Can We Trust How Wolves Are Being Managed In Montana Or Other States?

If we back up through a regression of what is controlling wolf management, if nothing else we have to scratch our heads. The fate of the gray wolf in the Northern Rocky Mountains as well as the Western Great Lakes region lies in the hands of two judges. One judge in Montana (Donald Molloy) says Wyoming’s wolf management plan isn’t good enough to sustain a wolf population. The same judge says we must continue to protect the wolf because he thinks until sub populations of wolves interbreed there is little hope the wolf will survive.

The judge in Washington, D.C. (Paul Friedman) who ruled to place the wolf in the Great Lakes region back under federal protection says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can’t create Distinct Population Segments because there is no definition of what that is. Read the story »

The Endangered Species Act Is Now Endangering Our Species

As the courts continue to decide what the Endangered Species Act is for, we have reached a point where it appears now that our wildlife that needs protecting is in eminent danger. Yesterday, Federal Judge Paul L. Friedman, ordered that the gray wolf in the Western Great Lakes region be placed back under protection and management of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That decision and the subsequent ruling of the court I now see as jeopardizing the health and sustainability of our other wildlife and plant species all within specific ecosystems. Read the story »

What Are Your License Fees Paying For?

As governments get bigger more is lost in the bureaucracy. I am an advocate of reducing the size of government and in particular that of states’ fish and game departments. They are too big and being asked to undertake more and more activities outside of anything to do with fish and game management.

Our license fees are intended to be used for the management of game, yet time and again we continue to hear of misappropriated monies. Some states, whose fish and game departments have been swallowed up into larger entities such as departments of natural resources or departments of environmental protection, passed laws requiring hunting, trapping and fishing license fees be spent on specific fish and game programs. Evidently that doesn’t matter much in some states. Read the story »

York Coyote Hunt

By Mike Horning

On Friday morning March 3, 2006, I headed into the woods in York, Maine with a group of friends and two hounds looking for coyotes. Alan, the owner of both hounds brought along his best two, which were of the same litter, one male and one female. Also there was Alan’s brother Gary and friends Randy, John, and Scott who all grew up within a couple miles of each other. Two years prior to this hunt, both Alan and Scott trapped over 80 coyotes up at Alan’s camp in Greenville. Normally they can trap between 50 and 60. Read the story »