They shoot wolves, don't they? 

     Recently I flew into my favorite spot in the whole world - Cody, Wyoming - for a week of R&R. As soon as I got into my hotel, I got a Cody Enterprise and a cold beer (you can drink in the middle of the day during your vacation, but in Wyoming we used to do this regularly!  Remember in Wyoming if someone asks you how many drinks you've had in any given day BEERS DO NOT COUNT! ) and caught up on the local happenings. The biggest controversy was the upcoming "Wolf Impact Rally" that was going to occur in the Cody City Park the next day. I made a note to attend that one! 

     The next morning the city park was lined with big pickups and stock trucks with rifles in racks and if I didn't recognize hundreds of big game guides, outfitters and good stock ranchers, I'd lost my touch. Just my kind of people! And what a rally it was! You see, these goddamn liberal tree-huggin' idiots have not only reintroduced wolves into Jellystone in the mid 1990's against all advice we gave them, BUT NOW THE WOLVES HAVE DECIMATED THE ELK AND MOOSE POPULATIONS NOT ONLY IN THE PARK, BUT ALL SURROUNDING NATIONAL FORESTS AND WILDERNESS AREAS! 

     Look at the facts: In the original plan, eight breeding pairs of wolves were supposed to reach numbers of 300 and now there are 1700!  They have spilled out beyond the park boundaries and they are not only killing massive amounts of elk and moose (one wolf will eat over 22 elk a year!), but were quickly into the ranchers' sheep and cattle. Wolves are killing machines! The purple-sky anti-gun/anti-hunters did not think this would happen even when the ranchers laughed in their faces during the 1991 "Wolf Hearings". I KNOW I was there! The ranchers' predictions came true. Within three week of the initial "reintroduction" of the timber wolves, there was a kill on cattle. Of course. 

     So anyway on that coolish Saturday morning in the Cody park I stood shoulder to shoulder with the area ranchers and elk guides. It was wonderful to be back with "my people" - they all had Carhart coats and big boots and ten-gallon hats. All had that "Western weathered" look to them. Good western folk! Man, they're the BEST! 

     Senators spoke, state reps spoke, head of the Wyoming State Guides/Outfitters, lawyers, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation heads, etc, but the one man who was the most effective was a sheep rancher near Cody. Last year he lost over 60 sheep to these migrating Yellowstone wolves and he's had it. He said when the "government people" showed up to "pay" him for his losses (there's a fund for this) it was nothing more than a PR stunt. He said introducing wolves into Yellowstone was "like putting a piranha in a goldfish tank". He said previously in areas were the state Game & Fish used to give out 200 elk permits, they now give out SEVEN. The elk herds of Yellowstone are devastated. 

     The sheep rancher said that right now the Yellowstone, Teton and surrounding areas of Cody and Jackson are "facing a wildlife crisis as bad as 1900 when the buffalo were being killed off." So very true! Later that Saturday I went up into Yellowstone Park and while I saw large bison herds (the biggest I've ever seen in the park), I only saw six (6) elk and they were in a protected area down by the hotsprings near the road where there was a lot of traffic. No moose. We drove over 100 miles in the park and saw only those six elk. No moose.  Something was gravely wrong! 

     So you're telling me that the park management people are sacrificing all of these game animals - elk, moose, sheep and mule deer for these non-managed wolves? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME! There needs to be a season put on wolves and they need to be hunted. Numbers need to be reduced to the 300 or less than WAS THE ORIGINAL PLAN. Right now the "anti-hunters" are NOT reacting to the over-population of the wolves! Think about it: THERE ARE NO PREDATORS FOR THE WOLVES. They are propogating with NO predators to keep them in check! And they have big litters and by their nature, THEY ROAM WAY OUT OF THE PARK BOUNDARIES. 

     Look, I'm no dummy. Look, I'm a "real world" kinda guy. I KNOW my rancher friends shoot wolves. They admit it to close friends, but it's not "saloon talk" or "pillow talk". In Wyoming we have a saying: "Shoot, shovel, silence." There's not a rancher in Wyoming who would let a wolf pack chew up their favorite horses or their ruin their livlihood. No siree... 

     It was soooo good to get back to Wyoming and see GOOD, sensible conservative people. Man, they hate that monkey in the White House. NEVER mention his name if you want to continue a conversation... No TV's are turned to any program he's on in the Wyoming bars. The mere mention of him is enough to make eyes roll and heads shake from side to side... He's HATED. Oh boy... 

     Anyway, these upcoming wolf hearings should be interesting.  Some of the governor candidates are making this issue a plank in their campaign - elect them and there will be tags issued for hunting wolves. And that is how it should be. Enough is enough. No way should a predator be "valued" over a game animal or any other animal. 22 elk a year for each wolf! That stat alone should show you just how absurd the reintroduction of wolves was... Can't wait to put in for a wolf permit and return to my home state!  Yeee haaawww!   They're shooting them in Minnesota, why not Wyoming?