Reinstating a 5 year moratorium on wolf hunting

[NoWiser]

My rep has never once responded to me. I think he probably has my email blocked after the one I sent him letting him know my thoughts on the bill he co-authored to take $6.5 million from the Outdoor Heritage fund and give it to the Met Council for metro parks....

[paceman]

my rep hasn't responded to me...but I let him know my thoughts on the subject!

yep same here...

[lichen fox]

Send him a email from a family or friends email account...and let him know he represents and works for you whether he agrees with you or not! If that don't work, call him, call him, call him and leave a message if no one answers...I have never not got a response from our reps State or Federal even if they disagree or are outnumbered on the issue they always send a response, and most times with a great deal of detail about pressures being put on and by what entities...

[ozzie]

I don't think much of our reps so it doesn't suprise me that they haven't responded. I just hope my rep takes in the peoples say and votes on how their constituants want them to!!

[bobbymalone]

writing to your congress people, LMAO. 7th grade civics class has taught you well. Your opinion counts! You matter!

[ozzie]

hey I guess it is like voting...you can't complain legitimatley unless you actually tried to do something...I sent a letter to my rep now if he votes yes or this gets passed I will have a right to biotch but if I sit on my hands and don't do anything well then....

[NoWiser]

I agree Ozzie. It might not help, but it certainly can't hurt.

Looks like we are one step closer to the wolf hunting ban after today. Let's hope it doesn't make it any farther...

[bobbymalone]

I just get the feeling that I could predict how elected officials are gonna vote on a specific topic with a high degree of accuracy based on geography and party affiliation. Like this... lets imagine this makes it along the political process... in the end it will be voted down based on nearly 100% repubs voting no, outside the metro dems voting no, and a split down the middle for metro dems.

Minds have been made up on things before they even happen.

[mrklean]

one rep responded said let the DNR manage our resources, another is sponsering the bill

[tfran123]

I hope you are right and I really hope those that sponsor bills like this get booted out of office. I've written all of them sponsoring the bill and non have responded and furthermore it kills me that they are local city folks trying to decide what's best for our wolves. Give me a break!

[bd477]

UPDATE!!!!!!

Minn. Senate Panel Passes Wolf Hunt Moratorium 7-6

Opponents of wolf hunting won a victory Thursday as a Minnesota Senate panel voted 7-6 for a five-year moratorium on future wolf seasons.

An overflow crowd made up mostly of wolf hunting opponents heard several people argue before the Senate Environment and Energy Committee that the state acted too hastily when it decided to resume sport hunting and trapping after the region's wolves came off the endangered list early last year. Hunters and trappers then killed 413 wolves during the state's first wolf season, which ended in January.

Supporters of the hunt testified the state's wolf population has recovered enough to allow for properly managed hunting and trapping, and they said years of study and legal battles preceded the hunt.

The bill now goes to a Senate environment budget committee, where its prospects are uncertain. No hearing has been scheduled for a similar bill in the House.

"We've got a lot of work to do," Howard Goldman, the state director of the Humane Society of the United States, acknowledged after the vote.

A Department of Natural Resources study in 2007 estimated the state's winter wolf population at about 3,000, and the DNR says monitoring since then shows the population is stable. Another comprehensive survey is now under way.

Sen. Chris Eaton, DFL-Brooklyn Center, chief sponsor of the moratorium bill, said Minnesota should have stuck with a provision in the state's original wolf management plan that called for a five-year wait on a resumption of hunting and trapping. She said lawmakers circumvented that plan when they voted in 2011 to authorize the hunt.

Former Sen. John Hottinger, now representing the Sierra Club, said the provision was "slipped into a bill that had to pass" during a special session to end the state government shutdown in 2011. He said Eaton's bill would correct "one of the more blatant abuses of our legislative process in recent memory."

But Sen. Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake, disputed that. She said the same language was in a version of the budget bill that Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed, and that it was amply vetted during the 2011 session.

"There were lots of hearings and lots of opportunities for input," Benson said.

Wayne Johnson, treasurer of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, testified that years of litigation to block the federal government from taking the region's wolves off the endangered list accomplished the same purposes as the five-year wait in the state's 2001 management plan. That plan anticipated "delisting" by around 2003, according to the DNR.

"In other words, time served," Johnson said.

But much of the testimony focused on whether the state should allow hunting and trapping of wolves at all, except possibly to protect livestock and public safety.

"There's only one reason for a wolf hunt. And that's sport, trophy recreational killing. No more, no less," Goldman testified.

The bill is largely the work of a group called Howling for Wolves. Its founder, Dr. Maureen Hackett, testified it was misguided for the state to resume hunting and trapping so soon after wolves came off the endangered list.

"The vast majority of Minnesotans value the wolf as an asset to protect for future generations," Hackett said.

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S2963617.shtml?cat=1

[lichen fox]

"There's only one reason for a wolf hunt. And that's sport, trophy recreational killing. No more, no less," Goldman testified."quote"

HMMM...that's....what, two or three reasons...not one...and,

He forgot wildlife population control and fur harvest...

