Caribou article

[Iron Brew]

https://vancouversun.com/news/cullin...rds-researcher

For what it is worth, the author, Mr. Kein, is a BC boy, educated at the UofA, who has been working with the wildlife issues in BC and Alberta long before he moved to New York state. He is NOT anti hunter.

[Big Grey Wolf]

What a bunch on nonsense! Wolves walk anywhere and everywhere in the bush until they cut a caribou track. They then track the animal to the supper table. Seismic lines do not enter into the picture to any significant degree.

[st99]

We all know that wolves were not able to hunt and were all dying of starvation before men created a path for them to travel...

Is it mandatory to be stupid to be a "scientist" these days?

[jbrow397]

I do a couple hundred km a year in the bush for work, for the last 5 years and I never see the wolf sign on the seismic lines. They are always moving through the mature growth. Their kills are in gully’s and creeks.

Obviously this I anecdotal and also not in the caribou zone.

Maybe I don’t notice the sign in the summer but in winter, the snow is deep in the lines and shallow in the sticks. They likely look for the least amount of snow to walk through.

[st99]

Originally Posted by jbrow397

I do a couple hundred km a year in the bush for work, for the last 5 years and I never see the wolf sign on the seismic lines. They are always moving through the mature growth. Their kills are in gully’s and creeks.

Obviously this I anecdotal and also not in the caribou zone.

Maybe I don’t notice the sign in the summer but in winter, the snow is deep in the lines and shallow in the sticks. They likely look for the least amount of snow to walk through.

x2

My observation in the snow is similar as yours. The wolves zig zag all over the place, in and out of the cut lines. Only a small portion of my trapping area has wolves and they don't stay on a clear path, they go in thick stuff that you would think is even too thick for a rabbit.

Anyone with a dog probably noticed the same habits. I have a husky and when we go for a walk, he does the same zig zagging in and out of the path, looking for different smell.

[northerntrapper]

It is hard to believe we pay these 'experts' to make guesses on why the caribou are getting fewer. This guy is so full of ****. No idea. Seismic lines mean dick squat to a wolf. Obviously, he knows little about wolves either.

[Sitkaspruce]

There is some truth to wolves and bears using man made assets to track and target their prey. Lots of studies to show it. And as someone who has spent most of the last 30 years working and playing in the bush, I have seen evidence of it.

But that just it, study after study after study. Biologists are like the lawyers who represent FN on different claims, they never completely agree because the gravy train would stop.

So the Bio's create work by doing study after study after study. Most are funded by tax payer grants or NGO's.

For the most part, its the Gov bio's who are past studies and want to do something, but the Enviro's and their so called "Biologists" always want to do a study to counter the governments actions.

BC is killing wolves, maternal penning, planting roads and seismic lines, falling trees on seismic lines to break up sight lines and kicking out snowmobilers, O&G and Forestry companies out of caribou country and yet numbers are still going down

Maybe we should look at Caribou as a doomed species......maybe

Cheers

SS

[Iron Brew]

.

[marky_mark]

Originally Posted by Sitkaspruce

There is some truth to wolves and bears using man made assets to track and target their prey. Lots of studies to show it. And as someone who has spent most of the last 30 years working and playing in the bush, I have seen evidence of it.

But that just it, study after study after study. Biologists are like the lawyers who represent FN on different claims, they never completely agree because the gravy train would stop.

So the Bio's create work by doing study after study after study. Most are funded by tax payer grants or NGO's.

For the most part, its the Gov bio's who are past studies and want to do something, but the Enviro's and their so called "Biologists" always want to do a study to counter the governments actions.

BC is killing wolves, maternal penning, planting roads and seismic lines, falling trees on seismic lines to break up sight lines and kicking out snowmobilers, O&G and Forestry companies out of caribou country and yet numbers are still going down

Maybe we should look at Caribou as a doomed species......maybe

Cheers

SS

Need to start shooting those big brown bears also

[Smoky buck]

Everything uses these lines and I am pretty sure everything benefits from them. They creates peaceful feeding areas for a lot of ungulates. Of course all wildlife uses them because animals follow the path of least resistance

I have found wolf sign and wolf kills on lines but this only makes sense because the prey is attracted to them for both food and travel. Predators simply follow the food. Personally I see wolf sign using roads to cover ground more than the lines but they are using them

That said I know of areas in BC where there are no lines or roads that have extremely high wolf numbers that are causing ungulates to decline

No argument wolves and other animals are benefits from the lines for both feed and travel but I just don’t see them as the smoking gun they are being made out to be. With the amount of areas I can think of with high wolf numbers/predation that don’t have the the man made travel routes I just can agree with the theory

In my opinion it seems like someone is trying to find a solution that won’t see the same public backlash that a cull creates

[Iron Brew]

Maybe you guys could google and read the publications instead of a newspaper out take?

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by Iron Brew

Maybe you guys could google and read the publications instead of a newspaper out take?

This is not a new theory and there is multiple variations but all touch on travel routes created by man

There is also theories that blame moose, elk, and whitetail population increasing beyond their historical ranges do to man changing the land scape

Lots of theories on how different factors have benefited the wolf population and many theories on how to indirectly impact the wolf population. But the one factor remans the safe wolf predation problems do to an increase in wolf numbers.

I prefer the direct approach on high predator numbers myself not the roundabout way

[Sitkaspruce]

Originally Posted by Iron Brew

Maybe you guys could google and read the publications instead of a newspaper out take?

As someone who lives with someone on the front line of this very issue, I know very well the publications and that is part of the problem; there is lots and lots "publications" with most countering each other as "biologists" struggle to get "published" so they can get the professional designation. Not taking anything away from them as most are dedicated to what they do, but we already have enough studies and in the world of Bio's, studies pay the bills, action doesn't as much.

What we need is action, action, action. Another publication is not going to save the caribou. In BC, that is happening; shooting wolves, maternal penning, planting old lines, roads and lease sites (payed for by taxpayers because the bean counters at the major O&G/Forestry/Mines don't see a benefit to doing what they should have done, but that's a different story) and reducing industry and recreational activities in their habitat.

Cheers

SS

[Iron Brew]

Originally Posted by Sitkaspruce

SNIP

What we need is action, action, action. Another publication is not going to save the caribou. In BC, that is happening; shooting wolves, maternal penning, planting old lines, roads and lease sites (payed for by taxpayers because the bean counters at the major O&G/Forestry/Mines don't see a benefit to doing what they should have done, but that's a different story) and reducing industry and recreational activities in their habitat.

Cheers

SS

Coincidently, I worked in the woods in BC during the time of the 90's NDP government. I hope they are doing a better job now than what they did then. Forest Renewal BC was a great in concept but lousy in implementation plan.

[Sitkaspruce]

Originally Posted by Iron Brew

Coincidently, I worked in the woods in BC during the time of the 90's NDP government. I hope they are doing a better job now than what they did then. Forest Renewal BC was a great in concept but lousy in implementation plan.

I was in the mix of FRBC and super stumpage. It was a great concept and some of it did great work, but the typical NDP red tape and bureaucracy made it a losing project.

Now every thing is taxpayer funded.

Cheers

SS