|
|
Member
Posts: 11
Location: Winneconie | Just wondering what your guys take on the whole wolf thing in wisconsin. I heard there was a possible sighting in the oshkosh area. Living in Illinois up till this last year I never had to deal with such things. How did you guys let this happen here? 
Edited by Winneconie Hammer 1/6/2008 6:23 PM
| |
| | |
| Ibelieve one was hit by a car a few years ago in the Appleton area, I guess there are not enough coyote hunters in the area to mistake them for big coyotes  In the UP and northern WI they are all over the place, and they are getting use to humans, and that's not good. | |
| | |
Member
Posts: 794
Location: Elgin, Illinois | Go back and read some 17th century history... The early settlers had a far smaller problem with the Native Americans than they did with the wolves. And, most anthropologists believe that man's fiercest competitor for the "top of the food chain" was the wolf and man barely won!
Wolves are not "cute, cuddly or friendly" around man. They view us as a threat to be either avoided or attacked, if that is not possible. They do not fear us as do other creatures. Perhaps only the Polar Bear that views anything that it sees as food, is more dangerous to man. | |
| | |
| History in Wisconsin
Before Wisconsin was settled in the 1830s, wolves lived throughout the state. Nobody knows how many wolves there were, but best estimates would be 3,000-5,000 animals. Explorers, trappers and settlers transformed Wisconsin's native habitat into farmland, hunted elk and bison to extirpation, and reduced deer populations. As their prey species declined, wolves began to feed on easy-to-capture livestock. As might be expected, this was unpopular among farmers. In response to pressure from farmers, the Wisconsin Legislature passed a state bounty in 1865, offering $5 for every wolf killed. By 1900, no timber wolves existed in the southern two-thirds of the state.
At that time, sport hunting of deer was becoming an economic boost to Wisconsin. To help preserve the dwindling deer population for this purpose, the state supported the elimination of predators like wolves. The wolf bounty was increased to $20 for adults and $10 for pups. The state bounty on wolves persisted until 1957. By the time bounties were lifted, millions of taxpayers' dollars had been spent to kill Wisconsin's wolves, and few wolves were left. By 1960, wolves were declared extirpated from Wisconsin. Ironically, studies have shown that wolves have minimal negative impact on deer populations, since they feed primarily on weak, sick, or disabled individuals.
The story was similar throughout the United States. By 1960, few wolves remained in the lower 48 states (only 350-500 in Minnesota and about 20 on Isle Royale in Michigan). In 1974, however, the value of timber wolves was recognized on the federal level and they were given protection under the Endangered Species Act (Exit DNR). With protection, the Minnesota wolf population in-creased and several individuals dispersed into northern Wisconsin in the mid-1970s. In 1975, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources declared timber wolves endangered. A wolf research program was initiated in 1979.
Studies since 1979 have shown that four to twenty-eight wolf packs, ranging from 15 to 105 animals, roamed portions of central and northern Wisconsin. Average adult mortality was about 38% in the early 1980s, but has been reduced to 20% the last few years, and the population continues to increase.
Canine parvovirus, a lethal canine disease, caused high losses in Wisconsin wolves in the mid 1980s. In the early 1990s, mange has caused the loss of several wolves, but appears to be declining. In 1989 the WDNR developed a wolf recovery plan for the state, and developed a recovery goal for the state at 80 wolves. In 1999 the WDNR established a new management plan for the state that set a long term goal for the state of 350 wolves outside of Indian reservations.
Current Status
The gray wolf is listed as a threatened species in Wisconsin by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Exit DNR) (2003), but relisted as endangered in 2005. Wolves were removed from the state list of endangered and threatened species in 2004, and listed as Protected Wild Animals. About 540 to 577 wolves existed in Wisconsin in late winter 2006. On March 12, 2007 the gray wolf was federally delisted, and currently has no federal designation.
Misconceptions and Controversies
Wolves are the "bad guys" of fable, myth, and folklore. The "big bad wolf" fears portrayed in Little Red Riding Hood, Peter and the Wolf, and other tales have their roots in the experiences and stories of medieval Europe. Wolves were portrayed as vile, demented, immoral beasts. These powerful negative attitudes and misconceptions about wolves have persisted through time, perpetuated by stories, films and word-of-mouth, even when few Americans will ever have the opportunity to encounter a wolf.
Wolves are controversial because they are large predators. Farmers are concerned about wolves preying on their livestock. In northern Wisconsin, about 17 cases of wolf depredation occur per year, about half are on livestock and half on dogs. As the population continues to increase, slight increases in depredation are likely to occur. In Minnesota, with over 2600 wolves, there are usually 60 to 100 cases per year.
