Wolves

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FCSpringer

FCSpringer

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Just found this posted two days ago. Be aware in these areas.



My 55 lb English Setter was attacked by 3 Wolves on Oct 16th. at 10:00 in the morning with a beeper collar cranked up for my deaf ears to hear.

I witnessed this from a 25 yard vantage point.

These 3 were in kill mode and didn't care if I yelled, shot in the air or ran at them like a crazed maniac. I'm glad that the outcome came out positive due to fact that the dog was working close at that moment.

I had just read of a guy on the Photograpy thread of his Lab being attacked very similar and had to respond. Many other dogs in Northern Minnesota have also been attacked and killed lately,in the field and rural yards.

I just wanted to inform hunters to keep your dogs in view while in the woods and alert the local CO to Wolf encounters.

This attack happened between Bemidji and Itasca State Park.

3 shots were fired into the air with me sprinting thru a poplar slashing.
After reloading, two loads were put into the flank of the most agressive of the 3 at 15 yards. I dry fired twice as the remaining two retreated on the same game trail I was standing on.

Considering at one point she had three wolves attached to her,wounds were superficial.

I reported it to the Authorities and no charges were pressed. They gave me the impression that atacks like this are becoming frequent and packs have become very territorial as habitat dwindles.

The days of just having a pointing dog within beeper collar hearing distance are over for me.
 
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I used to go Bear hunting in Ray, MN and the vet there said one of his busiest things was patching up dogs from wolves. One of the old timers up there had a T-shirt that said "Eat Venison, 10,000 Wolves can't be Wrong!" I know a guy who blades the roads by Leader, MN and he goes out in the morning after blading the roads and counts how many wolves were running in the fresh bladed sand. The last time I was by Leader after a fresh snow I saw more Wolf tracks than deer tracks. The Wolves were almost eradicated for a reason, to bad some people couldn't remember why.
 
It happened to me

This is the story from the event. This was Aug 22nd of last year

Long story but Vick somehow let three dogs out together..that can't be let out together and they took off. Two came home and one was gone for 10 hours. We didn't even know she was with them for 7-8 hours later. Vick called me at my moms and said Mora was gone and that she must have got out with the other ones. Vick just happen to take a ride up the next road north and stopped at several people places and told them we were missing a all liver Shorthair. About a hour later one of them called from about 4-5 miles away. They said they could hear several dogs fighting.

Nolan and I headed over there because Vick wasn't here and we needed to go NOW. I had told Nolan I could hear a dog way off in that direction barking and fighting. We got there and we could hear a dog fighting it's ass off. We had two head lamps and the guy showed us a old winter road heading into a swamp. We took off and got about a half a mile in. clump head grass, downed tree's, grass as high as your head and mud up to your knee's.

The closer I got the more I knew it was Mora and she was fighting with wolves. I got within 300 yards of her and we were calling and whistling...but each time she must have turned to try and come they came at her and she would put up a hellofa fight. We just kept calling. She was getting closer, as the barking and fighting was louder. Then a wolf gave out a long moan...it got silent than. I thought SOB..he killed her.

We kept the calling up and I started in the brush off the winter road(which was no road what so ever) I stepped off and down I went in the mud and dead tree's. I worked my way in about 50 yards and kept calling, my head lamp kept going dead. I would turn it off and wait a Min. and turn it back on. Soon I could see her eyes coming through the tall grass. All the while we were doing this, Nolan says..did you bring your gun...of all the times. I'm always carrying my hand gun. Just not now. I said no, but I have my good razer knife. I'm not afraid of a wolf. I told him, if he comes after her. I'll cut the SOB from throat to his butt hole.

Soon Vickie joined us with new lights and we worked our way back to the land owners home. There is no roads between us and him and it's about 4-5 miles of solid woods and swamp.

It's a total miracle that he hadn't killed her. A neighbor down the road from our house said he could here them fighting for about 2 hours. So she had been fighting them off for some time. Tough old girl and lucky as all hell. It took a number of things to fall in to place for us to get a phone call, for us to even go look that far away, to head into that kind of swamp in the dark and for her to have survived fighting them off until we got close enough for the wolves to back off.

We thanked the folks for calling or she was a dead dog. She would have never made morning..heck midnight even IMO.

