PINEDALE — Justin Webb wanted to hear what the seven trappers in the back row made of his pitch.
The Idaho panhandle resident had traveled all the way to Sublette County to promote his organization, the Foundation for Wildlife Management, a 501c3 nonprofit that makes payments to trappers who kill wolves. But two hours in, the stone-faced men had hardly said a word. Webb, the group’s executive director and an avid trapper himself, tried to ease the outdoorsmen gathered in the library conference room into saying something.
“We go to the woods to get away from people, right? That’s what I do,” Webb told the trappers. He made a final appeal. “Speak up, gentleman,” he said. “You came to the meeting. Let me hear what you got.”
The group stayed silent.
Webb’s primary message — that wolves decimate elk, deer and moose populations and limit opportunities for human hunters — has held sway in Idaho and Montana, but not without controversy. State-sanctioned wolf hunting and trapping seasons designed to drive down wolf populations in those states, including at Yellowstone’s doorstep, have made national headlines and triggered lawsuits and Endangered Species Act listing petitions.

Webb’s push to establish a Foundation for Wildlife Management chapter in Pinedale appeared to fall flat. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has walked a wolf-management tightrope for years, some argue, and it doesn’t need groups like FWM upsetting the balance. Wyoming also doesn’t have the problems FWM aims to solve, argue others.
La Barge resident and former Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioner Mike Schmid predicted the response.
“I told my wife that I thought this was going to be kind of a dud,” Schmid said of the meeting. “I don’t know how it’s going to fit in Wyoming.”
Webb, meanwhile, said some Wyoming residents do want his services.
“I’m here because there are sportsmen within the state of Wyoming, as well as ranching community folks, that have reached out to us with interest,” he told the Pinedale crowd.
It remains to be seen whether the Foundation for Wildlife Management’s wolf-killing ways will gain traction with Wyoming sportsmen and sportswomen in other communities, but some stakes are already clear. Wyoming wants to continue to manage its wolf population, but incentivized wolf-killing with payments could attract more attention from activists who’d like to see the species relisted, protected from hunting and under federal management.
Private bounties or ‘gold standard’
The decade-old nonprofit’s mission is to help elk, deer and moose herds by reimbursing people for expenses related to wolf killing, and it has conveyed upwards of $1 million for over 1,400 dead wolves in Montana and Idaho. That bounty-like system has drawn scrutiny in Wyoming’s two neighboring states, where there are relatively more wolves and where wolf hunting and trapping seasons have been politicized by state legislatures.
Private bounties for wolf killing are already permissible in Wyoming, but it’s unclear whether Webb’s approach is a good match for how the state manages the controversial native species. Based on state biologists’ reports, Wyoming does not have an overabundance of wolves to kill. Wolves are already classified as predators that can be killed without a license anytime of year in over 80% of the state, where roughly 30 to 40 of the canines are shot and trapped annually. Wolves are classified as trophy game, and managed for persistence, only in far northwest Wyoming. As of this winter, there are only about 160 wolves in that zone, according to Wyoming Game and Fish wolf biologist Ken Mills. (Another 100 or so wolves dwell in Yellowstone National Park and the Wind River Indian Reservation, where the state wildlife agency lacks jurisdiction and the species isn’t hunted.)

Like Webb, Jessi Johnson works to conserve elk, moose and deer for hunters, but as advocacy coordinator for the Wyoming Wildlife Federation she thinks Wyoming is already taking the right approach to wolves and doesn’t think the addition of bounty-killing is necessary.
“We absolutely manage to the lower rung [of wolf numbers], and we do that on purpose,” Johnson said. “There’s a reason why we haven’t seen [wolf-killing] legislation like Montana and Idaho.”
Status-quo wolf management, she said, is working, as “unsavory” as the predator zone — where wolves are killed without limit — might look.
“Within the trophy zone, they’re incredibly tightly managed,” Johnson said. “We’ve never even gotten worried about getting too low, or too high. If you would have told me 10 years ago that Wyoming was a gold standard for large carnivore management I wouldn’t have believed you, but I’ve been in other countries and talked to other legislatures, talked to other departments, and I do think that Wyoming’s management is solid.”
