100's of wolves culled in BC
Small Game
Called Caribou Recovery Effort: Finally a Provincial Government admits it has a wolf problem. BC has decided to wipe out 100's of wolves to protect the Mountain Caribou.
In one instance they show 16 wolves taking down a single caribou. Hopefully it isn't too late for the animals.
Actually they plan on killing around 200 wolves to save the caribou from extinction.
They will use helicopters and sharpshooters. They plan a 5 year program to deplete the population.
They should consider giving every hunter in those areas free tags for wolves. They could eliminate a few wolves and save money for other necessary items.
Value added is a good thing.....
I'd imagine the moose and a few other critters aren't going to object to the plan either....
Really stupid move, they could easily issue a tag for afew dollars along with you license!
Wolf is included when you buy your BC resident hunting licence with no additional tags to buy. The annual bag limit is set by management area and varies........it is three or unlimited depending on the management unit around here. A few units have no wolf hunting (over toward Vancouver). A non-resident has to buy a wolf tag (only $60 if I remember correctly) plus have a hunting license if you are up here hunting.
Wolves are tough to keep in check by normal hunting despite the liberal bag limits and no requirement to purchase tags. They are incredibly smart and I consider them the ultimate archery animal. I commend the BC gov't for taking this step even though it maybe too late to save these particular caribou herds.
Why no let the trappers go after them too.
Hunters could never scratch the surface of population control. Trapping helps but once there are that many the reproduction rate surpasses the affects of trapping too. Extreme measures for an extreme predator.
They have trappers also taking wolves, actually quite a few wolves. But no where near what needs to be taken.
This is a great move by BC government. They could double that number easily. I also think a bounty paid for wolves would help and probably be cheaper then hiring helicopters every year. I would be in favor of both AB and BC mandating each resident that wants an otc sheep tag, must submit a wolf first. Doubt that will happen but like the idea
How about like the old days and pay a bounty?
good move and good precedent
Be interesting to see if this works. I'm doubting it will have a huge effect. Hasn't this been done in other places already? I haven't heard of any increases in caribou or moose populations anywhere regardless of predator control.
I guarantee you if the U.S. could legally offer a significant bounty for wolves that the population would come under control. Some industrious person(s) would develop a method to make money killing wolves.
I know...pipe dream but it would happen.
Admission that there is a problem is a big step. Like Pat said, something we will never see here in the lower 48 states.
It could do some good but the scale would have to be huge. They could take 200 wolves out of a given area and in a few years it would be back to having many wolves. Wolves from outside the area would eventually filter in. But you gotta love that they are doing something. A bounty has been proven very effective.
A wise man once told me...there's a reason some animals were hunted to near extinction in the first place. I'm so sick of the city dwellers around my state swooning over what magnificent animals wolves are.
Just sayin'....
"there's a reason some animals were hunted to near extinction in the first place."
Yep totally agree...
Agree with Pat and others. Aerial gunning is the best option.
It's what the government does when they have to lower the coyote population in a hurry down here.
Even in the midwest and west, unlimited hunting opportunities aren't lowering the coyote population. Sport hunting and trapping won't dent that problem in B.C.
And yes, flying has been used in Alaska with success.
Kudos to the B.C. wildlife folks. You know this announcement isn't popular with the far lefties in Victoria and Vancouver, where most of the people in B.C. live.
I think it might be too little, too late. From what I've read, some caribou herds are in low double digit numbers. Habitat loss is also a major factor which also makes it easy for wolves to travel great distances. I doubt they'll be able to control that. I'd love to hunt wolves in BC but it seems very pricey for NR.
I wonder if they do aerial shooting because they then don't have to deal with anti's on the ground pestering them, trying to stop the hunt??
It was again on CBC this morning, cool news clip. Don't know how to post it though!!
Its about time. Kill them all I say.
Maybe a Republican President in the future could ignore Federal law and not prosecute people who kill wolves at will? Poison them, aerial gunning or eradicate in any way. Let it be known that if you kill all the wolves you want in the U.S. we won't prosecute you. Why not? The current petulant little child in chief chooses which laws he will uphold.
Kudos to BC for taking this on.
There's zero political will to do anything to control wolves in the lower 48 right now and lots of political will to expand their range and numbers.
