SurvivalBlog.com

James:
Steven UP’s article is self serving. He writes to stir up hysteria and emotions. Much of his “thesis” is pure bunk, conjecture, speculation. I am a former resident of the Upper Peninsula. I was born and raised there and lived in the U.P. for the first 40+ years of my life. While I live in nearby Wisconsin currently, I still regularly visit family and am currently looking for property in the U.P. for my retirement place. I resent this article by someone who has only been in the U.P. less than 15 years.
He is writing to try to win your prize for the contest, not to alert anyone to a mismanaged deer herd and/or a wolf population out of control in my opinion. Sincerely, – William

Jim:
As a regular vistor [sic] to your website and to your advertisers, I must say that the article on wolves so misleading and full of propaganda that I cannot believe that it was allowed to be on your website. I had up until this time thought that your website served a better mission then resorting to this type of onesided [sic],uneducated and totally biased opinions of a person who does not state any credentials on his suppossed [sic] authority of widlife [sic] biology. I myself am not an authority nor am I defender of wolves, however I am a person who believes in factual and unbiased reporting be it on your website or any type of media.
I would hope that in the future that your website does not again stray into this type of trash journalism.
Regards, – TD ______ PS: This email has also been sent to many of the advertisers on your website that I have done business with or have recommended to friends.

JWR Replies: I posted Steven UP’s article because in recent months several readers have mentioned that they consider feral dogs and wolves a potentially inimical threat in the event of TEOTWAWKI. Thus, it met my tests for both suitability and “on topic” blog applicability for posting. As space permits, I do my best to post every letter or article that is on topic (vis-a-vis survival, preparedness, or emerging threats.) I don’t attempt to muzzle SurvivalBlog readers or otherwise censor what they have to say, even when what they have to say is controversial or even when they are contrary to my own opinions. (Witness, for example, the recent letter that derided my Christian faith, and the politically incorrect letter from the employee on the Navajo Reservation.)

I’m sure that any article on such a controversial subject is bound to elicit contrary opinions. I am happy to post those, too. Including yours.