The Wyoming Wildlife Federation, Johnson said, has “no interest” in partnering with Webb and his group.
Groups that aren’t as complimentary of Wyoming wolf management are also leery of the foundation’s bid to establish chapters in the Equality State.
“Increased harvest and method of take in Wyoming’s trophy game management area could push the population below the minimum number of wolves required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” Wyoming Untrapped Executive Director Loren Taylor said. “A wolf bounty program with the purpose of increasing wolf killing is not what we need in Wyoming.”
“The Game and Fish has the most rigorous population monitoring program for wolves in the Lower 48, without a doubt. We don’t generate an estimate, we generate a census.”
Ken Mills, Wyoming wolf biologist
Mills, at Game and Fish, confirmed there’s not a lot of wiggle room remaining in terms of wolf numbers. The population goal in the trophy game area is 160 wolves, he said, which typically corresponds to about 14 breeding pairs.
“And we’re right there,” Mills said. “The [Wyoming] Game and Fish has the most rigorous population monitoring program for wolves in the Lower 48, without a doubt. We don’t generate an estimate, we generate a census. We count them, we map them. We know where there are potential holes, and we know where to look.”
The FWM coalesces around the idea of helping ungulates, the main prey of gray wolves. At the meeting, Webb, and FWM board member Rusty Kramer told lurid stories of coming across uneaten moose carcasses wolves had strewn across the landscape. Wolves have displaced big game from Idaho’s backcountry, they contended, ruining their hunting opportunities.
Big bad wolves
“I’ve got an 18-year-old son that I want to get to experience elk camp in the backcountry,” Webb said. “I want him to sit on a mountaintop on a ridge and listen to bulls bugle below him as the sun comes up, and I believe that if we don’t do something to control wolf populations, he won’t have that experience.”

Webb hails from Idaho, and his anxiety doesn’t match with the elk numbers in most parts of Wyoming. The state’s latest elk population estimate, of nearly 102,000 animals, exceeded the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s objectives by 29%.
“Where we hear complaints and what people are frustrated is with [an overabundance of] cow elk,” Johnson said. “Frankly, taking out more wolves isn’t going to solve that problem, either.”
The timing of Webb’s effort to expand was predicated in part by an upcoming threshold. Wyoming has had jurisdiction over its wolves for five years. During that time the state has been required to closely monitor the population to prove it’s staying true to promises about wolf numbers agreed to when Endangered Species Act protections were lifted.
“Depending on what Wyoming chooses to do, once they get out from underneath the five-year review, will dictate some of how we could be instrumental,” Webb told the trappers.
Opening up a wolf trapping season in the trophy game area — a pursuit that’s currently prohibited — is one policy reform Webb’s group could work toward, he told them. Currently, only wolf hunting is allowed in this zone.
“How on earth do you keep wolf numbers down if you can’t set traps?” Webb asked. “That part is a quandary to me.”
Trappers have about 30% success at killing a wolf in the Lower 48, according to statistics Webb cited, while only 1% of hunters hit their mark.
But Mills, the state biologist, does not see the cessation of the five-year review as cause for major changes in Wyoming wolf management: “I think that’s a really naive point,” he said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is already conducting a new status review of the wolf population in the Northern Rockies states as a result of a petition, he said. Subsequent petitions can come from any member of the public at any time.
“The reality is, at any point in time, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has to be able to demonstrate we’re meeting recovery criteria,” he said. “That will not change, because we will always have to be ready to provide the data to respond to a petition.”
Were a Wyoming chapter of Webb’s group to form, one thing that he could do immediately is implement the reimbursement program — something that could happen without changing state law or Game and Fish policy. In Idaho, home to an estimated 1,500 wolves, the Department of Fish and Game has even partnered with the foundation in that endeavor, chipping in $200,000.

The de-facto bounty program — which requires trappers to submit receipts for fuel and other expenses incurred — pays out between $500 and $1,000 per wolf killed, depending on the area.
