NonSportsman Dominate Montana FWP Wolf Meeting

[MtPockets]

Montana FWP held a meeting in their draft wolf management plan this past Wednesday night.
According to this newspaper account, nonsportsman dominated the meeting.
Hunters need to stand up and have their voices heard, and having the wolf huggers drown out our voice is devastating to our future.

There is still time to have your voice heard. At the end of the article, there are links to the FWP Comment page.

Comments will only be taken through December 19th, so make this a priority.

Please keep it respectful, but by all means TELL the FWP of your experience in wolf country.

Also, be sure to mention the economic impact that the loss of hunting brings. Many small communities are already feeling the effects of fewer hunters, and that trend will only get worse unless they get the wolf numbers in check.

We need to stand up to those who want to ban wolf trapping and hunting, or we will be left with no hunting of any kind.

Non-sportsmen dominate Missoula wolf plan meeting

Chris Servheen of the Montana Wildlife Federation warned FWP that there was a potential reason so many non-sportsmen were at the meeting asking why unethical methods were being allowed and why it was legal to “waste” or abandon the carcasses.

missoulacurrent.com

 

[Frog4aday]

Bumping this back up. It's important.

 

[amu_shooter]

Any idea when/where next meeting is?

 

[MtPockets]

I believe they are all done having meetings. Biggest thing now is to get your comments in in time to be counted.

 

[Gundog74]

Sorry if I'm a little off topic, but I am from WV where we haven't talked about wolves.... YET. But I have been hunting Colorado the last several years. It's been my experience that locals do not want non residents to come hunt. That is other than the outfitters. I thought maybe wolves were a way to thin us down. No tags = no non residents. I do have a fear that wolves will end hunting in western states especially for us outsiders. Is there a way I can help stop wolf lovers from destroying what I love, even though I am not from these states?

 

[mnoland30]

We have Mexican gray wolves here NM, and the deer hunting reflects it. I used to get a deer almost every year, now it is 2 in 10.

 

[MtPockets]

Sorry if I'm a little off topic, but I am from WV where we haven't talked about wolves.... YET. But I have been hunting Colorado the last several years. It's been my experience that locals do not want non residents to come hunt. That is other than the outfitters. I thought maybe wolves were a way to thin us down. No tags = no non residents. I do have a fear that wolves will end hunting in western states especially for us outsiders. Is there a way I can help stop wolf lovers from destroying what I love, even though I am not from these states?

I think that most residents are ok with out of staters, until they show up in "their spot," but they get ****ed when a resident does too.

As far as what you can do- fill out the FWP comment form and tell them what your experience and thoughts are.

Being from out of state, I think it's especially important to tell them that you travel here to hunt (or would) and therefore contribute to the local economy in ways that most residents don't.
The last time they did one of these surveys, they had a HUGE number of out of state wolf lovers that commented. We NEED to have a huge number of out of state hunters who also respond.

With tourism being such a large part of this states economy, they don't necessarily listen to just the locals so I encourage every member of this forum to voice their opinion.

The future of big game hunting in Montana and elsewhere truly is at stake. If there is no game, hunter numbers WILL suffer- as we're already seeing. Once they get hunter numbers down, it's easier to take it away altogether.

 

[MtPockets]

We have Mexican gray wolves here NM, and the deer hunting reflects it. I used to get a deer almost every year, now it is 2 in 10.

It's well documented what predator numbers do to the game population.
It's no different than when the coyote or fox population is high, then the rabbit and pheasant population suffers.
Most people who support the wolves have never seen the diseases and starvation that comes when the predators no longer have prey.
I would bet that if they had, they would NOT be supporting their cause.

 

[Citified]

Environmentalists wanted wolves reintroduced to NE Oregon. Oregon fish and Wildlife agreed and began tracking them as they moved in from Idaho. At that time, 3 years ago, they stated there were NO wolves in central Oregon. Personal observation by myself and other hunters said ODFW had it wrong. They are illegal to kill. Now the deer population has declined about 40+ % and they are trying to figure out the cause. Not sure what plan B is going to be going forward.
Cougars are an issue also, but may be taken if you have a tag or claim self defense.

 

[akdad]

With as many Montana people on this forum as there are we could easily outnumber the 40 who showed to the meeting. I'm going to be commenting for sure I've seen what wolves do in other places

 

[memtb]

MtPockets, that's typical of all things political. The radicals gather in the highest numbers and make the most noise. Sportsman and those interested in keeping our country free need to learn from their tactics and overwhelm them! We outnumber them…..except in meetings, where we do not defend our way of life!

I hope that you folks in Montana learn from this and can gather in a large force to stop them and their agenda!

Good Luck, memtb

 

[Montana'eer]

It's well documented what predator numbers do to the game population.
It's no different than when the coyote or fox population is high, then the rabbit and pheasant population suffers.
Most people who support the wolves have never seen the diseases and starvation that comes when the predators no longer have prey.
I would bet that if they had, they would NOT be supporting their cause.

I hunt a lot of upland, mainly NE Montana. Weather and habitat loss are what mainly drives the population numbers. There are so many predators from yotes, fox, coons, skunks, owls, eagles- they are ever present. Weather and habitat wreak havoc on the population. We've lost about something like 40% of CRP in Montana over the past decade or so. That hurts. The lesser prairie chicken went from numbers in the millions in the late 1800's to less than 50,000 in their territorial range. All habitat driven.

 

[HuntingBronco]

Wolves have absolutely destroyed deer hunting in the western UP of Michigan where we have a "deer" camp. It's hard to comprehend. Our camp has not taken a reasonable buck in years. Almost no parties camping and hunting as in the past. We can't get the next generation of hunters to come and I can't blame them. I will most definitely voice my opinion for the benefit of hunting nationwide.

 

[Gundog74]

Thanks MtPockets. I just wanted to let you know I got on FWPs website and filled out a comment. I also wanted to let everyone know how easy it is. So please everyone it only takes literally a minute to do but can mean so much. Everyone even non residents lets help Montana out!