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Interesting Scent Smoker Customer

brock ratcliff

brock ratcliff

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I get to speak with a lot of hunters from all over the country due to Scent Smoker. Today, a fella from Idaho called. He had ordered a SS the other day and wanted to check on the order status. We naturally started talking about hunting, and he told me he wanted to try the SS while hunting wolves. I will say, this is the first customer I've had that was specifically targeting wolves and it piqued my interest. So we started talking about techniques, bag limits etc. He went on to tell me how the unit he lives in used to have an estimated elk population of ~7000, now they estimate it to be around 400. He claimed the wolves have killed off most every animal he used to hunt, including deer. They have even had a negative impact on the bear population as they will dig sleeping bears out of their dens in winter and feed on them. This man used to be an outfitter in the area, but his business died along with the resident deer and elk populations! The wolves that were introduced into the area are a Canadian strain that are much larger than the small resident population they once had - which of course the Canadian wolves killed off. The new wolves are up to and over 200lbs!

I'm looking forward to an update from this guy, and really hope he kills a pickup load full of them! I may have to invite myself to Idaho one of these days as I think they would be a lot of fun to hunt!
 
The wolves that were introduced into the area are a Canadian strain that are much larger than the small resident population they once had - which of course the Canadian wolves killed off. The new wolves are up to and over 200lbs!
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Dammmmn
 
Dang, never heard of then feeding on bears before. That's a pretty chilling thought. I did hear a guy say once several years ago that while hunting in Idaho their truck got stuck in the snow. The driver got out to asses the situation and his passenger got out to take a leak. They heard wolves nearby and since it was getting dark they decided to dig the snow out from around the tires, one man at a time so the other could stand watch. While the driver was digging his partner says, "wolves" and started to unload his glock, the driver gets up and does the same. They were close enough to smell the wolves. They got the truck unstuck and went home. In the morning they returned to find the remains of seven wolves. The others had eaten their dead comrades. My friend has been trying to get me to go to his ranch out there and hunt for years. Need to thin out those damn wolves.
 
This guy said it's to the point where they need to attempt extermination tactics. Of course the problem is all the folks that don't live in wolf areas working politically to "save" them. Our grandparents killed them off for a very good reason, IMO.
 
Man that sucks brock..invite him here to hunt deer and maybe he can tell us how they count critters out their way. Maybe its scaleable to what the yites are doing here...of course we only count dead ones here.
 
TJ Conrads told me essentially the same thing a few years back. These wolves were brought in against the wishes of residents, and the damage they have inflicted has been catastrophic in areas. It's amazing that so little is really heard about it on the national news, but it is quite a fight in the west.
 
Milo said:
Man that sucks brock..invite him here to hunt deer and maybe he can tell us how they count critters out their way. Maybe its scaleable to what the yites are doing here...of course we only count dead ones here.
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He said they use helicopters to count the herds out there. He is in Unit 39, just outside of Boise. He built a cabin up in the mountains after retiring from the Air Force. He said he is living the dream, except there is nothing but wolves left to hunt. :)
 
Hehe. Probably not a bad idea! I got the impression he has the wolf killing thing down to a science now. :) He said the first thing he does is let loose with a coyote howl. If coyotes answer, he knows there are no wolves around at the time because they kill coyotes as soon as they move in. He said it is pretty impressive to watch the wolves kill bison.... imagine that, those things are the size of a bus.
 
I used to be a wolf sympathest(if that's a word), until a read about the program and that it wasn't the wolves that were native to the area that were re-introduced. I still think they have an amazing social structure, but need to be back north of the border.:smiley_depressive:
 
Wow. Can you imagine the bear sleeping and suddenly someone is fuggin' up your day! Just amazing how fast predators take over. No wonder our forefathers shot every fox, owl, and hawk they seen. Protecting their game animals.
 
Good grief. I've been looking into the wolf situation out west and stumbled onto all kinds of stuff. You guys ever heard of "Agenda 21"? I'm sure Joe will chime in here... Scary stuff.
 
Sucks to read and hear about the wolf issues out there. When I was in Montana in 96' they had just started a release in Yellowstone. Never thought in a million years it would turn into this mess.

About the 200lb. wolves. I just seen a pic and story someplace yesterday about a guy that busted a 200lb'er. See if I can find it and read it since I missed it yesterday.
 
One of my brothers lives in Montana and he said it is a very real problem. It is also a very sensitive problem. He said there are so many wolf supporters that it makes trying to get any type of wolf control practically impossible. He said they have finally gotten a season with a quota.
 
If you were a rancher in MT, WY, or ID and were suffering losses, would you just handle the situation as best you could? I don't think I'd worry about anyone getting upset - I'm pretty sure I'd cut lose on 'em. Then again, I suppose there is a reason they have not already been exterminated... probably pretty closely monitored with a lot of radio collars and such. I just have a hard time believing those ranchers aren't shooting everyone they see on sight.
 
I would have to say there is a lot of that going on Brock. When my brother first moved there he worked on a farm and it wasn't as big a problem as it is now. He is in the oil field out there now so he isn't as up to date on the situation as he used to be. He basically goes by what he hears and reads kinda like everyone else.
 
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