Trapping isn’t allowed in the trophy game area like it is in the predator zone. But the bounty structure FWM uses, were it applied to hunters, would be legal today throughout Wyoming, according to Dan Smith, the Interim Deputy Chief of Game and Fish’s Wildlife Division.
“As long as the wolf was legally taken by a licensed hunter during a season [in the trophy game area],” he said, “I do not see a reason why they could not put a bounty on that.”
Some support
In its initial foray into Wyoming, the Foundation for Wildlife Management has gained some support.
Phil Pfisterer, who presides over the Wyoming State Trappers Association, is a member of the organization and said he believes there are excess unreported wolves out on the landscape that provide justification to kill more animals. He described the Wind River Indian Reservation as a “predator pit” that churns out pups that disperse beyond tribal boundaries.
The foundation’s payments, Pfisterer said, are a “viable tool” to keep wolves in the predator zone in check. But he added that Wyoming’s doing a “wonderful job” of keeping wolf numbers in check under the status quo management.
Webb and Kramer also made their pitch to a congregation of trappers gathered in Riverton this month for a fur sale. Some 30 to 40 people, Pfisterer estimated, heard them out, though none of the trappers jumped at the chance to start a new chapter, he said.
As of Friday in Pinedale, Webb said it’s still unclear whether there’s an appetite for his services in Wyoming.
“I’ll just say this: It definitely takes volunteers,” he said. “If this is going to take place it’s going to be because Wyoming wants [us] here.”
Why can’t these traps be set to trap these hunters so they can feel what it feels like to be trapped with these horribly painful traps? There needs to be full protection for these wolves across the US. The US needs strict laws to stop these crazed mad men from killing innocent animals. When is the US going to stop allowing these barbaric killing sprees?
Webb claims that trappers have about 30% “success” in killing wolves while hunters are successful just 1% of the time. Webb seems to be completely ignoring “non target” species killed by trappers: ungulates (have you seen the photo of a deer wandering around with a trap on its tongue?), raptors, family pets and many others. Hunters take aim and do not shoot what they cannot identify. Trappers cannot claim that degree of accuracy. Trying to “manage” wildlife by trapping is flying blind. How can you claim to be managing anything without measuring the impact of your actions on it? Wyoming Game and Fish issues trapping licenses. Do they gather statistics on non-targeted species trapped? If not, why not?
Somehow, the idea that wolves must be controlled by humans to prevent their overuse or elimination of their prey has become a widespread assumption. That’s barstool biology.
In the last few decades, numerous investigators have reported on factors that regulate wolf populations, bringing into question the need to cull them to prevent them from expanding their populations beyond an arbitrary socially-determined carrying capacity (Cariappa et al. 2011, Chapron and Treves, 2016, Cubaynes et al. 2014, Pimlott, 1967, Rutledge et al. 2010).
Do natural factors limit wolf populations? Nine scientists examined that question at length (15 pages) in Smith et al. 2020. Population Dynamics and Demography (Chapter 6) in Smith , Stahler, and MacNulty. (2020). After acknowledging that available food affects a number of vital factors, the authors conclude (Pp 90-92) that, “population growth rate is most influenced by adult wolf survival, mainly of yearling wolves, but also of older wolves.
The authors ask, “How did survival decline? By wolves killing each other – intraspecific strife – a form of intrinsic regulation.” Then, ”Did the wolves kill each other because there was less food? Cubaynes et al (2014) tested this possibility by controlling for the effect of food and found that increased wolf density (in Yellowstone’s northern range) reduced survival independently of changes in elk abundance.” Later, “Certainly, we find strong evidence that social factors play a key role in driving wolf mortality rates in Yellowstone, which leads to the conclusion that if wolves were not territorial, there would be more of them on the landscape.”
An excellent post Mr. Bishop. It is refreshing to read comments that quote scientific data and research. Unfortunately, scientific facts and reason have no place in states such as Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.
Thank you so much for these facts. More responses like this are what’s needed when it comes to discussing anything wolf related.
Tonight when you go to bed remember to give your trusted dog a hug! Then remember to thank the wolves for your trusted pet!
