Help a non hunter out here would you? Wolves, is hunting them just for sport?

[AlCzervik]

i really don't know.

Please and thank you.

[eShirl]

1. I don't think they're hunted for food (like deer)

[On the Road]

2. In Some Areas,

it is a matter of predator control. They can be a danger to humans and domestic animals.

[AlCzervik]

4. so when they show the shooting from the plane and the wolves out in the snow is that why

they're killing them?

[yellowcanine]

12. But that is NOT why they are hunted in Alaska. They are hunted to boost game animal populations.

Which is a lousy reason to shoot wolves, because a top predator is nature's way of keeping animal populations healthy by killing off weaker animals. And no, hunters cannot fill the same role. They tend to take the biggest and best - with the exact opposite effect on game animal populations. Hunters also tend to want to take males for trophies, which is not as nearly as effective at preventing overpopulation as taking females. Wolves are more likely to take weaker females and young, smaller weaker males as opposed to the mature large, strong males sport hunters take (exactly the wrong thing to do from the standpoint of herd genetics).

[progressivebydesign]

17. Only if humans move into their habitat. Humans are "spciesists"

We think that our shit is much more important than any other species out there. Kill for fun, kill for convenience, basically.

[demmiblue]

3. Population control... to maintain the food web.

I.e. humans trying to take the place of Mother Nature.

[tbyg52]

7. And to protect the tourist dollars, er, the species that people want to kill for sport. nt

[yellowcanine]

13. But wolves do a better job of "maintaining the food web" than human hunters do.

[demmiblue]

19. I agree...

hence, "i.e. humans trying to take the place of Mother Nature."

I guess I should have said controlling Mother Nature for their own purposes and benefits.

[libertypirate]

5. They exterminate them

Seems to me like a bunch of assholes who just want to get their gun off!

These people aren't hunters they are exterminators who get off on shooting shit.

[katandmoon]

10. BINGO

[malta blue]

6. in this case, they are hunted because of the fact

that the wolves prey on moose and other large animals that are considered substinence for the hunters in the area. So basically, Palin likes moose stew and the wolves are getting in the way.

[TwilightGardener]

8. In Alaska, they're being killed to increase the moose/elk/caribou numbers

for big game hunters--hunting is a big tourism attraction there. Maybe a DUer in AK would dispute this, but that's what I read RE the aerial hunting.

[RebelOne]

9. All hunting is just for sport. It's the thrill of the kill.

[tbyg52]

11. No, I have lived in areas where what you hunted was what you ate.

And if you didn't get anything, you didn't eat, meat, at least.

I wouldn't want to hunt, myself, but I would if I had to in order to eat. And if the hunter is ethical it's a lot more humane than a lot (most, probably) of the slaughterhouses.

An argument could be made on a lot of levels for going vegan, of course.

[yellowcanine]

14. And those wolves are mighty tasty eating. Particularly the right front legs.

Hunting wolves is either for sport or misguided notions of protecting game animal populations.

[tbyg52]

24. Yes, but the person I was replying to said *all* hunting.

I was going to leave that at "nt," but now that I think of it I kinda resent your replying to something I didn't say, and apparently not reading what I did say.

How 'bout you go do what I just did (*before* seeing your reply, I might add) to demonstrate that you don't support the aerial wolf hunting and are happy Palin is being called out on it....? ;) :hi:
http://www.defenders.org/support_us/

[Beaverhausen]

15. Wolves are natural predators of Caribou, Elk, etc - the animals Palin likes to kill

and hang their heads on her walls. So if they get rid of wolves, more game for cowards like Palin to shoot.

It's sick.

[progressivebydesign]

16. They're hunted at the pleasure of ranchers.. who hate them.

Wolves probably kill a small number of livestock.. but the demonization of wolves has resulted in FUN killing of them. No one EATS wolves.

Humans seem to believe that every fucking species in this world is here for their convenience. And if an animal, in their natural habitat and behavior, doesn't do what humans want.. well.. they kill them.

And, apparently, for the bloodthirsty, chasing an animal the size of a dog around in an airplane or helicopter, then shooting them when they drop from exhaustion -- is considered FUN!!!!

[DinahMoeHum]

18. In most states, it's largely about predator control - by ranchers

and sheepherders protecting their livestock.

[slampoet]

20. As a former hunter/gatherer and cook of weird foods, nobody who isn't starving to death eats Wolves.

I have seen some pretty weird game animals prepared, muskrat (called "Swamp Rabbit"), Nutria, squirrel, beaver, raccoon, bear, snapping turtle, but I have never even heard of a hunter preparing a wolf or any other wild canine as food. I've never heard of a starving person doing it either.

I have cookbooks for 100's of wild edibles and game. Some of these cookbooks date back to 1850 so they contain things that we just don't eat anymore. For example I have 30 recipes that deal with turtle eggs.

I don't have single recipe for Wolf.

[SteveM]

21. There is a short article in Field & Stream which might get you started...

Of course, F & S is a major publication for hunters and fishers, but they try to keep up with the issues. High lights:
(1) The gray wolf (there are other species) has gone from a population of perhaps 2 in 1979 (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming) to around 1,531 as a result of its endangered status and re-introduction.
(2) "...the three states must each maintain a minimum of 150 wolves or 15 breeding pairs (a "pack" is one breeding pair plus its offspring and nonbreeding adults), and each state's federally approved management plan aims for at least that -- while incorporating hunting."
(3) Montana has already established hunts but "Baits, scents, lures, hounds, night hunting, and aerial gunning or spotting are illegal." Idaho allows killing "...the animals on sight if they're harassing or attacking livestock or pets."
(4) "Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife -- promised that within 60 days of delisting they would file suit in federal court against the USFWS for violating the ESA." These groups claim that 2,000-5,000 wolves are needed for "full recovery."
(5) "Eventually, though, sportsmen in the Northern Rockies should expect to experience true wolf hunting, as opposed to predator control."

This last point gets to your "just for sport" question. Clearly, for most people do not eat wolves, so killing one for "sport" would probably result in a trophy skin. (By contrast, I hunt deer, birds and small game for sport AND I eat them as well.) This goes to the question of why folks hunt, it is a very complex set of emotions embedded in our hard-wiring. I don't like some forms of hunting, but most of the time, these differences don't rise to the occasion of yet another prohibition. So, yes, there will be sport hunting of wolves wherein, perhaps, only the skin will be retained. Most all sport hunting conforms to game and other wildlife management, so don't expect a big out-pouring of hunters willing to put up with the hardships imposed on them. As the writer Thomas McIntyre aptly states: "Wolves have never been sitting ducks."

www.fieldandstream.com June, 2008, Departments, Experts, News "It's Almost Wolf Season," Thomas McIntyre

[McCamy Taylor]

22. Under Palin they shot wolf PUPPIES in their den which is ILLEGAL.

Then, they tried to mount a cover up, because they knew that people would be outraged. Sensible hunters do not hunt any animal during the season when mothers are nursing their young just because you know that you will end up killing mothers raising infants.

This was not a "hunt" in a sportsmanlike manner. It was a slaughter using helicopters. Palin knows nothing of true hunting.

[slampoet]

23. BTW. Nobody who hunts from a plane is a Sport hunter.

Hunting from Airplanes is the kind of thing that isn't just illegal it is the kind of thing sooooo Illeagal that they have International Treaties against the practice.

Sara Palin didn't either was ignorant of this, or she just didn't care about the international policy of the federal government.

[tallahasseedem]

25. Why does

she have a bounty of $150 on the right leg of the wolf? What do they do with it?