It all started when I first moved to the Upper Peninsula [“U.P.”] of Michigan back in the early 1990s. When I first came up here it was paradise. Beaver, ducks, grouse, bears, and lots of deer. What happened over the years to change this paradise is truly remarkable. It is now now almost a wasteland, barren of wild game. What happened? Wolves were planted–200 of them from Minnesota. Okay, all of us that live up here “know” that wolves were planted because the population of wolves skyrocket from 20 to 220 in a single year. One noted wolf biologist even admitted in a speech that he was on the project that live trapped and transport the wolves from Minnesota to Michigan. What happen next was truly amazing. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) changed their story. What!? In full cooperation with Michigan department of Natural Resources (DNR) the truth disappeared. Now the story is that the wolves were never planted here and it was natural migration. Why in the world would anyone not believe the USFWS and the Michigan DNR?
Let us look at some facts about how much you can trust government employees?
Check out this article. Here you read about seven Federal employees that planted fake lynx hair. Millions of acres of land would have been closed off to human use if this big lie of fake lynx hair had been successful. It is a proven fact that Federal biologists have been caught lying. So it makes sense that Federal employees here in Michigan would do the same thing.
But the Michigan DNR lie? Well I happen to interview a school teacher. He was hired with another teacher by the Michigan DNR to do a study. He did the independent study completely his report and turned it in. The report was turned back to him and he was told if he wanted to be paid he had to change his outcome to conform to Michigan DNR outcome. What!? It is an independent study as long as you play the game and lie. He refused and submitted the report as he wrote it. The other teacher needed the money and rewrote his study to conform to what the Michigan DNR wanted. The finally outcome was the teacher with integrity report was tossed in the big round circulate file and the report that was doctored up was used by the Michigan DNR.
Back to wolves. We were all fed a large pack of lies about the wolves. They only eat 11 deer a year each? They would keep the deer herd healthy and the population would increase. What a pack of lies. I used to hunt northern part of Ontonagon and Houghton County north of Highway 26. My favorite stretch between Mass City and Bruce’s Crossing was overrun with deer. In that stretch you would normally see over 100 deer trails crisscrossing crossing the hwy. On opening weekend you would see 30 + vehicles parked and hunters in the woods. I just drove it Sat November 19 opening weekend. What I saw was stunning? Less then 10 deer trails crossing the road and around 5 vehicle parked with hunters in the woods? What happened? A drop of over 90% of deer trails? 60% less hunters in the area?
Wolves have been devastating on the deer herd. Are hunters still getting deer? Yes. But is the area supporting all the deer it was before the wolves? No. The wolves are thinning the deer herd so badly in the area that people don’t waste time hunting there. I watch this year after year. And each year there are less deer and more wolves. I started researching to see if this has happened in other areas where the wolf has been planted? The answer is big YES.
Here is some startling evidence. I’ve noticed a change in those mountains over the past seven years, and I’m certain if the American people had any idea what was going on in Yellowstone and the surrounding area, they would be appalled and very angry. Prior to wolf introduction in 1995, there were 19,500 elk in the great northern Yellowstone elk herd, over 300 big horn sheep in the ten square miles around Gardiner, Montana, abundant moose, antelope and mule deer. Now we have fewer than 10,000 elk and 40 big horn sheep. Montana state moose biologist Kurt Alt tells us the moose are all but wiped out, the National Academy of Science in its’ March 2002 report tells us that the antelope population is a small fraction of what it was. A Montana Game Warden north of Yellowstone Park tells us the mule deer population is also in real trouble. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Wolf Project Coordinator admits in the press that there are 560 wolves and 150 pups this year with anywhere between 34 to 46 breeding pairs depending on your definition of breeding pair. The Project Coordinator himself, Ed Bangs says, “There are too many wolves.”
In this report we see elk number have drop almost 50% big horn sheep have drop over 600% and the moose are all but wiped out. Antelope population is small fraction of what it was? Mule deer are in trouble? The evidence is in folks wolves kill one heck of lot of big game anyone that says different is clueless.
I heard a story about Montana biologist that did a study on elk calf ratio in Yellowstone. The study clearly showed the destruction of the elk herd by wolves. Read what happened here. (There is an annoying pop up but read how the Feds suppress the states evidence of the elk herd.) The Canadians have been dealing with wolves for a long time what do they have to say about wolves? The last two paragraph are a real eye opener
Veteran wolf biologist, John Gunson, Alberta Ministry of Environment, summed it up, when he said, “Really, there isn’t any room for [elk] harvest by man, if you have a healthy wolf population.”
Hunters, please understand the impacts of wolf recovery on hunting, and the role wolf recovery plays in the anti-hunters’ agenda. Natural predation, especially wolf predation, can replace your privilege to hunt.What about Minnesota? Here is real eye opener about Minnesota. An article in the Journal of Wildlife Management 64(1): 129-136, Wolf Effect on Deer Harvests :Mech and Nelson reached the conclusion that increasing uncontrolled wolf numbers can very significantly reduce human deer harvests.
The next biggest Myth the pro wolf still to this day say is there no documented wolf attacks in North America.
Let us look at the real facts: More than 80 documented cases of wolf attacks on people.
Sports Afield Magazine, December 2000/January 2001 issue, has a picture of six-year-old John Stenglein, lying in a hospital bed that had been viciously attacked by a healthy male wolf. The wolf was killed by loggers near his Alaska campsite.
Why is acceptable to put other people children in danger when you are far away in another state or in a city?
In August, 1996 eleven-year-old Zack Delventhal was viciously attacked, the boys face had been ripped open, his nose was crushed, parts of his mouth and right cheek were torn. Blood gushed from puncture wounds below his eyes, and the lower part of his right ear was missing and dangling. The wolf was killed by Park authorities and found to be a young healthy adult male wolf. (Cook, Kathy; “Night of the Wolf ” Reader’s Digest, July 1997 pp. 114-119.)
Now I am confused we were feed this big lie that wolves are safe around children but with research we find we have a large predator with a proven track record of attacking children. Aug of 1996. Fact you can’t change the truth unless you work for Federal government as we have seen early.
What about livestock attacks? “MINNESOTA – Cass County 1997 – Tom Johnson lost 4 cows and 10 calves, valued at $8,000. In 1996 he lost 14 calves and was reimbursed for two. Minnesota paid $400 maximum per animal.” (Outdoor News, Tim King, Dec 19, 1997.) Be advised that both biologists and agricultural interests report that agricultural producers absorb, tolerate and address up to “89% of sheep and 93% of cattle losses they believe are caused by predators without requesting ADC [Animal Damage Control] assistance or receiving compensation.”
Ranchers are reporting the same thing all over the country. Facts are 1984 style report happens 14 calves killed but only paid for 2?? This is so the official report looks better on the wolf programs. I have talked with ranchers in several different states and all say the same thing. The Federal agenda is to underreport the actual wolf kill numbers. Federal biologists do lie for the benefit of their agenda.
What happens if your dog is attacked by wolves can you shoot the wolf? No. That is right the wolf has more rights than you or your dog.
Since 1986, when the first claim was filed, we’ve had 82 dogs killed by wolves and 27 injured that we know of,” said Adrian Wydeven, Department of Natural Resources wolf expert.
Noticed that he said “…that we know of.” That means that several more dogs have probably come up missing, and wolves most likely killed them.
The biggest surprise and shock to me was hunters being so pro- wolf. I thought the hunters would like to know the truth that the wolves are a disaster to the deer herd. Some hunters get it, but then there is a very loud vocal group that turns it into an attack on the person reporting the truth. Why the attack? Part of it is they have been fed this constants stream of myths from Hollywood and The Discovery Channel showing all the great benefits of wolves. The other part I think is some are actual Animal rights group members posing as hunters and just waiting for the chance to attack any negative reporting on wolves. But real hunters have attacked me and said I just want to exterminate the wolves. This is the part that surprises me. They used the animal rights argument that hunters only want to exterminate what they hunt. Hunters need to wake up. You have been fed a big pack of lies on wolves it is not for your benefit wolves wipe out and are devastating on big game herds.
Another surprise I found was that a local pro-wolf newspaper reported that there was no documented wolf attacks in North America. I quickly wrote a rebuttal article proving that there has over 80 documented wolf attacks on people in North America. What happened? The editor admitted to me that she was familiar with the study but refused to print my rebuttal because she was pro-wolf. You read that correctly she refused to print the truth. So much for “unbiased reporting” and “fair and balanced, you decide.”
I find this over and over and over again. People say even when you prove beyond a shadow of doubt that we have been fed a pack of lies on the wolves. “I don’t care I just think it is great the wolves are in the wild” What that really means is I don’t care if children are attacked, Wolves are more important, I don’t care if ranchers are losing money and going out of business, Wolves are more important, I don’t care that dogs are being killed as long it is in your area don’t plant wolves near my dogs, Wolves are more important, I don’t care if elk hunting guides have lost their jobs, Wolves are more important, I don’t care if your deer hunting is lousy, Wolves are more important. This mindset is pervasive.
Are there good honest hard working people in that worked for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Federal biologist? Yes there are, but there is also the big lies and the deleting of the truth. I would hope that some of the people working in these department would give out the real agenda in play here.This has been a real eye opener for me. I got it. Hide the truth, ignore the facts, close your mind off from reality because in the end wolves are more important.

JWR Adds: They have a saying in Idaho: “Shoot, shovel, and shut up.”