Flying for elk in Idaho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeD45eM_DN0
Now these are a bunch of people who really care about wildlife. You don’t see the animal rights and eco elites out there taking this type of action on their own.  Bravo guys wish we had more like you here in the southwest. Â
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February 25th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Thank you for this site and SFW ID and Jim Hagedorn are fabulous- they’re working hard to deal with the wolf problem in Idaho- thanks also to Ron Gillet and Tony Mayer!
February 25th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
It appears to me that New Mexico is #1 in wolf decimation damage of the wild prey base, and I think Idaho gets the #2 spot, but I will say I am not up to snuff on Montana wild game prey bases and the impact from wolves there. Wyoming is still holding on to a strong prey base according to friends I have living there and other souces, but they are seeing big changes and they believe eventually the damage will be encredible. I have heard that the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep have been hit hard as well as the mountain goats in the Windrivers and other area’s. Sadly it will take the utter decimation of other species for people too see the truth, I fear it is already to late. I can say that Idaho has been hammered hard and the damage is tremendous. I have sources in the IFG who in private agree with me and several of us, yet they do not dare to speak out in fear of losing their careers. It boils down too that truck or mortgage payment doesn’t it. Course why would Idaho sell tags for a game animal they can not provide to us hunters. I will no longer purchase tags or licenses in Idaho, Im done.
February 26th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
email recieved 2-25-08 Good letter Shane.
I am a outfitter in Salmon for over 30 years and have seen the change! In 1996 our Unit 28 opening week saw 10 hunters harvest 9 bull elk. 1-7×7, 6-6×6’s and 2- 5×5’s. All Mature bulls,all happy hunters! 11 years later after the wolves have been here, this season (2007) we harvested only 1 spike bull and 4 deer out of 20 total hunters. On my first 3 hunts ,I went 15 days horseback guiding and never saw an elk!! Almost all of the hunters never wanted to see idaho again, yes very upset! I wander what this is doing to the economy of our small towns in Idaho, I here this from my friends,locals and pretty much everyone I talk to. I have yet to run into anyone on the trails,dirt roads,paved roads or on Main street that came to our county to see a wolf ! I guess most of them are in New York City watching them on TV as I have yet to meet one here, much less spend a dollar in our communities! I know as a fact there are hundreds or maybe thousands of elk hunters that will not return! Wow, wolves really do impact the economy of small idaho towns! I have talked and pleaded with our Fish & Game Dept in Salmon, Region 7 to no avail. They say basically nothing can be done? A few wolves have been taken out by the Feds only because of Beef kills. Not one wolf that I know of has been taken out because of Elk kills. About 5 - 8 years ago while lion hunting in my area in winter on snowmobile,I found 9 dead elk (8 cow elk & 1-6×6 bull) on Silver Creek road (a 14 mile stretch) all killed within a week in my opinion. All where killed by a pack of about 8 wolves in my opinion, by the tracks around the kills,the way the elk were killed, and the fact I lived with the pack in the area constantly. Wolf tracks everywhere,some of the elk eaten, some not, most had intestines pulled out some didn’t. All typical wolf kills I was used to seeing. Not one was covered by snow or brush as lions do. Almost all, had their nose’s pulled off, as usual for a wolf kill as I was used to seeing. A lion had never pulled a nose off an elk that I had ever found. Lions had never killed over 2 to 3 deer ( hardly ever an elk ) on the 14 mile stretch of Silver Creek road ever in a course of a winter the 20 + years I had been there! Also no lion tracks were found by me and my lion hunters over a 2 week period in the area when the elk were found. Obviously a case of binge killing by the wolf pack that was in there. I would swear to this on a stack of Bibles ” then and today”, they were killed by the pack in the area! On my way out on snowmachines with my hunter that day I ran into Jason Husselman (now Idaho Fish & Game Wolf biologist in the Salmon office) ” then a guy doing a wolf study” under Gary Power (now Idaho Fish & Game commissioner, Salmon area). I told Jason about the 9 dead elk on Silver Creek road and that in my opinion, they were all killed by the pack of 8 wolves in the area. He said he would check the kills, as he was doing the study on the impact of wolves on big game in the area. On return a few days later, I ran into him on snowmachines again a few days later. I asked him if he saw the elk kills on Silver creek? He said that he did. I asked him what did he write down in his study reports? He said that he determined that all 9 elk were killed by lion! And that he wrote it down as such in his reports on the wolf study he was doing under Gary Power. I was floored, to say the least and asked him if he was for the wolves or against them. He told me he was for the introduction of wolves and wanted them in idaho. The important thing to remember here is ; If the 9 wolf kills on Silver creek road that week were reported as lion kills, what about the rest of the study in the whole Salmon area that winter? Now both these guys are pulling good wages and have been for years working for the Idaho Fish & Game Dept. I hope that they are proud of their study. I just wanted them to know I didn’t forget about that special moment. Believe me I never will. Steve, Thanks for the opportunity to tell you my story. Feel free to send it to anyone you please.
Sincerely, Shane McAfee
February 27th, 2008 at 7:18 am
[...] would like to thank Wolf Crossing for providing the link to the video below. You may enjoy being a part of a fly-over in the [...]