Absolutely !!
Heard several comments here about “non native invasive species.” Well then let’s start ridding ourselves of the non native cattle in this state and bring back the bison which were slaughtered by the millions with meat left to rot as part of the Native American eradication program.
And by the way, I’m a deer hunter. If I don’t get a deer, I go to the grocery store and buy some bison (I don’t eat beef). If a wolf doesn’t get their prey, they starve.
Wyoming’s wolf management is the only one which has successfully implemented the population and habitat goals ESTABLISHED BY THE WOLF MANAGEMENT PLANS AND EISs. We are right on the publicly determined goals for population and habitat – the other states need to learn from Wyoming’s approach. In Idaho, Montana, and Wisconsin the wolf populations greatly exceeded the established goals resulting in the contentious situations in those states. Not so in Wyoming – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Wyoming Game and Fish has spent a lot of money on our wolf management strategy and it is working nicely. No need for out of staters to come here and stir up the natives when we’re the prime example of state of the art wolf management. I’m very happy with the way Game and Fish has managed wolves in Wyoming. Best available science in action.
You certainly can’t argue wolves have absolutely hammered ungulates in our little corner of the world of the Bitteroot Mountains in Mullan, Idaho. We are still one of the few areas of the West with an over the counter rifle cow elk hunting opportunity for three days. Truth be told, hunting has become pretty boring around here. Those of us who hunt hard see so little game it’s just a walk in the woods. All we can do now is “manage” the wolves. Trapping is our only hope. Ariel gunning helps too, but the Greenies go ballistic when they hear of it. A wolf is just a wolf. It’s gotta eat. Wished they were never introduced, as did most Idaho sportsman and the Fish an Game but since Pandora’s box was opened, I enjoy my walks in the woods with a rifle and enjoy the Pine Squirrels. I’ll most likely head back to Wyoming for my “every three year trip” to fill the freezer. Until then, I buy a Foundation for Wildlife Management membership, a wolf tag, and remember long gone days when we had a bumper crop of elk. I really enjoyed this article, however. It provided a good look at an issue that effects all Western wildlife lovers; consumptive users or not.
“We are still one of the few areas of the West with an over the counter rifle cow elk hunting opportunity for three days.”
This is a “WYOfile” article, Wyoming has a statewide general elk rifle season that in some places goes for 45 days, in an area with lots of wolves. And our elk numbers are still above objective.
Trapping is the most inhumane method of “hunting”. It is not sport. It demonstrates a disgraceful lack of empathy for sentient beings, is indiscriminate and should be illegal everywhere. As for wolf hunting, how do these trophy hunters think CWD has gained such a hold and spread to States as far South as Arkansas? It is because of the manipulation of species for hunters. Time to stop. Hunting to feed your family I can understand. The rest is a disgusting show of inhumanity.
Absolutely agreed about trapping – its cruel and disgusting. And a CSU study on CWD stated areas with a significant predator population such as wolves can be effective in controlling CWD by culling out the affected animals. Wolves do not contract CWD nor can they transmit it.
“Hunters are conservationists, we just want to manage wildlife”
*wild animals exist*
“Not like that”
How anyone can feel good about themselves going out and killing an animal for trophy… Not even for food out of necessity…is sick. I feel so bad for these wolves and their pups. I don’t know if reincarnation is real… But I hope these murderers come back as a wolf in the next life and are taken out by their previous kind.
But unfortunately, this view is still all I’d see. Animals being killed for simply existing, born with a certain diet they cannot help, and having no where to go as we all take away habitat after habitat.
The re-introduction of wolves to Yellowstone has been proven hugely beneficial to the ecosystem, yet this year alone such people have killed 26 who stepped over the border of the park, and some of those were tagged and being followed as part of federal studies, so a punishable federal offense as far as I’m concerned. Apparently Webb can only kill something if using a trap, so not sure how he’ll do with the elk he hopes to kill with his son. I hope the good people who are out there will stand up against this and the wild horse roundup situation loudly before all is lost to government mismanagement and individual greed.
