Editor's note: Last week, Mr. Muscha recounted many of the successful Lochsa elk hunts he, friends and family enjoyed over the years. Today, he concludes his story with a request for like-minded hunters to join an effort to control the wolf population.

As the years ticked by since 1980, our hunting parties changed. My buddies had kids and hunts were missed. Children grew up and started hunting with us; these kids got married and had kids and they now hunt with us. I can't go into all the families of my original four partners but I went on to have two boys and two girls. The four are all married and Naomi and I have 15 grandchildren. My sons and sons-in-law make up part of my hunting party now and in 2012, my son, son-in-law, two grandsons and I shot two bulls on the Lochsa. I have told all my grandchildren as they near 14 to 16 years of age they would go with grandpa and I would put them on an elk.

The elk are gone! I won't be able to fulfill the promise I made to those grandchildren to put them on an elk. The hunt of 2013 was the worst ever. At the Lochsa I will give you a rundown of how it went.

My brother had a cabin of his own at the Lochsa and had a party of three. I made up a group of four in my cabin. My son was camping and made up a group of five. This is three separate camps of very seasoned hunters covering hundreds of miles on foot and guess what we saw? A glimpse of one rag horn in 10 days. Now for the rest of the story in 2013.

Another spin-off group of four from North Dakota hunted 12 days, hiking and driving hundreds of miles in areas where they have killed many elk. This time never saw an elk.

With a group of five, another friend from North Dakota who has been out there 20 years combed the areas where they've killed elk. This time? They never saw an elk. On the morning of a fresh three-inch snow, they drove 100-plus miles and never saw an elk track. What they did see, of course, were wolf tracks.

A family hunting party of about six from Oregon - a family I've spent many a night around the campfire with for more than 30 years - didn't make the trek to Idaho in 2013. Why? Because the elk are gone!

I have lost the land I love to hunt because of the wolf. The elk are gone. The only elk that I have seen come into the Lochsa Lodge since 2005 were big bulls. Apparently the weak and the young aren't able to survive. Most of the many people I've referenced in this article came to Idaho because of me. I communicate with each and every one and especially with the leader of each camp. We compare notes and talk about the elk and of course the wolves. I have not heard of one of the people on my extensive list coming back to Idaho. They are all looking at other states to start over.

Please take my life story of the elk and the Lochsa and let's put our heads together and work toward a solution to the problem. I'm 62 years old. I might not kill another elk on the Lochsa but with IDFG and others I may be able to fulfill the promise I made to my other 14 grandchildren. Luckily, Logan Muscha, carrying an Idaho youth elk tag in 2012 and thanks to his dad and me, was put on to elk on the Lochsa when he was 14 years old.

I became a life member of the Rocky Mountain Foundation some 20 years ago. It was not easy to write that check for $1,000 when I was raising four kids, but I believed in the organization and still do. Now I'm trying to unite the hunting partners that I have been involved with the last 41 years with a common goal: Join Foundation for Wildlife Management to reduce the wolves to an acceptable level. This level would be one that allows the elk population to grow. Doing so would let me fulfill the promise I made to my grandchildren. This is a plea to the RMEF to step up to the plate, make a donation and to help in the reduction of wolves. The RMEF must take a stand, draw a line in the sand, post a mission statement and make a sizeable contribution to the IDFG for wolf reduction.

As I close, my list of active non-resident hunters that I know has grown. In talking to them, many are RMEF members. When I ask them to join the Foundation for Wildlife Management, guess what the first question they ask is? "Where is the RMEF on this and what is their position?" Several have stated they will not continue to be RMEF members if there are no elk left. My wife often makes the statement, "Actions speak louder than words." The RMEF should adopt that statement and take action!

Contact Mike Muscha at: loceng671e@mlgc.com

• The stats according to Mike

Mike Muscha estimates there were 16,000 to 18,000 elk in unit 10/12 in the 1980s. Following the severe winters of '96-'97, the count was down to 10,500. In Muscha's opinion, there are now fewer than 500 elk in unit 10/12.