Wolves Have Been Released in Colorado USA

[Aaron N]

Do you really think that we will be allowed to ever hunt these Colorado wolves once their numbers get high enough? We won’t and that’s the problem. I like hunting wolves where they are properly managed. You can’t hunt some animals and not others. Don’t be so naive. If the pro-wolf lovers would accept hunting at some point, a lot of people wouldn’t be so against wolves.

Well that is two separate issues. All I’m saying is that apex predators belong, and play an important role in an ecosystem.

If they are properly managed, that’s a separate debate.

 

[JimP]

Here is some more reading on a meeting held about the wolves.

Livestock producers receive wolf update from CPW in Craig Monday

By Shannon Lukens. Ranchers from Moffat, Rio Blanco, Routt, and Jackson counties were at the Moffat County CSU Extension Office in Craig Monday night for a Wolf Update for Livestock Producers. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials

www.steamboatradio.com

 

[Ridge Runner]

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Aaahhh........I won't tell if you won't tell.....live targets down range.

Should anyone ask pick one:

I was target practicing when this (these) wolf (wolves) ran in front of the bullet(s).

I was aiming at a deer, hog, rabbit, etc, missed it and hit the wolf.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[gbflyer]

Can’t really manage them all that well as a sportsman because they are so rangy. They get wise to snares really quick when trapping. The game managers have some success with aerial control depending on snow depth. The most effective way to manage them is to kill the pups in the den. That however is a PR nightmare that the masses never abide.

Sad day for the real residents of CO and all the animals, wild and domestic. I grew up there, on the W side. That country is no longer wild, wolves don’t belong there.

 

[Matthias5662]

The debate has raged in Idaho since they were reintroduced here in 1995. Whatever side you fall on, one thing has become apparent over the years and that is the wolves have significantly changed the behavior patterns and habitat use of a wide range of potential prey species. Deer and elk in areas with wolves simply behave differently now. The original reintroductions were also much more successful (i.e., survival) than what was projected.

Idaho does allow hunting and trapping of wolves but as mentioned by others, the animals are very smart and are not as easily harvested as some would assume. As of 2023 we have approximately 1300+ wolves and plenty of inexpensive ($31.75), over-the-counter wolf tags.

 

[Woodcarver]

Here is some more reading on a meeting held about the wolves.

Livestock producers receive wolf update from CPW in Craig Monday

By Shannon Lukens. Ranchers from Moffat, Rio Blanco, Routt, and Jackson counties were at the Moffat County CSU Extension Office in Craig Monday night for a Wolf Update for Livestock Producers. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials

www.steamboatradio.com

And our esteemed guv'ner showing where he stands. This from May of this year.

"Colorado Governor Polis has vetoed a bill to give ranchers and Colorado Parks and Wildlife agents the ability to use lethal management with wolves. It’s Senate Bill 256, and it’s about the 10J Rule. It passed by a heavy majority in the Colorado House and Senate earlier this month with full Western Slope bipartisan support. Now local livestock producers have to hope the federal government approves the 10J rule before wolves are reintroduced in Colorado.

The governor accuses the bill of delaying the processes with the federal government in the reintroduction of wolves. The legislators who wrote the bill, and the ranchers, disagree. Here is Senator Perry Will, who co-sponsored the bill with Senator Dylan Roberts, and Representatives Matt Soper and Meghan Lukens."

NONE of the Western Slope reps and Senators were invited to the release this month.

The 10J rule would allow lethal forms of management. Left to the USFWS instead of the state will result in the same bs we've seen in the other affected states. Lawsuit after lawsuit filed by the wolf advocates preventing proper management. Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana finally succeeding, but it took over 20 years of destruction before it occurred. Oregon is still hiding it's head in the sand and is unlikely to ever open up a wolf season.

 

[Woodcarver]

Btw, I am not in the ag business anymore. Haven't been for several decades. But did run cattle in WA and here in CO at one time. I do have friends and family in the livestock world. Several of the ranchers in my part of CO have BLM and FS leases in the mountains. This issue does impact them.

 

[RichD]

Will wolves hunt feral hogs? If so, maybe Co voters should approve a ballot measure for the import of a few from Texas. We have 2 million to share. Problem solved.

I've been wanting to hunt feral hogs in TX, and most places talk about all the damage they do to ranch and farm land. But then they want an arm and a leg to hunt them. Kind of like me charging the Orkin guy to spray the house for spiders.

 

[RichD]

Colorado releases first 5 wolves in reintroduction plan approved by voters to chagrin of ranchers

Wildlife officials have released five gray wolves into a remote forest in Colorado, kicking off a voter-approved reintroduction program.

apnews.com

Just making for a more "target rich environment". Since the whackos in Denver and Boulder voted for their release, just turn out the wolves in their turf.

 

[Scott CWO]

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Where’s the tannerite?

 

[Scott CWO]

But wait, don’t they only kill the weak and the sick?? What load of BS. Wolves kill for fun. They didn’t eat these sheep!

