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Againstthewind · January 10, 2014, 05:41 PM

This is one of those topics that I have have a lot of gray area and is hard for me to nail down which side I am on.

On one hand I know a lot of ranchers and my wife's family is in the cattle business, so wolves have got to be the enemy. On that side of the fence the majority opinion is shoot, shovel, and shut-up. I am sure there are some ranchers who disagree, but I am going to classify them as dis-placed Californians even if they are not. In Wyoming being able to hunt and shoot trouble wolves as predators (no license or quota in some areas of the state) has helped things I think. Also having almost 20 years now of dealing with them has made it just one of those things that is part of life. I am not an expert this is just Thanksgiving dinner table talk.

On the other side I tend to agree with conservationists who think that wolves have a place in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem (that is the one I am most familiar with). I have heard that wolves kill for fun and leave the meat, but elk populations seem to have stabilized. I am curious to know what the research says about wolves helping to control disease outbreaks like brucellocis and whatever is killing the deer in the Wyoming range. If only there was a solution to the beetle kill. I am in favor of increased lumber production and prescribed burns, but what do I know. I agree that human interference makes things worse. There is a lack of natural controls for the whole planet because humans have removed them. Whenever a population goes unchecked bad things happen. Even cartoons like Wall-E shove that type of propoganda down out throats.

I think there is a middle ground for wolves and hopefully the situation will reach an equilibrium point where everyone can at least tolerate the situation. It is unfortunate about the Lolo area which seems devastated by the wolves. Well that is enough opinion out of me. New to the site, but like the topics. Please bear with the ADHD and other expletive adjective posts of mine.

January 10, 2014, 05:41 PM	#28
Againstthewind Member Join Date: January 4, 2014 Posts: 60	undecided This is one of those topics that I have have a lot of gray area and is hard for me to nail down which side I am on. On one hand I know a lot of ranchers and my wife's family is in the cattle business, so wolves have got to be the enemy. On that side of the fence the majority opinion is shoot, shovel, and shut-up. I am sure there are some ranchers who disagree, but I am going to classify them as dis-placed Californians even if they are not. In Wyoming being able to hunt and shoot trouble wolves as predators (no license or quota in some areas of the state) has helped things I think. Also having almost 20 years now of dealing with them has made it just one of those things that is part of life. I am not an expert this is just Thanksgiving dinner table talk. On the other side I tend to agree with conservationists who think that wolves have a place in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem (that is the one I am most familiar with). I have heard that wolves kill for fun and leave the meat, but elk populations seem to have stabilized. I am curious to know what the research says about wolves helping to control disease outbreaks like brucellocis and whatever is killing the deer in the Wyoming range. If only there was a solution to the beetle kill. I am in favor of increased lumber production and prescribed burns, but what do I know. I agree that human interference makes things worse. There is a lack of natural controls for the whole planet because humans have removed them. Whenever a population goes unchecked bad things happen. Even cartoons like Wall-E shove that type of propoganda down out throats. I think there is a middle ground for wolves and hopefully the situation will reach an equilibrium point where everyone can at least tolerate the situation. It is unfortunate about the Lolo area which seems devastated by the wolves. Well that is enough opinion out of me. New to the site, but like the topics. Please bear with the ADHD and other expletive adjective posts of mine.