Would you find another place to hunt if wolves moved in?

[Ben Sobieck]

Here are the results of the deeranddeerhunting.com poll. What would you do?

[Stickman]

No Iam not going to move. Thats like asking me to leave when a neighbor I dont like moves in. Definately not!!!

[PrairieShadow]

Im still gunna be hunting the same spots....wolves or not

[Robert Rowland]

The only reason to leave would be if the deer left the area.

[Demoderby4]

ORIGINAL: Robert Rowland

The only reason to leave would be if the deer left the area.

Right on. I wouldn't leave either unless that happened.

[shaman]

In his book. Pioneer Life,   Phillip Tome described using wolves as a tool to hunt deer.  Tome figured out that if you left the viscera for the wolves, the wolves would keep running deer to you.  He also described hunting with his own dogs mixing with the wolves and working cooperatively.

[wack]

The only reason to leave would be if the deer left the area.

Well that's generally what happens when a wolf pack moves into an area. The deer die or move out.

Shaman, that sounds like an interesting read but this is 2009, at best we hunt from the middle of Sept through the end on Dec for archers and 14 days out of the year for gun. To work with wolves as mentioned would take a year around effort and driving deer with wolves and dogs isn't exactly a good archery tactic. There was a lot more game back then. Leaving a gut pile behind is a common practice and it hasn't stopped the wolves from driving the deer out of Wisconsin's north woods and since deer is the only big game for wolves to eat, the rising wolf population maybe the final straw that breaks the food chains back.

 I don't doubt the story, it's just not relevant in today's world. I've gun hunted the same area in the north woods of Wisconsin for many years until wolves moved in in 05. The 06 season wasn't worth the gas to get there, 3 deer in 9 days with 10 hunters. 07 we had 10 hunters that saw 0 deer opening weekend, we left and haven't returned. In the few years I spent hunting among the wolves, what hit me the hardest was the lack of all wildlife. No turkeys, no squirrels, no rabbits, no hawks owls or other birds of prey, I've never experienced a woods that was so quiet and still. 06 went in our memory books as the year of the moth because seeing moths fly in the woods with snow on the ground and temps below freezing was the only interesting thing we saw out there. When wolves moved into the area, it was like something sterilized the woods of most of it's creatures and what creatures were left were on high alert and very edgy.

 The question in my mind is when will it be OK to go back? The largest bear and wolf population in over 200 years I'd expect it to "shock" the system a bit.  Population levels are supposed to go up and down in natural cycles, in theory the deer should bounce back, but we've interrupted the cycles for a long time, removed a lot of species from the food chain and now the predators far outnumber the herbivores in northern Wisconsin. Southern Wisconsin has deer but no predators which can only mean a lot more of us in central and southern Wisconsin will soon be answering this question for real in the near future as the wolves and bears move south looking for food and expanding there breeding areas. We'll find out what people will do when wolves move in across the state soon.

 The groups that banned together to put the wolves back on the endangered list did so because they do not want 1 wolf killed before they've spread over the entire United States whether or not there is suitable habitat or natural food chain to support them. They think wolves should have the right to live where ever they want regardless of the dangers they present to humans and domestic animals or the dangers humans present to the wolves not to mention the danger wolves present to the natural existing food chain. By protecting the wolves and keeping wolf management out of the local DNR's hands, they are committing biological warfare upon our natural food chain. The Humane Society of the United States wouldn't give you a dog if you couldn't prove you can take care of it, they'd rather kill the dog than let you have it, yet they're saying we have to have wolves and let them roam free even though there is no food or habitat for them. If they truly wanted to save the wolves, they'd be saving the habitat and restoring the natural food chain first so they can survive in a given area and coexist with humans with some sort of harmony. The wolf only wants what any great hunter would want, game to hunt and a place to hunt game and we all know that if a wolf doesn't have natural game to hunt, domestic animals will do . If a wolf gets hungry enough, people will do too. If we have to live with wolves, bears and cougars then we need elk and bison returned to the food chain or it will never work and we'll loose the entire food chain.

 For now, my deer hunting rifle is in the closet waiting for the day that it's legal for me to take it wolf and bear hunting because as a conservationist, I won't be hunting deer up north until I know the food chain has stabilized and the deer herd is no longer at risk of collapse. I've signed up with RMEF to help fight to get more elk into our state and to help fight for control of our wolf population. I've written to the "save the wolves" people and challenged them to provide the big game animals needed to really save the wolves. People think the Humane Society of the U.S. is saving dogs and running animal shelters, they need to know there money is being used to put wolves in there back yards and there pets, livestock and families in danger. The key to fighting these people is to educate them.

[OHhunter]

I watched a show on wolves a while back on Nat Geo I believe, but some studies have shown that an adult wolf consumes roughly 20 deer per year.  JMO, if you get a good population going and expanding it wouldn't take long for the deer population to show a major decline. 
 
I don't know if they have since the show, but this is one the main factors keeping them from stocking wolves in Adirondacks, there wasn't enough deer, at the time, to feed the 200 or more wolves they were wanting to stock.[font="times new roman"]
 
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[SwampFox]

I wouldnt go anywhere unless the deer did, which all evidence suggests they wont do.  Deer and wolves have coexisted for thousands and thousands of years and guess what?  We still have plenty of deer to hunt.  In fact, much evidence suggest that deer herds actually get stronger with the presence of large preditors culling the weak and sick.  I just dont understand this hatred of preditors by hunters.  As if the deer somehow BELONG to us and the wolves are "stealing" them.  We hunt them for recreation, wolves, coyotes, cougars, ect. hunt them for survival.  I think if anyone has a right to them its the preditors.  Wolves and coyotes dont hurt deer populations any more than vehicle collisions do.  I dont see anyone shooting every Honda Civic they see.

[duckunder]

I don't have a problem with wolves being here naturally, but when we start seeing wolves around our area with collars on them ( which we have ), that means the DNR has brought them in to thin out the deer heard, and I think that is wrong........ I have friends that live in Northern Wisconsin, and if you guys could listen to them talk about how the deer numbers have gone down up there because of the wolves, it would drive you crazy, and you would NOT be a fan of having them around your hunting area.....