 

[fourfive8]

We don't need any more here. These pics were taken a month ago, north of Silverthorne about 12 miles, roughly 18 miles due west of Frasier. I took these pics a couple miles from any place a domestic dog could have come from. It took me a bit to realize what I was looking at as these were way too big for any coyote, but way too deep in the woods (and no people tracks besides mine), to be domestic dogs. We found this set of 3 animals, and in two other places, single sets. The top rest of my quad sticks is 5" wide for scale. I would have happily applied the 3S method to one if I'd seen it.

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^^These tracks are not feline, most assuredly canine. But large, semi-feral, domestic dogs can have quite a large range. Reports of wolves, especially in NW Colorado, have been known for quite some time now. I saw a non-coyote, non-domestic dog, very wolf-like canine feeding on a carcass (looked like a deer) a couple of hundred yards off a highway in SW Colorado 2 years ago. Not supposed to be here.... but??? The wrench in the works... it is well documented that wolf hybrids have been released into the wild by owners in many Western states. I know, with certainty, of two known instances- one in south-central Colorado and one in western NM.

 

[CJW]

A few years ago I was just a few miles out of the Black Hills headed home to WI from a coyote hunting expedition. Sticking out of a snow drift on the side of the road was a conspicuously large and dark canine foot and leg. No houses around there for it to be someone's GSD or anything like that. Unfortunately I couldn't go back to look but I'm pretty sure of what it was. Just like mountain lions that show up here in WI from the Dakota's, wolves travel. Don't get me started on the wolf hybrids.

 

[CJW]

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But wait, don’t they only kill the weak and the sick?? What load of BS. Wolves kill for fun. They didn’t eat these sheep!

A Disney movie type lie invented to soothe the nerves of the yuppies.

I do kind of wish more people would try to take advantage of LGD's to protect their livestock. Remarkably good at their job if given the opportunity. Tough to do for cattle in the mountains I know.

 

[RichD]

^^These tracks are not feline, most assuredly canine. But large, semi-feral, domestic dogs can have quite a large range. Reports of wolves, especially in NW Colorado, have been known for quite some time now. I saw a non-coyote, non-domestic dog, very wolf-like canine feeding on a carcass (looked like a deer) a couple of hundred yards off a highway in SW Colorado 2 years ago. Not supposed to be here.... but??? The wrench in the works... it is well documented that wolf hybrids have been released into the wild by owners in many Western states. I know, with certainty, of two known instances- one in south-central Colorado and one in western NM.

A friend has a condo in Breck. He is an amazing hunter having hunted Africa, Russia, Europe, etc many times. He and his wife were there for T'giving and swears he heard wolves howling at night, certain they were not coyotes or dogs.

 

[DrBob]

Wolves aren't the problem. The fact that they can't be managed as they should is the problem.

Unfortunately, wrong. The collapse of mountain lion populations in the West are now primarily wolves. They will kill the kittens. The Elk, the primary prey of puma, have changed from mountain to open plains to see the wolves coming... taking the advantage of ambush away from the puma. I was shocked when I read.

 

[Nevada Mike]

I'm holding out for a grizzly reintroduction in California - lots of grizzlies - across their full native range. I mean, it's the state animal and on the state flag, right? They 'belong' there.

Wolves have been in NE Oregon for at least 10 years. I've seen them myself while hunting. They are tough on mtn. sheep, elk, deer, and moose. And I worry when I'm running my bird dogs there. The fact that the state game biologists and wildlife managers cannot effect the populations and their predation on game animals is flat wrong.

 

[Woodcarver]

I'm holding out for a grizzly reintroduction in California - lots of grizzlies - across their full native range. I mean, it's the state animal and on the state flag, right? They 'belong' there.

Wolves have been in NE Oregon for at least 10 years. I've seen them myself while hunting. They are tough on mtn. sheep, elk, deer, and moose. And I worry when I'm running my bird dogs there. The fact that the state game biologists and wildlife managers cannot effect the populations and their predation on game animals is flat wrong.

California still won't deal with their out of control mountain lion population, can't imagine what they would do if the grizzly was brought back.

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But wait, don’t they only kill the weak and the sick?? What load of BS. Wolves kill for fun. They didn’t eat these sheep!

This rancher was very vocal about the attacks he has suffered. But his story never made the news outside of the local papers, wonder why.... Wolves kill for sport and to train their young. But the lie they only kill for food is what gets put out by the proponents in all their propaganda and retold by those ignorant of reality.
They also work on the humanizing side as well. The wolf rescue place in Divide started a "Name the Wolves" program this week and put it out to most of the schools here in the Springs. Get the kids to give them names, they think of them like pets rather than the predators they actually are. Helps rally the support to block attempts to use lethal means to manage, either by the DOW or via a hunting season.

 

[CJW]

Unfortunately, wrong. The collapse of mountain lion populations in the West are now primarily wolves. They will kill the kittens. The Elk, the primary prey of puma, have changed from mountain to open plains to see the wolves coming... taking the advantage of ambush away from the puma. I was shocked when I read.

Huh?

 

[Papa72]

I've been wanting to hunt feral hogs in TX, and most places talk about all the damage they do to ranch and farm land. But then they want an arm and a leg to hunt them. Kind of like me charging the Orkin guy to spray the house

It would be fairly easy to DIY hog hunt in Texas. The Texas Parks and Wildlife website lists the locations and rules for all the public hunting lands and the permitting regs for each area. Come getcha some!