Healthy ecosystems need keystone species that create biodiversity and help in controlling chronic waste disease. Prime example is Yellowstone national park. The rippling effects of wolves coming back into their natural habitat is astounding in a healthy ecosystem now. The elk had destroyed river banks and overgrazed areas. Now with wolves back in the landscape a healthy ecosystem exist. Unlike mankind who goes after trophy elk wolves take the weak and sick . Wolves need to be put back on the ESA list.
Are any members of the WFWM biologists, ecologists or wildlife managers? Are any of them versed in predator ecology? Are their proposals backed up by any scientific research or documentation?
Just what Wyoming needs, more bubba-fied rednecks running around setting traps and snares that indiscriminately kill anything that stumbles into them. No thanks, FWM, please go back to Idaho and take some of those Wyoming thrillbilly-killbilly types with you.
“Bubba’s,” “monsters,” “fools,” “huge-bellied and bearded popgunners.”
Listen to yourselves.
Just a reflection on what I see before me.
Trapping and killing of predators should be banned, period. Wyoming livestock farmers contribute little to the national meat supply and their beasts decimate habitat needed by native species. The welfare queens should have disappeared long ago instead of being subsidized and given big breaks on their property taxes.
I agree..
If your business can’t survive without government subsidies then you shouldn’t be running a business.
Absolutely disgusting that an adult throws out prejudice and ad hominem without an ounce of shame.
That’s funny!
Wyoming game and fish has finally instituted
A good workable wolf management program that sucessfully got the delisting accomplished
If it ain’t broke don’t try to fix it
Old army saying
Undoubtedly there are some problem areas where adjustments may be necessary but let’s not bring back lunitic judges into the picture
Colorado is already having to pay ranchers for lost cattle! Colorado has had to go to using burrows on the man’s ranch in an effort to stop the wolves from killing his/ her cattle and Colorado hasn’t even Introduced the Non native Canadian wolves to the state yet……… near Walden Colorado 6 cow elk and one pregnant steer ( mutilated had to be put down…!) So far just from that area. Wolves have a place on this continent it’s in the wide open space of Canada!!! Not the heavier populated area of the lower 48! Remember it’s Your tax dollars going to the Forced Introduction of a Non Native species to Colorado………Oh did I fail to mention what this will do to the southern Mexican wolf already making a Comeback in southern Colorado? Because this Non Native Species is twice the size of the southern wolf…..what about their rights……?
Unbelievable in this day and age there is still this type of activity going on. The state should leave any control of predators to the federal body if need be. The over active imagination of the trappers is what will destroy any wilderness left for the common man/woman to enjoy.
Ernst: The wildlife in Wyoming belong to the state of Wyoming not to the Federal government ; therefore, the state must manage the wildlife. Exceptions are any species listed as Threatened and Endangered which are under USFWS control until delisting when they revert back to state management. The Federal government also manages wildlife in our national parks. Another exception is the Wind River Indian Reservation – a sovereign nation – which manages their own wildlife as they see fit. Right now the state of Wyoming and the USFWS are basically sharing grizzly bear management responsibilities; however, they will ultimately revert to full management of the state of Wyoming ( except YNP and the WRIR ). The state of Wyoming owns most of the grizzlies in Wyoming.
Send me a picture of that “pregnant steer”, please. Thank You
Lew,
I just about lost it laughing when you said one pregnant steer was mutilated. This is how credible your comment is. A steer is a castrated bull. Please tell me how HE got pregnant. The rest of your comment is not based on science or facts, so please, do some research.
Why would Wyoming need Webb when they have predator boards running around with snow machines and helicopters killing anything that moves ?
Ya no s**t I read that report not long ago and was blown away at the wanton gluttony and cruelty, – and the insanely flimsy justifications for their aerial, etc, gunning for sport and $$$…
Grotesque how humans, the most dangerous predator on earth by far are so afraid of wolves that they invent any excuse to kill them:
my favorite is the well known fact that not only are elk populations up to a point where Wyoming, Yellowstone, Idaho and Montana ( the 22 million acre GYE) wildlife managers are saying ” we have too many elk by a substantial amount and are looking for ways to reduce them” ( many outfitters report the same thing) to my all time favorite fact:
Less than 0.003% of all livestock kills nationwide are due to wolf predation!!! That’s almost negiginke- AND the government, that Big Bad Agency, lol- actually compensates most ranchers with at least fair market value for woll killed livestock….