The huge push for wolves is simple. More wolves, less deer, elk, moose. Therefore, no hunting. Don't tell me that isn't the plan because I have worked with enviros in the field and the honest ones will tell you that. Why do you think they are fighting wolf management where population goals have been met and greatly exceeded? You young people will see hunting banned in your lifetime unless this country has a revolution or one hell of a depression. When people are hurting, PC will go out the window.
This same effort is needed in a big way in WI. I applaud BC for having the cajones to do this knowing they are going to get blasted by the liberal tree huggers in their province.
This problem is coming to Washington State and the political climate in that state will never allow the kind of measures needed to keep the wolves in check.
Spike...they do aerial gunning because it's the most effective way to get a lot of things dead, in a hurry.
happy... I was told you aren't supposed to label the, um, poor misinformed folks..... not PC.... hurts their li'l feelings.... the whackos.....
Some of the mentality WRT management practices is pretty bazaar as well. Bounties are pretty effective and VERY cost effective as opposed aerial and other methods. But the idea of it gets a good many folks skirts pulled up over their heads.
I have even seen them go out of their way to hire "professionals" over opening up areas to hunting and selling tags even. Hunting for sport (or profit) is objectionable to them. Hiring a "professional exterminator" seems to offend them less. To them at least it's a "job" and nobody gets any pleasure from it. It really is a big difference to them. After all, intentions..... always more important than results....
OK...yeah, whackos......
That's true TD and it's just odd. Like it's all out of spite. The issue? No matter. But if they can kick us in the groin irrespective of the final result (dead animal), then have at it.
Just like the whole deer birth control thing. Let's do something completely unnatural when human predation is actually 100% natural.
And the whole, "ok for wolves to eat things alive, but not ok for humans to kill quickly."
It all wreaks of irony and hypocracy.
my friend is a vet I got one word to say PARVO look it up yourself.
I had 2 dogs killed by wolves while bobcat hunting and the money I got from the Wolf Depredation program I offered to donate it back to them if they put a bounty on them. They laughed at me!! At least I tried!!
Aaron
Agreed, taking out a bunch of wolves will help but perhaps they need to consider what BEARS have on calf survival as well. Now, don't get me wrong, i am a trapper and i say hammer the wolves whenever u get a chance and where ever when legal. I remember reading about a Quebec government study/effort to save a small heard of caribou somewhere on the St Lawrence . What they discovered to their complete surprise was that black bears accounted for 80% of the spring calf mortality. They had customized giant conibear type traps made and began an aggressive trapping program. Not sure what the outcome was but bears are certainly play hob with our moose calfs here where i am so it cannot be much different in BC. Hand out some cheap bear tags for Res and Non Res and see if it helps.....
Bear populations have gone unchanged for the most part and the system worked fine. Same with lions. The new factor in the equation is wolves places here by humans and that factor meant one big minus in the bottom line. Period!
TD... here in western Pa there are a few communities doing just that. Some hire professional sharpshooters instead of allowing bow hunting. More recently one township is herding deer into a pen and shooting the hell out of the inside. You would think that both hunters and animal rights activist could stand side by side and agree that this is not right. BUT... those aholes are just happy that there was no hunting involved. Pathetic.
Both Idaho, and Montana are reducing their wolf populations. Why is it so tough for BC? Many have stated on this thread that hunters and trappers can't control or reduce the wolf populations, and that's a lot of bull.
If you can't get to the wolves it's a different story.
The problem with predator control is you have to keep at it year in and year out. In order to actually have an impact you must kill something like 74% of the wolves in a given area every year. There's always infill, and all the dogs start breeding after you take out the Alpha pair.
Ariel gunning of coyotes is a waste of money.
Shoots straight, Are you changing the subject to coyotes or is your last comment a typo? Also much of BC is thick compared to Idaho and Montana, and has far less road access making hunting and trapping less effective........ like you mentioned poor accessability.
As a long time BC resident and hunter I can tell you two things for sure:
Ariel gunning and poison are the only affective means of wolf control in this huge, largely in accessible province. Period!!
There is so much publicity because certain "non" profit organizations make HUGE bucks and pay their founders excessive salaries all from ill-informed and emotionally impaired suckers.