It looks like the HSUS is against "ALL" hunting, if any of us do it for "sport", "trophy" or "recreation" But then we already knew that...Stop sending your money in response to any of thier teary eyed ad campaigns...this is what they are spending all that money on...they are not making life better for the dogs and cats in those ads with the $$.

[skee0025]

they are not making life better for the dogs and cats in those ads with the $$.

They are not the same organizations. Per HSUS's own webpage " We are not directly affiliated with any local humane societies or other animal organizations; each of these is an independent entity, governed by its own board of directors or by local officials." You can safely give to local shelters and not fund these nutjobs.

[mallardnwalleye]

The democrats are messing with some political fire if they want to push on this issue. I am surprised that some suburban Repulidrones are sponsors.

Wolf hunting makes sense as it ha scientific justification from the USFWS, the DNR and some urban intellectuals as according to someone on here there aren't any rural ones.

Go up and take a peek at what is going on in Isle Royal with wolf overpopulation. Well managed wolf hunting makes sense for deer people and wolves. Unfortunately "some" people have the same anthropomorphism association with wolves that they do with dogs or cats and we have this emotion only driven bill.

Like some of my realies out in Montana say about wolves-"smoke a pack a day"

Seriously though, this 5 year moratorium is silly talk. Maybe we should use the state constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to hunt as a way to defeat this silly bill if it were ever were to pass.

[fivebucks]

FYI: The HSUS DOES have commercials with sick looking dogs and cats to try to get donations using an over the hill Hollywood actress.

Either way one of my reps was a co-sponsor on the bill and I already emailed her saying she lost my vote in the future.

[Musky Buck]

Find the whole thing just bizarre. We have a song bird hunting season for Doves. A year round coyote season. Geese in August maybe. A 4 month old deer can be targeted every year. And a high percentage of all involved want wolves in the state, but there came a realization that their numbers were getting out of hand for all involved in the state or why would they want to start living in the farmland, thought they didn't like people, why would they want to leave the northern region of the state and settle in the central part of the state like they have. They have no predator but themselves when they're protected and I don't think there's a ton of em getting hit on the road. This season should've started 5 years earlier not trying now to delay it 5 more years.

[theharvester]

i think we need two states. north minnesota and south minnesota they can manage their wolves in the south half and we can manage the wolves in the north half make the line north of st cloud .

[Musky Buck]

Won't be too long and maybe they'll be in St.Cloud, they're established only 75 miles north of there and we never dreamt we'd have as many packs setting up shop as we do. I guess how far is Henning from St. Cloud ?

[mrklean]

they have them at ripley

[lichen fox]

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[kkahmann]

I have lived with wolves hereabouts for more than 40 years. They really are the iconic symbol of wilderness. I would be the last person on earth that would want to see the specie exterminated.

That said--I honest to God don't know how many I have harvested over the years. I remember in the middle '80s I ship 13 to the fur auction. I routinely go about armend and kill everyone that presents an oppurtunity. We are now limited to 2 wolves per year on a tag system here in NW Ontario--the only thing I will say about that is I kill 2 per year. Wolves are absolutely the hardest and smartest big-game to hunt hereabouts.

You guys had a pretty succesful season last year but believe me it won't be so easy next year.

Here is somethingelse I have noticed--I never met anyone who is against wolf huntin that knows anything about them.

Wolves are not now-- nor have they ever been-- in any danger of extinction in the Boreal Forest.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I just don't understand the logic, they approve a season then start a vote to stop it, a total waste of tax dollars IMO. Letters sent to my reps

[Eric Wettschreck]

I just read an on-line article aboot this in the strib.......then I wasted 10 minutes of my life reading the on-line comments.

There really are people out there that have no clue what they're talking aboot but sure think they do.

Sadly, this survived committee. Fortunately my reps have told me they'll be voting no on this one.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I read the same articles and sick comments

I don't see how this could possibly pass, so knowing politics it will

[Musky Buck]

Nov./Dec.2010 Montana Outdoors Pg.#3. A few lines from it. Just as there can be too many deer,geese, or mountain lions, there can be too many wolves. An unchecked wolf population will kill too many livestock and substantially reduce deer,elk and moose populations. If they continue to reduce their wild prey base, their own populations will eventually crash. We can't effectively manage wolves if public hunting isn't an option. Montana must be allowed to manage it's own resident wildlife. Sept./Oct. 2009 a few lines. Studies in northern MN estimate wolves kill 19-24 deer per year. MN study shows 6% of the deer population are killed where the 2 co-exist. Combined with severe winters, habitat degradation and hunter harvest, wolves definitely can contribute to locally declining whitetail populations. 11-35 elk per wolf annually, in isolated areas that's 20% of them. Just a different states take on wolves somewhat. Bottom line is they are recovered and the states need to do what's best for all.