Pretty tough to listen to the snarling, growling and fighting and you can't get to her. I would have never got to her. I was waist deep in mud, grass over my head and brush thicker than one can imagine

Well, we can sleep a lot better tonight, knowing she's safe at home

She does have a couple of tooth marks in her backside and hind leg. She's going in for a booster shot Monday morning.

Thank you to the man upstairs

Chuck

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This is from Fishing Minnesota

Yesterday evening, my 16 yr old son was brush hogging some of our trails. He was out in our ~12 acre field when 2 timberwolves attacked and fatally wounded our best friend, our dog Cara. My son was about 150 yds from them when it happened and the wolves weren't bothered by his presence. He called up to the house on his cell phone and I immediately went out there to find the wolves standing over my Yellow Lab. I chased them off with the truck and came back to check on the dog and go tell my wife the sad news. She was on her way out to the field so I turned around and the wolves were already on there way back to my dog. Our dog suffered a terrible abdomen wound with her insides hanging out.We took her to the vet but she was missing a big piece of her stomach muscle. They were unable to perform surgery and had to be put to sleep. Our dog was just like one of our kids and it has been a very hard day for me, my wife and four kids.

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Wolves believed to have killed this Canadian man

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/11/10/wolf051110.html

This Alaskan women was killed by pack of wolves'

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/15/90404/woman-killed-by-wolves-left-behind.html

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Wolves attack my dogs or confront me..simple...their dead!!! The well known fraze in the northland is the 3 SSS's Shoot, Shovel & Shut up.
 
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Used to go to Canada and hunt and fish, back when the U.S. Park service was supposedly considering releasing wolves in Yellowstone. We now know they had already done so. It was more an after the fact notification. The Canadians were laughing out loud, said if you want wolves come take all you want. Seems it was common in the winter for wolves to come into your yard and eat your dog, leaving you a head and collar. Saw pictures. Cougars attack joggers fairly regularly in California. Coyotes eating purse dogs in Overland Park, Ks, right off the back porch. I say shoot'em and bury 'em deep, don't say a word to anyone. Possible upside, the touchy, feelies, might support hunting if precious little poopsie the yorkie, ends up as an appetizer.
 
oldandnew said:
Used to go to Canada and hunt and fish, back when the U.S. Park service was supposedly considering releasing wolves in Yellowstone. We now know they had already done so. It was more an after the fact notification. The Canadians were laughing out loud, said if you want wolves come take all you want. Seems it was common in the winter for wolves to come into your yard and eat your dog, leaving you a head and collar. Saw pictures. Cougars attack joggers fairly regularly in California. Coyotes eating purse dogs in Overland Park, Ks, right off the back porch. I say shoot'em and bury 'em deep, don't say a word to anyone. Possible upside, the touchy, feelies, might support hunting if precious little poopsie the yorkie, ends up as an appetizer.
Click to expand...

Went to Canada right after graduation back in 86. Took off the gowns and 4 of us headed from the school to Ontario for a week Bear hunt. We were tired when we arrived and I got dumped off in a dump. Sit here they said, OK. So I sit there after a 17 hr drive on a bear trail. Woke up about an hr later and it scared the crap out of me to see I fell asleep right on the trail. So I shuffled up a tree with my sleeping bag and hunkered in for the last 2 hrs before dark. Just at dusk I shot a nice Bear. Got down and a local picked me up from instruction from my buddy. OK so we went to where he was. Got every one loaded up but Johny now. It is going on an hr after dark. He was sitting in another dump by himself. He had no flash light and shot a nice brown phase bear. But after gutting his the wolves surrounded the dump in the brush, howling and growling. After dark he was a bit scared. Luckily there was a junk car there. He crawled in and stayed put, He figured at least a dozen or so. They tormented him until we got there. He was not happy, but at least he spared my ear as I was not running the show. Strange thing is they never touched his bear laying in the bush 10 yards or the guts, they were more interested in him. Bear never had a scratch on it.
 
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I don't know, but I have been told if you aim about a foot behind the front shoulder of a wolf, then trip the trigger, they will run off and die somewhere else. Just what I heard. Plain and Simple a hunting season is needed.
 
