Shooting Wolves

[Coon]

Well I sure ain't gonna win this little competition as I only got three so far this month.  'Yotes are not coming in to the bait right now.  I think this is due to the spring melting.  I shot all three of mine running across fields.  Guess they are exploring and moving about.  Must be coming on mating season too they are yodeling like crazy all day and all night.  Guess it's that time of the year.

[Ron Scott]

MINNESOTA DNR FILES PETITION TO HAVE MINNESOTA GRAY WOLF STATUS REFLECT MINNESOTA REALITY

For those of you who enjoy tracking wolf news . . .

http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/index.php/2010/03/17/dnr-files-petition-to-have-minnesota-gray-wolf-status-reflect-minnesota-reality/#more-43522

[Warren]

And this case just in from Alaska....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35913715/ns/us_news-life

[Bill]

Last night there was something about 'yotes being in downtown New York

I'm thinkin that could be my idea of irony  -  DanG 'yotes hanging out someplace that don't allow guns nor hunting

;D

[fishpharmer]

Bill, that pretty interesting about the NYC coyotes.  A couple grizzly's would really change the New York City folks idea of gun control and preservation.  :

[Ron Scott]

Wolf tracks confirmed in Cheboygan County.

DNRE and USDA Wildlife Services Division have confirmed at least two sets of
wolf tracks in Cheboygan County in Michigan's lower Peninsula. A local landowner reported seeing three sets recently. DNRE says this may be described as a
pack.

DNRE listserve

[Warren]

Last night there was something about 'yotes being in downtown New York

I'm thinkin that could be my idea of irony  -  DanG 'yotes hanging out someplace that don't allow guns nor hunting

;D

I was part of a group setting up portable kitchens in the Brooklyn Naval Yards a couple days after 9/11.  When we finished the set up (about 11:00 pm), we had to wait for a police escort back to NJ.  While we were waiting in our cars, we were watching the rats scurry around under the sodium lights.  The thought that went thru my mind was:  "They don't have a rat problem in NYC.  They have a shortage of young boys with .22 caliber rifles to clean out the rats..."

When my cousin and I were 12 years old, we could have filled a 5 gal bucket full of rats in less than an hour with the number we watched running around that night in the Naval Yards.    Truly a "target rich" environment...

-w-

[chevytaHOE5674]

In a presentation a couple years back, Brian Roell (MDNRE wolf coordinator) told me that they had confirmed wolf tracks and pictures in Cheboygan County.

[Corley5]

I live in southern Cheboygan county.  We saw what I'm sure were two wolves three maybe four years ago now.  They came out of a woodline to harass a pair of sandhills.  When I 1st saw them I wondered what a couple deer were doing chasing cranes.  Then I saw their long tails and realized they were big canines.  They were about  1/4 mile away from us in the field behind my parents house.  They were way to big to be coyotes.  I've seen enough deer and coyotes in that same spot the last forty years that I'd never mistake one for the other.

[Ron Scott]

A couple recent news articles from MDNRE

Gladwin Man Guilty in Wolf Killing. A Gladwin man was sentenced in District
Court in St. Ignace for killing a wolf last muzzle-loader season. He will pay
$500 in fines and costs plus $1,500 in restitution. Also, he will forfeit his
hunting privileges for one year.

Wolf Pup Captured and Released in Northern Lower Peninsula. The
Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) has reported
trapping, tagging and releasing a wolf pup in Cheboygan County. DNRE is
hoping to catch and release an adult wolf after attaching a radio-collar to it.
This effort is aimed at gathering information on distribution, activities and
population numbers in the Lower Peninsula. The pup was a male and weighed
23 lbs.

DNRE listserve

[Gary_C]

Last week I saw one of those fluff stories on a Minneapolis TV news show with pictures of a coyote that had gotten trapped in a soccer net on a school playground in the city. The report said that animal control was called and everyone was happy that the coyote was released unharmed.  :

I wonder if those happy people knew that coyote was in the neighborhood to kill and eat someones pet dog or cat. Oh sure he could have been after some gophers, rats or mice, but those coyotes in the cities mostly feed on unwary dogs and cats.

So if I were to ad lib another ending to this feel good story, it could have ended with the coyote showing his gratitude by killing and carrying away one of the spectators pets they were out walking. 

