Wolf protest misses the mark

Hunters gathered in Kalispell over the weekend to protest continued delays in the delisting of wolves in Montana. If that was as far as it went, we'd have no problem here at mthookandbullet.com. But as is too often the case, hunters decrying the lack of wolf management (known in impolite but honest society as killing them) do as much harm to their cause as good.

Yes 2008 was a tough year for hunting, and elk and deer numbers are down in some cases. And yes, we've exceeded the wolf recovery targets for a number of years now. But when I see a bunch of hunter-orange clad nimrods waiving signs that read "No More Wolves" I worry about the the message that sends to the vast middle, the 80 percent or so of citizens that are neither hunters, nor anti-hunters. These are the folks we need to have a conversation with, to keep on our side so that they remain passive supporters of hunting rights. And we're convinced the message on display this weekend: "Kill more wolves so we can kill more deer" is a losing message.

Now you could argue that "No More Wolves" just means don't let the population get any larger, rather than re-exterminate the critters. But I don't think that's the message non-hunters hear. And that's especially the case when hunters wave signs with silly statements such as "Elk — The next endangered species" or post comments on newspaper message boards about how they kill every wolf they see.

There are complex interactions between game and predators species, and their are complex interactions between those animals and the landscapes they inhabit. As wolves have reestablished themselves in northwest Montana, they have changed the elk and deer humans are found of hunting. Elk will always be a tougher target for human hunters if those elk live in the presence of wolves. It's the difference between hunting a truly wild animal (an elk in wolf country) versus a semi-tame animal (elk that only have too look out for predators in the fall).

Yes, let's manage, I mean kill, more wolves to keep that population in check and avoid the kind of boom-and-bust ungulate population cycles more common in unmanaged systems. But hunters need to remember wolf reintroduction is popular with the public, and necessary to restore our ecosystems to a more wild state. And if that wasn't our goal, we'd spend our falls pursuing trophy elk in enclosed game parks where we could count on success. Oh yeah, Montanans rightfully ended that dreadful practice in our state years ago.