I like the run off and die part, but I hope he doesn't decide to take a bite out of me before he goes! All over the world it been proven that if you don't hunt a dangerous animal, they lose all fear in a couple of generations. For sure, an unarmed human is easier to kill than any wild animal. Several years ago there was a severe winter in Russia. Got so bad the interior minister was chased by Siberian Wolves riding in his Limo on the outskirts of Moscow! Made the world news, right after, the army started helicopter shooting to drive them back.
 
Shoot em up

[B]These tree hugin nature lovin REI models that protect these critters don't have a clue the damage they do. If I ever run into one its dead. Shoot first and leave.They have no fear so we need to teach them some fear!:mad:[/B]
 
IN the outdoors section of the Star trib there is a report that the DNR had to assit a trapper by Rochester release a Wolf. Rochester! The wolf range may be expanding.
Releasing wolves
It happens occasionally in Minnesota: A trapper accidentally catches a protected wolf and must release it.

That's what occurred recently near Rochester, where wolves are rarely seen. In this case (as in most others) the trapper called DNR conservation officers to help release the wolf.

Which begs the question: How does one do that without getting chomped on?

"They're actually pretty easy to get out of a trap," said Dan Stark, DNR wolf specialist. "Domestic dogs are harder to get out than a wild wolf. I've experience feral dogs that were much more aggressive, snapping and biting."

Stark said first a rope-like device is put over its neck to restrain it, then a blanket is placed over its head. "Once they are restricted, they kind of submit; it's their behavior," he said. "You can hold them down and remove the trap."

That's how officers Dan McBroom and Dean Olson released the wolf caught in a leg-hold trap near Rochester.

"It was pretty docile after we put the blanket over it," said McBroom. "It worked very well."

Stark said wolves occasionally show up in southern Minnesota, though he doubts any packs live there. The closest known wolf packs are near Fort McCoy, Wis., about 80 miles east of Rochester, where this animal likely came from, he said.
 
I had no idea that the darn things were as far south as Ft McCoy in Numbers! Gads, Rochester is farm country, they'll be all over in a few years. Maybe at the end of the world, the wolves will join Ozzie Osborn, Keith Richards, and cockroaches, as the last forms of life.
 
I saw 2 wolves right on the shoulder of I 90 last fall just east of Winona Rochester area in WI a few miles last fall. They were crusing looking for a deer hit I'm sure, so yea, there out there. It was dark out but they were not scared of cars wizzing by, like they knew the drill.
 
A friend of mine called the Wis. DNR and told them he had problems with wolves in northwestern Wis. They said there were no wolves in that part of Wis. They said they were nomad Coyote's. I told him, no big deal. No Wolves..just shoot them then. He has agreed.
 
TM you are certainly entitled to your opionion, but beyond that you are wrong. The report I quote shows the reported USDA kill and trap rates.

MN wolf population is likely above 3000 animals and should now be controlled through hunting just like bears. Bears left unchecked would create havoc and the issue with wolves will only become worse unless winter knocks back the deer population.

Let the wolves run through northern MN, but keep them in check. I would say any wolf below HWY 2 or 200 should be open game to anyone - no quota zone and completely unprotected.

The dont ask dont tell wolf policy in northern MN is ongoing. Couple that with the USDA efforts. Why not create licenses and allow the population to be controlled, income generated through fees, and the true harvest measured.
 
tmrichardson said:
What you and others are supporting Brittman is open and flagrant breaking of federal law. I continue to say that type of thing on a public website ain't good for anyone.

I freely acknowledge that MN (and probably WI and MI too) have plenty of wolves and in MN's case has had them for some time. Contrary to another post in this thread, MN wolves were not stocked, we (unlike every other state) always have had wolves and never completely lost them.

You can certainly support return of control of wolves to states and some form of control, even hunting--without resorting to calls for freely and openly breaking federal law.

It goes way beyond thumbing your nose at the law. When those who want complete and continued protection for wolves claim that states (and folks just like those posting here!) don't deserve to manage wolves as they'll just kill too many--that kind of talk helps THEIR cause, not those of us who want wolf control handed back to the states!

You are helping THEM with such talk. I realize wolves bring out emotions in some people but for crying out loud, step back and think a bit, and stop helping them out!
Click to expand...

