they are afraid that the wolves will cut into their subsistence kill of 1000 deer, 400 elk and 50 moose a year.

didn't know we had that many moose, that they can kill 50 a year

That is a lot of F'n animals. . . . . maybe the wolves should file suit. .. .their ancestors were there first . .. .. usual and accostomed ? ? ? ?

50 huh

2 deer per day from July1st until December if i remember correcctly...... 1.4million acres on the Rez and they still shoot deer and elk (generally big bucks/bulls) off the rez in Nov and Dec...

My grandfather was a member of the colville, I always thought it was 1 deer per day per member but I was young then and could be wrong. Either way it totals up to a lot of meat and probably a lot of waist.

No pun intended I'm assuming?

1.) Washington already has wolves.

2.) I'd like to know why you figure tax payers have to pay for any problems. I'm all for removing a large portion of the wolf population in Idaho, but I've yet to see any data concluding that tax payers are funding any damages.

Damages to livestock are provided by PNP groups if you were wondering about that.

Now, are wolves responsible for creating a decline in non-resident license and tag sales? Yes. Are they responsible for the decline in some herds of deer and elk in Idaho? Yes. Does this create shortcomings in IDFG budgets? Yes, but it is not made-up for with taxes since IDFG is a financially autonomous state department. All losses in license and tag sales only affect IDFG and local economies.

3.) In retrospect, the perceived wolf problems have only increased interest in wolf hunting, therefore tag sales (albeit a measly $31.75 for non-resident wolf tag).

No doubt, but how much money do you think it actually cost to get 13 pairs of wolves from Canada (free wolves at that) and fly them to central Idaho? Not very much. I'm also willing to bet that much of that money came from grants provided by PNP groups. Yes, even federal agencies apply for grant money from private groups, but you probably didn't know that.

What money has been spent on wolf reintroduction is chump change in the grand scheme of wildlife or fisheries research/management.

I have no issues with the Colvilles taking those animals. They feed their families with them. I do have an issue with wolves.

A small handful of biologists do annual aerial surveys looking for radio-collared animals. Rough population estimates are generated. It's cheap -- IDFG runs on a small budget and their employees are poorly paid. No IT, no administration. Just technicians and biologists. And again, IDFG is a self-sustaining agency and does not rely on tax dollars for support.

Now, I can't speak for WDFW. WDFW would probably create 10 new IT positions, 30 new administrative positions, a few panels and 2 biologist positions.

The good thing about wolves is that it takes little management or research to push an agenda. All IDFG had to say was, "we're removing X number of animals, and we are basing the population estimate on relatively nothing." Little or no money has really ever been spent "managing" wolves in Idaho or Montana.

If WDFW could use what employees that already have then it would be at no cost to the WDFW budget. That said, even if new positions were needed, an increase in the WDFW budget isn't going to happen and new costs aren't going to be generated to taxpayers because THEY CAN'T. WDFW budgets have to be approved by your state legislature and they're not going to approve a budget increase. Last time I checked, WDFW was having its budget slashed.

I agree-No Tribe in the USA has been more screwed then the Colville's. One dam and they go from being one of the richest tribes to the poorest.

I find the Wa. wolf plan to be highly un realistic and basically stupid. By setting a goal of 15 breeding pairs including some on the w. side and the OP is dumb, dumb, dumb. Looks to me like it's specifically written to keep hunters away and lawsuits coming. They say they ultimately want to open a season but I don't think Wa has the habitat or the prey to sustain 15 packs. And how the hell are they going get to the OP without being planted there. Goats, sheep, moose, plenty of able bodied big animals have never made it to the OP and that was before the I-5 barrair was built!

I don't really consider wolves to be the problem. I do consider stupid people to be a big problem and, of course, stupid people tend to migrate to politics!

As well as I have heard it stated in a long time.