These images are rolling in from several different camera traps I'm running, all deep in the blue hills of northwest Wisconsin...I've also got a ton of video of this wolf, a female.
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Senior Member
These images are rolling in from several different camera traps I'm running, all deep in the blue hills of northwest Wisconsin...I've also got a ton of video of this wolf, a female.
Last edited by Denali; 05-20-12 at 14:11.
Senior Member
Same girl, different camera...
Last edited by Denali; 05-20-12 at 14:13.
Member
isolated animal or have you seen others?
Senior Member
There are four wolf packs in the blue hills, 204 in the state, totaling about 800 animals. This one is a member of the blue hills "north pack." Last year that pack was comprised of seven adult wolves, and they definitely had pups.
The blue hills are prime wolf habitat, ringed by agriculture to the south, and both the east and west, they are loaded with white tail deer, really just off the chart deer densities, they are also home to a huge population of beaver, which gray wolves are very fond of chowing on, and thats a good thing, otherwise the beaver just go virtually unchecked and thats a bad thing for all of northwest Wisconsin's trout...
Last edited by Denali; 05-20-12 at 14:11.
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Keeping white tails in check, or causing issues?
Senior Member
Interesting question, so if I may, Wisconsin has the United States largest white tail deer herd, and its considered by most serious hunters, to also be the nations strongest genetically! As recently as 2006-7 the herd numbered near two million animals, this years count(taken after the fall harvest)has them at about 1,300, 000, give or take.Originally Posted by 6933
Gray wolves total about 800 animals in Wisconsin, with each wolf accounting for somewhere between 15-20 deer annually, for a projected total of about 16,000 deer. Consider, we(humans)harvested over 500,000 this past fall, in Wisconsin alone! Automobile collisions took as many as 40-60,000, in Wisconsin!
This past winter was extremely mild, this almost certainly forcasts a spike in the herds population, with wolf depredation being at its peak between January and March, this past winters wolf kill was likely far below average for our 204 packs, its just damn near impossible to run down a healthy deer without the aid of deep snow.
So no, gray wolves are not doing anything that could be considered detrimental to the Wisconsin white tail herd, in fact we have far to many deer, WDNR just released documents indicating that they(the state)would like to reduce the herd down to about 750,000 animals, which is never going to happen, we could have three or four times the current wolf population, it would not represent a serious threat to Wisconsins out of control deer herd...Also, we have certain game units that are classified as herd control units where the hunter is offered as many as ten tags for an additional cost of just a couple of dollars, we have CWD issues, and in some parts of the state the herd is virtually an infestation, the toll on farm crops staggering, I've counted as many as a thousand deer in adjoining pastures in Rusk county.
Banned
Wherever those wolves are, they cause problems - whether anyone wants to admit it or not.
Fact is that re-introduction (well, if you can call it that...) was one of the worst ideas anyone ever had...
Senior Member
You cannot cite one pertinent study that supports such a hyperbolic statement, not one! And FYI, wolves were not re-introduced in the great lakes, they re-colonized both Wisconsin, and Michigan all on their own!
Next, you'll be telling folks how evil the gray wolf is, because they kill, but gray wolves haven't extirpated a single species from its historic range, how many have we?
Senior Member
This study is from the late 1990's, nonetheless its perfectly valid today, and as its generated by the wildlife biologists of the state of Wisconsin, it trumps any and all, hyperbole, and disinformation created, and or perpetuated, by unscrupulus sport media types...
From the study,Overall it does not appear that wolves are likely to be a major mortality factor to deer in northern Wisconsin under current conditions or in the near future. Even with a population of 500 wolves, annual predation of 9000 deer would represent only 2.6% of the overwinter population of 343,000 deer in the Northern Forest and Central Forest
Member
the re-introduction of wolves reduced montana's elk population by 2/3's. thats a 66% reduction. they killed 2 out of three elk in montana... and they did it in less than 8 years.
yeah, wolves are a positive.
sorry guys, theres only room for one apex predator.
Last edited by Jack-O; 05-19-12 at 23:39.
My capacity for self deception is exceeded only by yours.
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