around us in this wide open valley floor. This valley is approximately 40 miles long by 35 miles wide. Was once mostly agricultural but over the last 25+ years, the kids of long time property owners have sold to the highest bidder.  Developers buying up small farms and ranches for millions of dollars and eating away at the local agricultural way of life, destroying the rural Montana I, and many natives, once knew, covering up perfect farm land with urban sprawl, never again to produce a grain of wheat or barley,  potato,  canola seed, or any crop of any kind ever  again.  Lining developers pockets, raping and pillaging another rural area and leaving the infrastructure in a colossal mess and the local cities trying to figure out how to pay for the improvements to move the traffic, overloading an already overloaded tax base.

FINALLY, after years of farmers and ranchers lobbying and legislation, they finally opened up a season to hunt the destructive and devastating consequences of the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park. These animals have become a huge problem outside of the park boundary. Did the powers that be actually think these killing machines would stay inside the park boundaries? Really? Hmmmmm, not the sharpest tools in the shed. Their population has exploded over their reintroduction into the park in 1995. They released 41 wolves into different areas in Yellowstone Park, then made it illegal to kill any of them that came out of the park boundaries. Pretty much leaving farmers and ranchers defenseless in protecting their livelihood without becoming a criminal. If they did ever shoot one the investigation process has been so stringent and stressful a lot of them have done the 3 S's. Shoot, Shovel, and Shutup! There are now over 1500 wolves in western Montana, over 1100 in Idaho, over 400 in Wyoming, and almost 150 in Eastern Washington. Who knows how many have migrated back into Canada.

They finally delisted the wolves and opened up a hunting season on them, something that should have been done years ago before they decimated our elk population. 

A friend of ours was able procure a tag and was able to fill it yesterday morning. The wolf was down in the middle of the valley floor stalking his cattle on his family ranch, definitely deserved to be taken out. Personally would like to see more taken down, they have gone well beyond repopulation with this program and have spent millions on tracking and thousands of man hours, colossal waste. Glad to see another one gone.

[MarkinAR]

Wolves play an important part in the ecosystem, but are definitely a risk of animal and human life if there are too many.  That one's big enough to carry off a full grown adult.

[Freedomflyer]

I do agree that they are an important part of the food chain.  Unfortunately this whole program was horribly mismanaged and the reproduction rate was well above what they expected. There really are too many in the area,  I know several ranchers/farmers personally that have been dealing with them for the last 2 decades. They are constantly at watch worried for their livestock, pets, and even their kids at times on these rural farms/ranches and have felt like their hands have been tied, but now in the past couple of years, are able to buy  up to 10 tags and start protecting their livelihood. I found out today there was 2 other wolves with this one that was killed, they ran off and another one was killed by another rancher down the road, the 3rd got away.

[Krazo]

That is awesome.  Don't know how big that guy in the pic is but they wolf sure looks huge.  I can only imagine how many cows/elk/sheep a pack of wolves will kill in a winter just to survive.  So important to keep the population in check as they've been reintroduced.  Thanks for sharing the pics.  

[Girvin13]

I'm in western NC and we have the problem with coyotes. Nice wolf.

[pilsboy]

for being and hunter and a trapper up here in Canada, but also following whats going on down in the states, i have to say as long as we follow the regulation/ruling carefully, proper management of species is good and a must. cant wait to put my hands on my first wolf.  keep on with good ethics and live long!