So why do humans hate them sooo much they would even raise money and put a bounty on them!??
Its called Fear, and many – far too many these days-are afflicted and consumed by it.
These people, believing anything the Republican party tells them to ( often, anyhow) have become very dangerous as they look for anything that will make them feel powerful in a crazy world .. and killing wolves seems to delight them, more than anything…
I worder why…sigh..
That means the other 99.097% are killed by domestic dogs, coyotes, fa and ranch accidents, medical and birth issues, etc, etc, etc..
And STILL we gave these lunatics like Webb who look for ANY excuse to kill wolves- heck they even like to repeat and use our childhood fairy tale scary stories of the Big Bad Wolf even though there has only been one human killed by a wolf in the last 25 years in North America…
Etc!
They just been excuses yk very barbaruans- the absolute slaughter of wolves last year in Wisconsin and Michigan was over 200 in 2 days….
These are not men who kill wolves for sport, they are mean little boys who haven’t grown up yet and seem to hate anything that scares them–
They even like to accuse wolves of such easily unprovable and highly unlikely as “killing for sport ” argument without acknowledging that the human male in his big truck ( or helicopter, etc) is absolutely the most lethal being on the planet who kills hundreds of thousands of animals all over the world ” for sport/ trophy/ no reason at all/,” etc…no creature in nature even comes close to our brutality for no reason.
The amazing beautiful loyal powerful and mysterious north American gray wolf has been so ivervilkufied, it almost brings many of us to ..rage and tears…
Michael Grasseschi- I noted your political contribution to this story. You just had to add the word Republican to your rant. Keep the political nonsense from it. Both. All parties have people pro and anti wolf. Your comment about thrill killing is wrong. Can’t remember what year it occurred and was publicised but I remember either 13 or 14 cow elk were killed in one night on a feed ground in Bondurant. Look it up. It does happen.
Michael: The government ( the general population in Wyoming ) does not pay for wolf and grizzly kills of domestic livestock. Any compensation is provided by the sale of hunting and fishing licenses to sportsman and administered by Game and Fish. The taxpayers do not pay for predator caused losses which must be fully documented and attested to.
“Rage and tears” I couldn’t agree more or say it any better. Agree with you 100%. Thank you.
Wolves are beautiful animals and necessary predators.
People have to learn to live with them.
I agree with Harvey Reading’s comment.
You’d think there’s enough home grown Wyoming Bubba’s to thrill-kill around here, so we probably don’t need some Idaho group coming in to lead the charge. Sorry, we’re all full, Foundation for Wildlife Management!
These people have gotten out of control,trying to be “in control”.look at what the blm did to the mustang.why are these trappers so privileged that they can do this horrific thing.What kind of monsters enjoy killing off what wildlife we have left?Another decade,there won’t be much left,the way some people believe it’s good to kill off our wildlife,& the land is going to suffer too,& these fools dont care.Now that the mustangs are destroyed,who’s going to care for the desert & plains?with the wolf gone,the whole eco-system is going to be even more messed up than it is now,& that is horrible,but noone cares about the wildlife, except to kill them off-to be “in control”!
You are so right.
1. The mustangs were not destroyed.
2. The roundups brought the free ranging population down closer to the objective specified by the Wild-Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
3. They are still over objective.
4. They are not a native species.
5. They were not “taking care” of the deserts or plains.
Tina: The wild horses which BLM rounds up are usually out placed on private ranches in places like Montana, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The ranchers get about $60 to $90 per horse per month to pasture the horses for the rest of their natural life. Its the best thing that can happen to wild horses in Wyoming – its a Garden of Eden for horses to be able to run free for the rest of their life and its paid for by the American taxpayers. BLM has come up with a wonderful solution which has the horses welfare in mind and pleases the American people who overwhelmingly want to see the horses cared for.
