I thought one was going to eat me in Idaho.... They are scary big and even more scary when you are alone in the mountains and one is only a few feet away!!

The guide said the wolves up there have eaten everything!! They cant even find any elk tracks anymore... They need to let all of us go up there and thin a bunch of those big bad wolves out!

WOW!!

those are crazy pics!

+1

She shot someone's study animal... Very sporting

My guess is she is studying said wolf.

They don't band ducks for their protection. Nor do they collar geese so they don't get shot. They also don't collar wolves so they don't killed. And just because it has a collar, don't equate that to a domestic animal, or call it "not sporting" to shoot it.

If you've ever done any wildlife management, you'd know that they want their collar back to download the info. It either falls off at a predetermined time, or the animal is harvested and the collar is returned to the researchers.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but that is an ignorant statement.

I am in fact a wildlife biologist and know plenty about radio telemetry. Who's ignorant now...
We usually don't like it when someone shoots our study animals...Especially large mammals... And even more especially, rarer large predatory mammals like a wolf which are difficult enough to capture and observe as is. It's ok if radio tagged ducks and geese get shot because many of them are tagged to study hunter kill rates anyhow. Unless we ask them to or it is eating their livestock, we don't appreciate study animals being shot. Maybe this one was tranqued but I somehow doubt that.

wow

Ignorant? I doubt that.

But your comments were still meant to be inflammatory and were disingenuous. Here's why:

You tried to insinuate that somehow a collared animal, or wolf in this case, is akin to shooting a domesticated dog, and thus labeled the kill with your sarcasm as "very sporting." There is no doubt in my mind that this wolf is just as wild as any other wolf in woods, but your comments now seem to suggest that this wolf let the researchers collar it. So if it isn't wild, why collar it in the first place? To track a domesticated wolf in the wild? Really?

If you're suggesting the wolf is tranqed in the pic, then my previous comments don't apply.

Also, in wolf regions which have free range wolf hunting seasons (the region in question obviously has one), wolves are game animals. Are you really suggesting that this game animal shouldn't be harvested because it has a collar, or that researchers do not expect a certain number of their "study" game animals wouldn't fall to predation?

You say you are a wildlife biologist and I am inclined to believe you. As such, you are obviously educated. But your comments lack the common sense which should be commensurate with your education.

I don't know how you deduced that I insinuated the animal was domesticated... You are incorrectly filling in too many blanks and evoking ideas that I did not at all communicate. Assuming that I meant the animal was domesticicated, that I suggested the wolf 'allowed' the researcher to collar it, assuming I suggested the animal should not be harvested, and saying I think the researchers don't know that some of their animals will be killed by hunters... That is absurd to think that I actually suggested those ideas. I did not state any of those things. Those conclusions are your own and they are not my ideas at all.

I said that it is difficult to capture and collar or tag a wolf. How would that possibly mean that I think the wolf is domesticated? I said researchers don't like it a lot of times when their study animals are killed; but they know it happens; they just don't like all their hard work to be ruined. I said that I DOUBT the animal is Tranquilized in the photo, i did't suggest it was tranquilized at all, simply stated that I find it unlikely the animal is sedated.

I have spent about 6 months in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Oregon in the last year and a half and have become more than familiar with the wolf situation in that region. I have also become familiar with how government agencies and the local people handle and view the increasing wolf populations.

The only thing my original comment lacked was the conclusions you drew from them and the words you put in my mouth. The common sense is there. My education has long since been commensurated since I do, in fact, get payed to carry out the duties of my profession, and have done it well for seven years.

You should not draw capricious conclusions without first knowing what I actually intended to convey. My comment about killing a collared animal being unsporting was vague, I admit, but I left it vague for a reason. Maybe the animal wasn't killed for sport, I don't know.Now hopefully you see that reason.

I never meant to be inflammatory or disingenous although apparently it came accross to you that way. If that is how you took it, that's your deal, not mine. Only stated a short and to the point opinion about sportsmanship.

I appreciate your passion on the subject and some of your viewpoints seem to be sound, but please don't draw unfounded conclusions for me. You have a nice day.

I appreciate your thoughts.

But one liners without context, in their own right, are capricious, misleading, and inflammatory. Folks should explain themselves fully. Or "we get what we have here...a failure to communicate."

Thank you Stother Martin...

I said I meant it to be a vague one liner... You took it as capricious, misleading, and inflammatory. Someone else might take it for what it is, a short and to the point statement of opinion that got blew out of proportion. As you now see, I can write more than one line.

Good dicussion though. I like a good argument.

I bet the others are dead though this is alot of arguing without alot of facts

Navasot you are absolutely correct... All about a bunch of maybes and opinions. No real facts here just an opinion based discussion.

Agsellers- How about an arguement on write, right, and rite haha jk sorry could not resist.

You can blame my crappy keyboard and lack of desire to proofread for that one... Smarta**

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black right?

Dang! I bet you fellers have more degrees than a thermometer. All I want to know is if any of them were killed with a .223?

I do too.

But too many of our good discussions on THF turn into a South Park episode because people sharpshoot, not based on an opinion, but based on simply trying to stir the pot.

Agree to disagree, and again, I appreciate your thoughts. But communication isn't simply what gets transmitted, it's the interpretation on the distant end. You can blame misinterpretation all day long, but you cannot exclude the message from any culpability.

Good luck to you and yours, and enjoy the holidays.

Wonder if those where even shot on this continent?

Hot diggity damn, jus thoht Id ad my suppr-smart italect. I got me a edumucation to

DANG!!!

that there is some good stuff! i used a dictionary to follow them there fellows talk. enjoyed it all, best book i have ever read!
thanks for sharing fellows!