I had an uncle that lived in a Chicago suburb and he told me that the number one call for animal control in the city of Chicago was coyotes killing and eating someones pet right in their backyard. I have also seen coyotes eating road kill right along a busy highway in the city of Winona, MN at night. Them coyotes are everywhere now and seem to be thriving.

[SwampDonkey]

With all the feral cats I see roaming around in the headlights of the car in the morning, the coyotes can eat them to.  I wish they would clean up on the coons while they're at it. ;D  Just don't bother my neighborly fox. ;)

[fuzzybear]

   In the same valley as my woodlot was a chicken operation.  In the fall they would slaughter about 3-4k chickens. This being a bush farm they threw the gut piles out in the field. after 20+ years of this the population of yotes and wolves grew very large. 
   It was the only place on earth where you would see 3-4 bears along side 20+ wolves along side 20+ yotes with wolverine and lynx. On top of the pile was eagles and ravens.
   The operation closed a couple years back but not after the size of the packs grew to unsustainable levels.  In the last 4 years my cousin has trapped over 50 yotes and I have shot 44 so far. The wolves eventually split into 2 packs. They stay up in the mountains for the most part, but every spring they move through the valley hunting. There are over 50 wolves in the primary pack.  I managed to get a good look at the Alpha male this past spring when he came into camp and scared the heck out of me.
   I have seen over 1000 wolves in my years here in the north but I never saw one that big. His tracks were so big that the toe of my boots fit inside of his track. I figured he weighed in around 250lbs.  I was so impressed with him that I forgot I had the 22mag in my hand.  My  biggest bush dog is an akita/chow mix that weighs 140lbs, he was trying to crawl into the bed to hide. He knew there was no way he was going to win this fight.

[Pudge]

As far as I am concerned they could trap all the wolves for da U.P. and put them down in Lansing in all the wolf lovers back yards.
I can't even put my dogs out side to pee without watching them.

Daughter was out riding her horse in the indoor Tues about 7 p.m. I was cleaning stalls she started yelling. Went to see what was up there stood one looking at her not 50 ft. from the barn.

[Burlkraft]

As far as I am concerned they could trap all the wolves for da U.P. and put them down in Lansing in all the wolf lovers back yards.
I can't even put my dogs out side to pee without watching them.

Daughter was out riding her horse in the indoor Tues about 7 p.m. I was cleaning stalls she started yelling. Went to see what was up there stood one looking at her not 50 ft. from the barn.

What? No gun in the barn?

[Pudge]

Took it out but it's goin back in there after bear season. Don't want no shooting around here close till I get a shot at a bear here in a couple of weeks.

[pasbuild]

Is that big belly dragger still around? if so I sure hope ya get a crack at um.

[Pudge]

Yep so that is why I don't want to be shootin at varmits, figure then he 'might' hang around instead of headin for the swamp just before season. I don't want Don Jon lettin his dogs out on my property either told him that a few weeks back without lettin him know I pulled a tag. He is the type to let off his dogs on the road and say'oh gee I have no control where my dogs go' which they don't but they do know where all the private land is.
That big boy got tired of running last weekend he stopped an started swatin dogs, guess they carried a few out of the woods.
So I plan to used the 7mm fully loaded, takin plenty of extra's and the 357 the same way just in case he doesn't go down with one in the head.....an comes to see me  :odadgum you, Charlie!.

[pasbuild]

Da ya need a horse for bait, reason I'm askin is Dale has one that has something wrong with it and there going to have to put him down, the big cat zoo will take it but they have no way to get it there, right now there only other option is to take that walk in the woods.

[Burlkraft]

Good luck with the bear huntin'  ;D

I won't show Jill what ya said about the horse Bob  :D  :D  :D

[Pudge]

Geez Bob I couldn't use the horse for bait. I could just see Katy if I brought it home then shot the dang thing.....to shoot coyotes off of it.

Got me a coyote tonight tho. Called that bad boy in with a varmint call. Didn't think it was workin cause it didn't sound like any rabbit I ever heard. But when the doe left the field with her tail in the air I figured something was up. That 7 mm talked to him he wasn't impressed 8) 8)

[fishpharmer]

Pudge, good for you getting the coyote. 

[pasbuild]

The horse issue was takin care of, way ta go on the yote, ya should get Art over some day ta show um how its done ;D

[Magicman]

Here is something that I picked up from a hunting forum:  http://biggameforever.org/big-game-crisis.php

[Jeff]

Don't even try to argue that point with a wolf lover. They have blinders on.