The bounty on Idaho’s wolves is up to $1000-$2,500 each across our wolf range which includes pups in their dens. It’s horrific and will lead to extermination. Webb sees monumental problems where none exist (our elk are near peak population/harvest) and enjoys the attention he creates for himself.
“Foundation for Wildlife Management.” It appears to me that that is a subject they actually know very little about.
Completely, and trapping should be banned altogether. How is catching whatever animal ends up in a trap ethical? Letting it suffer until you get there only to kill it is just evil.
The Wyoming game and fish is entirely capable of doing the worst job of managing game possible. They have managed to see the deer, antelope,rabbit, sage grouse, blue grouse, pheasant, and chukar populations decimated. Now they have moved onto the elk, moose, and bighorn sheep to make sure they all get proper management since all the other game is nearly gone. They always retort there is more game than ever. That’s a lie compared to 1970 there is hardly any game left in most of the areas I once hunted in. I gave up hunting out of pity for the animals. State game and fish is a joke in Wyoming
I agree. I wouldn’t believe anything the Wyoming Game and fish says. I use to snow machine in the upper Green and Dubois area every year till a back injury forced me to give it up. Till the introduction of the non- native Canadian wolves I would see up to 15 Moose a day. Now if you see one you’re lucky, their answer to low Moose and deer numbers are Global warming and loss of habitat. I believe it’s predators and piss poor management. Prove me wrong.
You are definitely wring. Email me here if you want l the facts. I am a professional leader and educator in over 450 trips into Yellowstone in the last 8 years, and part of my job is to present my clients with the best available facts, not fiction or
” my grandma hated wolves so that means I should, too” rhetoric .
I do enormous amounts of research before I form an opinion that I share with others in a professional setting
But you don’t really want the facts, do you? I get it: knowing them would make you unpopular as hell in your little Christian redneck town…
But if you want the latest and best up to date facts and data directly from the National Park Service and the othwr agencues that are in charge of managing wolves, please contact me here and I will send you all the information i can. The world will be a better place because of people like you actually being willing to listen to the facts– not fiction!
Facts are the federal fish and game lied to the people of the state of Montana while illegally introducing a foreign species. Canadian grey wolves . Dispute that and I will prove the statement I just made ! The feds used deceptive practices while practicing bucket biology and environmental vandalism when they introduced this evasive species !
You’re attempting to get someone to argue your opinion. You are free to believe in bigfoot, santa claus, or the tooth fairy if you want. But believing it doesn’t make it true. So, It’s difficult to know where to start with this comment, but I’ll try.
(1) the “Canadian gray wolf” isn’t a species, any more than a German or a Frenchman is a “species”. A distinct race, perhaps. But not a species. Next time you’re tempted to spout off, please spend 30 seconds on Google with the following search terms: “wolf” and “species”.
(2) there is no “federal fish and game”. Again, 30 seconds on Google would help.
(3) I don’t know what you mean by “bucket biology”, or “environmental vandalism”.
(4) please be more specific with the “lies” that you reference. Who lied to whom? What did they say?
All of that stated, you (inadvertently) got one word correct. Wolves are indeed “evasive”.
And now I know why your earlier response made so much sense. Thank you for what you do.I used to stay up to date on wolves but couldn’t deal with being brought to “rage and tears” daily so just check in on their current status monthly.
I’ll happily prove you wrong. But before I do, please let me know what it would take to make you change your mind.
In other words, to convince you that moose declines are due to climate and not predation by wolves, what would you need to see?
If the answer is “nothing can convince me”, then “proving you wrong” will waste my (or anyone else’s time).
Similarly, it’s impossible to convince someone who really strongly believes in the tooth fairy, or that Elvis is alive, or that the government is using vaccines to insert invisible microchips into us.
I’ll wait.
Phil Pfisterer for Riverton mayor.
Sadly, they’ll probably find plenty of “manly” (probably huge-bellied and bearded) popgunners eager to join.
Right there,Wyo, Trappers are right it is.