Where did I support flagrant breaking of the law? I note that it occurs, but where did I actually came out in support of illegal shooting wolves? Big difference acknowledging that it occurs - right? You owe me a retraction, eh?
 
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OH come on now It can be looked at civilly, It started to simply educate people that if you hunt in wolf country to be aware of the danger, because it is there. There is articles suggesting that wolves are captured and relocated in areas of MN. They are in fact trying to get a management program started because of this. It makes no sense to trap a problem animal and release it elsewhere to simply return. They have shown with radio collared animals it doesn't work. The population has gotten to a point where it needs management. Here is one such article that brings up relocated animals in MN. The DNR also has info out there on Proposals to manage the over population of wolves in MN. Their are also documents out there stating the damage caused by wolves to pets and livestock. And the government programs for reimbursement to ranchers and citizens. And yes their is hefty fines for those who fragrantly disobey the law, it will cost you more then you think

Great Lakes wolf stars in political drama

Nov 3 2009 Alice Rossignol 3 Comments
A captive gray wolf at the Wildlife Science Center in Minnesota. Photo: Derek Bakken

By Alice Rossignol
Nov. 3, 2009
As a boy, David Radaich’s father shot wolves that wandered onto the family cattle farm in northeast Minnesota.
Now a beef cattle producer himself, Radaich tries to deal with wolves in a legal and ethical way. But it’s not easy. “The challenge seems to be increasing in the last couple of years,” Radaich said.
He is one of many ranchers living in the most densely wolf-populated part of the country in the lower 48 states. Here ranchers deal with wolf-related legal policies, financial costs and psychological burdens.
They may lose hundreds of dollars for each calf that is killed by a wolf. Government reimbursement programs help, but ranchers cannot always prove that a wolf was the culprit.
In the Midwest, hunting wolves is illegal. Controversy shrouds the open wolf-hunt in western states and the Midwest has not been without its share of drama.
A bill before the U.S. Senate would allocate $727,000 to federal management programs to continue trapping problem wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. This law would also allow Minnesota wolves to be killed rather than simply relocated.
But much of the drama has revolved around whether the wolves should be delisted from the endangered species list.
The western Great Lakes gray wolf was put on the list in the early 1970s. The population since then has since grown from a few hundred to more than 4,000 in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Minnesota wolves are more numerous and are listed as threatened while Michigan and Wisconsin wolves are labeled as endangered.
Recently, the debate whether to delist the western Great Lakes gray wolf from the endangered species act has become a tedious game of ping-pong.
In February 2007, it was delisted from the endangered species act. It was then reinstated in September 2008 when the Humane Society sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Another ruling was announced in April 2009 to delist the western Great Lakes gray wolf. Once again the Humane Society and four other wildlife protection groups sued and the wolf was reinstated this September.
The basis of the court order was that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service failed to provide opportunity for public comments before the delisting.
In a statement released last June, the Humane Society said that the delisting would be, “a decision that would have allowed hostile state wildlife agencies to subject the wolves to widespread and indiscriminate killings at the hands of state agents, farmers, and trophy hunters.”
Others disagree.
“Wolves have been well recovered in the Great Lakes area and should be delisted,” said David L. Mech, a United State Geological Survey senior scientist and adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota who has studied wolves for more than fifty years.
The delisting process has begun once again and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hope to give opportunity for public comments this coming winter or summer.
It looks as though the ping-pong match is to continue.
Until a resolution, Radaich and other cattlemen use expensive and unreliable methods to control the wolves.
Radaich relies on the chance of wolves acquiring mange and respiratory viruses that control numbers. He has tried guard dogs but they are too often ineffective. And specialized fencing is too expensive to surround 1,200 acres of land.
Other than suffering financial losses when wolves kill young cattle in the spring, wolves also carry the parasite “neospora” that can cause cows to produce less milk, and give birth to smaller calves.
This parasite can also cause cows to spontaneously abort their fetuses.
Although loss due to spontaneous abortion affects about six to eight calves a season, Radaich fears unless wolves are controlled hundreds of cows will abort their fetuses, a devastating financial blow for ranchers.
“I’ve been patient with wolves,” said Radaich, “but that would cause a war.”
 
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