WOLF: Shooter within his rights

Headline, “Wolf shot by hiker on Rathdrum Mountain.”

Another wedge driven between the supporters and non-supporters of wolves. This person had a right to shoot the wolf if he felt it was a threat to his dogs. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has a right to give the man a citation for a game violation based on the Idaho game laws.

My family has owned a small farm on the Rimrock where we have fed both horses and cows for 40 years. We never had a problem with elk, deer or moose until three years ago. Neither elk nor deer wintered on our farm. Three years ago 11 elk spent two months here. The next year there were 14 and this year six are already here.

These elk are very possessive and will chase the horses from their feeder to get at the hay. Fourteen elk will eat a $40 bale of hay in two to three days.

A gentleman who is doing some logging on our farm just told me that when he arrived at the site, he counted 16 deer at one time. This is more deer than we have ever had on this place.

Likewise, there have been so many complaints, the last few years, from residents in town regarding ungulates, including moose, raiding their flowers and gardens.

If one would consider why these animals are choosing to winter at lower elevations, more than they originally did, the answer probably is that they need to make a choice between humans or being torn apart by wolves. As they move lower in the winter, so do the wolves. Hence the wolf by Rathdrum.

I don’t have a problem sharing some of my hay with these elk, as I am a hunter, but I do resent feeding them and when they leave the safety of our farm, know that they will likely be reduced to wolf feed.

I am also resentful that the wolves have reduced the number of cow elk in my usual hunting area to the point that the taking of cows is no longer permitted.

We should all be concerned of the growing rift between the wolf supporters and non-supporters. It will only get worse and the real loser will be the wolves, who never did have a say in the matter.

Hunters are required to pay for a license to harvest a game animal so, just maybe, if these environmentalists were required to pay for each deer, elk, moose, dog or livestock their wolves kill, they would be less likely to be supporters. It’s quite easy to be a supporter when someone else pays the costs.

I took a picture taken last Thursday just after I chased the elk away from the feeder. That’s as far as they run. There were only five yesterday. I guess the wolves feed again.

DENNIS JOHNSON

Hayden Lake