As with many Orgs that ask for you to " care with cash", you just have to follow the money. And the trail leads right to a few pockets.
Totally agree with lawdy - "The huge push for wolves is simple. More wolves, less deer, elk, moose. Therefore, no hunting. Don't tell me that isn't the plan because I have worked with enviros in the field and the honest ones will tell you that. Why do you think they are fighting wolf management where population goals have been met and greatly exceeded? You young people will see hunting banned in your lifetime unless this country has a revolution or one hell of a depression. When people are hurting, PC will go out the window."
Wish our province here had the guts. I'm wondering where the money came from. Our outfitters' association has tried over and over to have a non-resident wolf hunt and it's the trappers that are up n arms that we'd consider it and they consider the wolves as their property, with not many of them making an effort to harvest more to help the deer and moose populations.
Ambush got it right. God Bless
Back in the late 50's I worked for a guy in North Dakota that use to hunt red fox from his airplane. I shot a few of them myself. At one time we took in a grain truck loaded with dead fox and received over $100 for each pelt. The pheasant population really took off in our area.
Then, they outlawed the shooting of fox from the air. Now, the pheasant population is down to almost nonexistence again.
Aerial gunning will work to cut the population back. True, they will catch on in time but, that is why one approach isn't the best to keep them back. They catch on to everything. All out assault, nonstop. Poison, trapping, shooting on sight, You aren't going to hurt the environment. I really don't think too many people go to BC to hunt wolf as a priority anyways. And there are plenty of other predators that will benefit from not having excess wolf numbers that represents all predator interests. Especially human predators. I would like to see a place where humans were the ones responsible for keeping the game in check in this new era of wildlife management where special interest groups buy the management they want. It'd also be nice to see priority management for the animals that do bring in lots of money and provide for families that make a living off of it. Besides, if the wolf population was damaged to bad, the USFWS could show the BC officials how to reintroduce them with great success. God Bless
some of you guys are clueless when it comes to wildlife management. in order to knock a population of apex predators down they are going to have to do something drastic such as aerial gunning. they have had sports hunting and trapping forever, and look where its got them. im not saying it doesn't help, but it isn't the answer to seriously reduce the heard.
Pat, don't be so sure. they kill coyotes with poison, aerial gunning, and anything you can imagine here in the states every day. of course the antis are up in arms over it every day too...
michael
aerial culling is effective IF you have the terrain conducive to doing it. BC's effort to enhance the Mountain caribou herd is to be applauded, the problem is of course killing the wolves. Even with a helicopter you have your work cut out for you in terms of terrain, timber, winds etc. Many think just because its shooting em from the air it's a cake walk, IT IS NOT !!! I agree with some of the statements by others that a multi pronged approach is best, no doubt about that one. One of the major advantages to aerial that no one brings up is the immediate help to local herds during the winter when animals are congregated.
It goes like this, wolves breed in feb/march, the packs grow in number at that time and it's at this time (breeding season) when wolves will and do thrill kill(this is different than normal predation for survival, prey will be brought down and very little if any feeding is done). Unfortunately this happens when large prey are at their most vulnerable. pilots and gunners use these congregations as focal points to locate wolves and usually with success. Once you take some pack members out in these drainages containing caribou/moose the incidence of large numbers being taken down in one chase seems to end.Not sure of the reason for it (probably just the pressure being put on them, wolves don't like anything different in their range), but have seen it enough times to know it does happen. At any rate the number of moose / caribou that escape predation related to this is what it is all about.
I just learned Alberta has got in on the aerial thinning too.
I just got the mental image of a PETAphile chewing off his/her own foot....
Did not read all the posts but been doing a little studying on wolves lately for an article (Also suggest you try and get a copy of Valerius Geist's article on wolves in BC.)and have learned a bit. Probably this has been posted.
Hunting and trapping will not remove sufficient numbers in a timely manner. It is somewhat doubtfull it can be done with helicopters but probably will work to some extent depending on the terrain. A bounty would be usefull but again, can enough hunters go afield and kill sufficient numbers?
Going to be good watching. The key is going to be deciding what is an acceptable population and how to keep the numbers within that range. Hopefully, some of the Canadian intelligence will spread south to our game departments.
You're dreaming bowriter...sadly, this will never occur in the states.
