[FALPhil]

One of my fondest hunting memories comes from a stand on Porcupine Mountain in Northeast Utah while hunting mule deer. Right before sunrise, a cow moose and two younglings worked their way up to the waterhole I was over to slake their thirst. I watched them for about 30 minutes before they took off to find breakfast. Later that morning, I harvested a nice 4x3 mulie with a 20 inch spread.

Later on, when my kids were older, we did a week long camping trip in Yellowstone and the Tetons. During that week, my young children were able to witness a truly spectacular example of male moosedom feeding in Jackson Lake in about 4 feet of water.

Lately, I have been watching what has been going on with non-native wolf reintroduction in the Western States. It appears that wolves have just about wiped out moose in Yellowstone. Friends and aquaintences have informed me that the number of elk in an around the Yellowstone/Teton areas have been noticeably diminished.

I understand that states like Colorado, Montana, and Idaho have been petitioning the USFWS for the ability to manage wolf hunting in order to stabilize the predation of ungulates. It seems that they have been only partially successful.

Considering that wolves are not a migratory mammal, and they are not particularly endangered - Canada and Alaska have a ton of wolves - I am concerned that wolf reintroduction is another not-so-well-thought-out federal program with unintended consequences.

What can we East Coast hunters do to help the states get control over their wolves?