Wolf season?

[icehousebob]

Since the bigwigs in Washington and the bunny huggers in California love the wolves so much, I have an idea. We could live trap a few hundred here and transplant them to their areas. Of course, their designer dogs would get eaten every time they went out to go [PoorWordUsage], but that's the price you pay when you love all of nature's creatures. Its easy to champion a species when its someone else who has to pay the price. Remember when a coyote carried off Jessica Simpson's dog and she was spreading the word that he should bring it back? They have no concept of what happens to a prey animal. I think the wolves in Minnesota should be managed on a county level. Each county could issue licenses to hunt their area as they see fit.

[jeffreyd]

There is currently a program in Mexico that they are going to do a release of the grey wolf in Northern Mexico. The FWS and the other environmental groups are all for this expansion, however there will be issues as we all know. A wolf that is released in Mexico is property of that country but what happens when it comes into the US? and kills livestock or packs take over herds of deer and elk? The issue was brought to my attention as president of the deer assoc and we put tons of effort and money to lobby against it.

While i hope that people would see the problems that will arise with this project, the game and fish dept along with other groups noted above are thinking of a way to allow wolves to encompass the whole eastern edge of the state from Mexico across to the grand canyon. This will just destroy the habitat and wildlife that we as sportsman have worked so hard to improve.

We have lost many thousand acres to the Hopi tribe last year from a lawsuit from years ago. They took into their possession some very prime elk grounds, which still have azgfd control but are under the Hopi Tribe regulations. So you talk about a convoluted mess.

If you research Anderson Mesa, the antelope group along with az elk society restored the habitat to original structure. The agri axed all the cedar trees that were invasive and now it is all under the arm of the tribe.

Really kind of stinks to know that my funds are lost for those projects, the favorite place to hunt elk has be taken over all because of politics.

I do not blame the tribe or its members, I blame the government for allowing greenies to take over. While a bit off subject, if the wolf is allowed to expand, between misguidance of the government, the greenies, and allowing wolves to roam free for the "visual" effect, we are all going to be skunked.

[caseymcq]

The 5yr rule is set by the MN DNR as part of their plan, not the USFWS. I meant there was no fed rule. It sucks that MN is taking such a slow approach to this. I can't believe that they are moving so slow.

[jeffreyd]

If you want to research what az just did, we as organizations got a bill passed that says that the game and fish commission will be comprised of sportman/women, biologists, etc. they also have to be current license holders and have been for the last 5 yrs. i believe the bill was hb1200. quite interesting and might be an indication of how the commission can be run by the people who know.

[jeffreyd]

From what I have found, they put the wolves back on the list July 1 2009. Here is the statement right from the MnDnr HSOforum. So as long as wolves are on the list, there will never be a season for them. If they do ever remove them from the list, the regulations laid out say they must be off the list for 5 yrs before consideration of a season.

Legal Status

ESA Classification for wolves in Minnesota: Threatened

In 1974, wolves in the lower 48 United States were listed as endangered under the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973. This listing afforded complete protection to wolves in Minnesota, and prevented the state from managing wolves in any way that caused harm or death.

In 1978, Minnesota's wolves were reclassified from endangered to threatened (a less protected status), because of the state's high population of wolves compared to other states, and the need to control wolves causing damage to livestock. The law still prohibited killing of wolves except in cases where agricultural damage occurred.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency that administers the Endangered Species Act of 1973, adopted a recovery plan for the Eastern Timber Wolf in 1978, and revised the plan in 1992. The purpose of the recovery plan was to increase wolf numbers and range to assure survival of the wolf in the eastern half of the US.

The recovery plan set a population goal for Minnesota of 1,251 to 1,400 wolves by the year 2000. The goal was likely achieved sometime in the early 1980's, and was confirmed by a wolf population survey in 1989 that estimated the statewide population at between 1,550 and 1,750.

The recovery plan also set a combined population for Wisconsin and Michigan of 100 wolves, which was first achieved and confirmed in 1994, and that population must stay above 100 for at least five years (1999). All recovery goals were accomplished by 1999.

On March 12, 2007, Minnesota's wolf population was removed from the federal endangered species list. Wolves were managed under State Statute, Rule and by the Minnesota wolf management plan.

On September 29, 2008, after 18 months of state wolf management, a federal district court ruling placed wolves back on the endangered species list.

May 4, 2009 - In order to comply with the federal court ruling, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service submitted another federal rule in April 2009 to delist wolves in the Western Great Lakes Distinct Population Segment. Wolves in Minnesota were removed from the federal endangered species list and returned management authority to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

July 1, 2009 - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to a settlement that reversed the decision to delist gray wolves, returning Minnesota’s wolves to the "threatened" classification under the federal Endangered Species Act.