A few hunters continue to kill wolves, believing that such actions will help the deer herd. It is important to place in perspective the impact of wolves feeding on deer. Each wolf kills about 18 deer per year. Multiply this by the number of wolves found in Wisconsin in recent years (330), and approximately 5940 deer may be consumed by wolves annually. This appears as a fairly low when compared to over 40,000 deer hit by cars each year, and about 450,000 deer shot annually by hunters.
| |
| | |
| HGMEYER I find your statement"earlier settlers had far fewer problems with native ameican indians thans wolf's" highly offensive and comparing native american with a wolf shows your extreme ignornace on what actually occured hundred years ago! | |
| | |
Member
Posts: 3899
| I have pics of the wolf in Oshkosh. I heard somebody arrowed it. Thought it was a coyote. Turned himself in to the DNR right after he determined it was not a 'yote. Just what I heard.
This is an original picture from the guy that took it.
(wolf in Oshkosh 005a.jpg)
Attachments
----------------
 wolf in Oshkosh 005a.jpg (91KB - 164 downloads)
| |
| | |
| Who says if you're from Illinois that you don't need to "deal with such things"? This wolf was hit by a car just west of the town of Antioch, IL
Wolf killed in Lake County was rare visitor
Chicago Sun-Times, Mar 1, 2005 by Gary Wisby
He was a lone wolf, looking for love in the wrong place -- Illinois -- and he died for his mistake.
That's how state biologist Brad Semel thinks a young male timber wolf ended up as roadkill in Lake County at Chain O' Lakes State Park.
The second wolf confirmed to have visited the state since the early 1900s, it now lies in a freezer at an Illinois Department of Natural Resources facility in Lakemoor.
Semel is preserving the carcass so the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service can do DNA tests that will positively identify the species and probably tell what wolf pack it came from. But Semel is certain it's a wolf and pretty sure it's from Wisconsin.
The animal, found dead Feb. 17, was less than two years old, judging from tooth wear, and weighed 89 pounds. That made it about three-fourths full grown and twice the weight of an adult male coyote.
Humans are safe, expert says
Semel considers the wolf hard evidence of a remarkable comeback. He noted that in January, federal officials upgraded wolves in the Great Lakes region from endangered to threatened.
Minnesota had no wolves in modern times until the '60s but now has more than 3,000. Michigan reported half a dozen in the '90s but now is up to about 350. And Wisconsin, with only about 20 wolves in 1980, now has 400 in 75 packs.
One of the Wisconsin packs was home to the Chain O' Lakes wolf until the breeding season that started in January, Semel speculated. "If the pack is expanding, subordinate males might have been kicked out as the dominant males and females became more aggressive," he said.
| |
| | |
| Dam Shep... even I can't photoshop a Wolf with houses in the background! | |
| | |
Member
Posts: 885
| Sorry Shep... I found this additional picture that proves you are correct.
Dominic
Attachments
----------------
HootersTuffy[1].jpg (145KB - 149 downloads)
| |
| | |
Member
Posts: 794
Location: Elgin, Illinois | sorry you felt offended. reread my post. if you, as I have, read original source material, diaries and journals of early 17th cwntury settlers in New England. popular myth is that these settlers experienced conflict and danger from the Native Americans that they settled amoung. The accounts of near starvation because of the loss of livestock to wolves far outnumber related attacks on settlements by the indigenous peoples. I certainly did not draw any parallels as you do. history is what it is... don't rewrite, relate it and study it for what it is, the truth as far as we can determine. | |
| | |
| DNR INFO
Take this as you want but think few people spend as much time in the northwoods of wisconsin as I do. I do not claim to know much about wolves but I WILL NOT believe for one minute that a wolf only consumes and or kills 18 deer per year. I have witnessed first hand in several locations where the wolves killed 10-12 deer per night and left most of them untouched for the entire winter, the ones they did eat, they mainly where after the internal organs. When conditions are ideal they kill just to kill, this may have somthing to do with teaching there young to hunt. They are also repsonsilbe for thousands of dollars worth of damage to bear hounds per year in wisconsin but this is another subject. They are extremely hard on the local deer herd when they are in the area and when the hunting gets tough for them in one area they just move on to another.
This past fall a party of three hunters had just fisnished a tracking job on a doe and where working on field dressing her as they were surronded (literally) by a pack of at least six wolves. The wolves never attacked and kept there distance from the men as they drug there deer to the fire lane but followed them approximantly 3/8 of a mile to there vehicle, once at the vehicle a firearm was discharged and the wolves just stood there and watched as they men loaded there deer. They seem to be gowing bolder as there population increases with no fear of man. As far as I am concerned this is like everything else the dnr is involved the truth is never told.
Well you know what hey say in the U.P. and Northern Wisconsin
Smoke a Pack a Day | |
| |
|
