Last night at the University of Utah, Ed Bangs US Fish and Wildlife wolf recovery leader said a lot of interesting things The crowd of 200 was mostly pro-wolf types.

Bangs is certainly proud of the job they have done recovering wolves, but then he said some very interesting things. They included:

“Wolves have meet recovery goals, it is time to return management to the states. States have a very strong record of management, in fact without SPORTSMEN and state agencies restoring game populations, there would have been nothing to eat.”

“If you want to keep wolves, you have got to kill wolves that get into trouble.”

“Wolves can have an impact on game populations, the elk calf survival around Yellowstone has been the lowest in history the past two years, and elk populations are down”

“wolves could live in a lot of places in Utah, there is the food supply, but Utah does not have a lot of vast wilderness areas. Wolves would get into trouble coming into valleys with people in Utah.”

“Utah does not have to have any wolves – they can decide to have zero if they want. Utah is not part of the recovery area.”

Currently a team of experts are reviewing the state wolf plans (Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana). Wolves could be delisted and turned over to management of the states as early as the spring of 2004.

Of course the anti-hunters will file suits, but we need to pounce and file and injunction and have states manage wolves in the interim.

This is a huge issue, and in all honesty, Ed Bangs said, “our job is done, it is time to turn management over to the states”.

Thought you might like to know.

If any of you want to lend a little support, I will be presenting sportsmen views on October 22, 7 p.m. at the University of Utah Marriott Library.

Some of our Idaho friends reported a massive slaughter of nearly 100 domestic sheep near McCall Idaho. They held a press conference today in Boise to show the carnage.

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