To The Editor:

This letter is written in response to an article by Larry Tobin in the Nov. 15, 2005 issue of the Tomahawk Leader, regarding wolves.

In the article was a reprint from a hunting trip broker from Montana. I have checked some of the statistics given and found them to be highly exaggerated, as is the case with many hunting guides and outfitters in the western states.

He mentioned that there are 166 packs in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Actually there are 66 packs. He also mentions that the Yellowstone elk herd dropped from 20,000 to 7,000 and blames the wolves for this reduction. The real reason for this reduction in the elk herd was an extended hunting season around the edge of Yellowstone to reduce the oversized elk herd! He also mentions the slaughter of the buffalo - how ironic!

As far as the deer situation in Wisconsin, the deer count going into this year's deer season was 1.4 to 1.5 million. During last year's deer season, hunters took 519,388 deer, the second highest deer kill in the history of the state. Somebody must have been sitting on the right stump! We have too many deer! Also there are approximately 15 percent of deer shot and not recovered, over 75,000. There are over 50,000 deer killed on Wisconsin highways. This is a total of over 644,000 deer.

There are approximately 450 wolves in the state and they consume about 18 deer per wolf or about 8,000 per year. Hardly a drop in the bucket.

It wasn't the wolf that drove the passenger pigeon from the sky, slaughtered the buffalo almost to near extinction, eliminated the buffalo and elk from Wisconsin. People did that! We must start listening to sound scientific biology and ignore barstool biology. Oh yes, Little Red Riding Hood lied!

Norm Poulton
Tomahawk
ECCOLA Wolf Task Force

Well said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Spay or nueter your pets!!!!!!!

What can you say. I let these things go. Larry Tobin has become known as the Limbaugh or O'Reilly of the Weekly newspaper in Wisconsin. Lots of spin. I particular liked the one about two or three years back where he admitted to breaking the law while riding his ATV illegally on public lands in Montana and blaming the forest fires on the evil environmentalists.

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90% of people are caused by accidents.

Wow, talk about spin!!!

Let see, he (and many others) rode ATVs off a legal trail while hauling water to PUT OUT A FOREST FIRE!!! Gee, that's a really horrible offense, he should be sentenced to life in prison!

The column also pointed out that because some of the loggers were kept out by lawsuits areas that were burned STILL have dead timber standing. Loggers wanted to go in and cut the dead trees, clean up the brush, etc. Now there is an area with nothing growing, a bunch of black tree stumps standing and the logging industry is basically dead in Montana. An area very close by that was logged just a couple of years before the fire has a lot of new tree growth, etc.

If you are going to complain about spin try to not do it with spin!

Where does norm get his numbers of each wolf kills only 18 deer a year? That is like saying the average beer drinks has 2.3 beers a week. Get out in the woods other than your back yard!

A wolf stomach can only hold so much meat, one deer can feed one wolf for three to four days. mulitply 18 by 3 and you get 54. There are one 52 weeks in a year. Simple math with out hate for an animal. I do get out in the woods, alot!! I have wolves that live in my area and we still had plenty of deer to hunt. Our freezer is good for another year. Maybe it is the way people hunt now as opposed to the way my grandfather taught me.

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Spay or nueter your pets!!!!!!!

Further discussion on this topic should be directed to the followup column written by Larry Tobin.

Please see the link:
Ups-n-Downs - ECCOLA Wolf Response