Humans are great at creating inbalances in natural populations. First we manipulate habitat to our needs, helping some species and hurting others. Then, when we eliminated many of the predators, deer and elk populations exploded. When we took away feeding grounds for cattle grazing, elk populations plummeted. Now, when we add wolves back into the mixture, elk and deer populations have gone down. Since we have unnaturally altered the populations of animals, it is necessary to use sound advice from highly trained scientific individuals to sometimes manage predators as well as prey animals. While we aren't eating them, we are in essence creating a more balanced population. It is called "top down control" which is managing from the top of the food chain, and can be more difficult to manage than "bottom up control", or harvesting of animals lower in the food chain. Hopefully the hunt can be well regulated, and the process can continue to be monitored to ensure the proper number are harvested. While some fight over whether it is a victory for one side or the other, I think everyone recognizes the need to protect what natural habitat is left.

We pay fish and game departments to manage wildlife. They say that its time to control the wolf population through a limited hunting season. Everyone benefits here. There are no losers. Ranchers and farmers will have a slightly easier time raising livestock. Hunters will have a chance at a magnificent trophy. Wolf populations will become more wary of man and will continue to thrive. State coffers will be infused with needed cash. Campers and hikers will be safer doing their thing. Where is the negative in this deal?

I like hunting, I have hunted since I was eligable. It was a great expierience to go on my first hunting trip with my dad, you know, bonding and all that stuff. I hunt elk and I eat the elk (which is saying more than most the wolves that hunt elk).

Wolves have seriously damaged the elk population in Montana (google the northern heard if you need to). Some people don't see that as a problem yet. I wouldn't want to see elk become endagered because of an unmanaged wolf problem. What comes next after they run out of elk to kill? Deer? The already low populated big horn sheep? More livestock and pets?

Wolves are the only animals other than humans that kill for pleasure... thing is they don't understand the meaning of moderation. They kill to kill and they are a huge threat against every other animal in their path.

To say it simply... there isn't a wolf out there that is worth more than someone's kids or pets. No one is gonna shoot your pet dog (cliche). That's like saying that someone who hunts elk is gonna start shooting moo cows.

There are even times when it crosses my mind that the anti-hunters are so protective of the wolves because they know that they can't stop hunting, but there poster child wolf is killing so many elk that it could eventually lead to the end of hunting in that way. Ironic huh?

All in all.... I would rather lose a couple dozen wolves than another 3600 head of elk.

In Laymen's terms... Wolves hold a vital key in regulation of the ecosystem. Without them, well, look at the effects on Yellowstone. Too many of them, the population of larger game species (elk) will diminish. Their numbers need to be regulated in order to maintain a healthy ecosystem. The process by which regulating these animals and almost all animals is called hunting.

Nothing to add, you gentlemen covered most all of it....the word wolf sure does kick up a debate these days....I feel bad for the wolf, he is just being a wolf, never knows how political his existence has become....

I am not a rancher, nor do i live in an area with Wolves. I eat what i kill, but if i saw my beloved deer herd (or elk) being decimated by wolves, along with widespread livestock predation as well as pets and even human conflict etc., you can bet your ass i'd take one out if i had a tag. And no i would not eat it, though i'm sure something would. Many good answers above. I do not believe they should exterminated, but managed.

haha
Calm down Tom! lol
Good facts though...

Great answer libertyfrist A+

This isn't a matter of sportsmanship or even hunting, this is a matter of MANAGEMENT. The wolf population has made more than a successful recovery and the wolf is a predator that is super efficient at what it does, it has no natural predator so the population will do nothing but grow. So it is up to us to take care of that...

Sheep farmers loses around 2000 animals a year to wolves.In the past, farmers were allowed to shoot wolves, estimated to be responsible for 2000 of the killing, only if they were caught in the act of stealing livestock. The farmers support the hunt and my uncle is one of them that own a sheep farms and he strongly hunt wolves to protect his investment.

I am all for eating what you kill. But when you are damage control hunting it is not nessesary to eat the animal you are killing. If I had to eat all the animals I killed I would be 300 pounds. Since June 10th I have killed 27 racoons, 2 skunks and 1 musk rat. The coons where raiding my barn and the horse farm accrose the road. The 2 skunks where just getting annoying spraying my yard up every night (one of them got the neighbors dog). The musk rat was digging up my friends pond, threatining to drain it. And I think those are pretty good reasons to take the animal out.

Now lets say you and your dog are walking through the woods just looking around, then a pack of wolves jump on your dog and kills it!!!!! now what you have to say!!!!

Here in Texas we dont have wolves. The coyote problem here is bad on our cattle, sheep, goats, and deer. I live and work on a ranch and have seen what they do to livestock and can only imagine what a wolf can do to livestock and deer/elk populations.
Here we shoot or trap as many of them as we can. The annual livestock that are killed by preditors each year come to millions of dollars across the U.S. and there is no way of getting any money back from that. So the only way to protect our animals is by keeping there numbers down.
Then there's a rabies problem that comes with them and just a couple of infected animals can cause all kinds of hell within just a week or so by infecting other animals.
So I've got to say shoot, trap or what ever means you can to keep them away from livestock and our own pets. If you want to keep the pelts do it. If not dont.

It is a form of population control plain and simple, the game department decided to have a limited hunting season verses spending tax payers dollars to have the wolves trapped and killed or poisoned. I would venture a guess that if you look at what the profit from the tags will be used for it is probably enviromental funding to make sure the wolves have the best chance for servival.Would you rather the game department wait for the wolf population to get so far out of control that they start attacking people or family pets, then you would be looking at wolves being killed on a large scale by poisoning and the use of sharp shooters by the game department.

Wise management of our resources help to maintain a healthy balance in nature. This balance is usually very hard to attain in today's world with fragmented habitat and skewed land use patterns.

I was able to return to the valley that I mentioned above for four days this September. I did not see a legal bull but did see six cows and each had a calf with her. I also saw one sub-legal bull. In that time I only found one wolf track that was fresh. After talking with the local ADF&G biologist he felt that I had gone in too early and the bulls were not starting to turn rutty yet. They stay down in the flats for the summer and bring cows with them as they move into higher country for the rut. He had surveyed that valley the year before in the first week of October and there were four legal bulls, three sub-legal bulls and twenty-seven cows and most had calves. I think that the predator controls are working. With careful management you can have it all!

rhetoric about them stealing calves and lambs: really?
rhetoric? go crawl in a hole and expire you pasty faced little twerp. Oh i eat all i kill! you sanctimonious little AH. where do you live; manhattan?
wolves out west have managed to devastate wildlife, lifestock, and good folks livelihoods. but you dont see that so you dont care. no body has to justify nuthin to the likes of you. drop dead.