Wolves/coyotes/game comission

[the priest]

I heard a rumor this weekend. I'm calling it a rumor because while the source is a VERY trustworthy source,......I didn't see it happen.

I read this weekend that wolves are now in 'upstate' NY state,....I'm taking that as fact. The rumor is that wolves have been introduced in pairs,....into PA. I also heard one was killed by a vehicle above I-80 and this critter was tagged.

I also heard a rumor that they're introducing fishers back into western PA.

The interesting thing,....back when PA coyotes were JUST being reported and talked about,.....about twelve years ago now,....another guy I know claims to have seen one shot that was tagged. About a year or two later the game commission began to acknowledge them.

Just rumors though,....

[COR]

I don't know about wolves but the fisher is here. My dad has seen them when driving early morning in Clarion County. I would have to question the game commissions involvement in reintroducing wolves as the same rumor was spread for years concerning coyotes.

[ChrisO]

I know the time frame dosen't seem right. But back about 27yrs ago when I was dating my wife, She lived in West Alexander PA, S.W. PA. Back behind her house was a fairly large patch of woods. One evening before sunset we walked around back together to feed her small dog and standing at the woodline was what I still say to this day was a nice size coyote. He took one look at us and ran back into the woods. Her dog was a smallone & I think we just saved it from becoming a meal. I tryed telling acouple of friends what I saw and they all asked me what I was drinking.
I now believe everything I read about shady acting agencies.
Chris.

[the priest]

I had a guy that worked for me that was from the Bradford area. The banded coyote story came from him. Per his telling, a good friend of his shot one during dear season that was banded/tagged. He then supposedly took it into the local GC office and threw it at the officer saying, tell me now that the GC isn't stocking these.

COR,

The fisher family I'm talking about is also in Clarion County. Small world. Heard a few coyotes singing Friday night too.

[tomf]

Stocking coyotes? HAH!
Coyotes are about the last animal that needs help getting a foothold anywhere. I grew up in SW PA ( Irwin ) and the Game Commission seemed to be quite competent. Maybe they're slipping.
Perhaps the GC should focus on keeping out / eradicating coyote populations instead.

[COR]

Smal world indeed...The coyotes are plentiful in the Clarion County area. The first one I ever got was back in the early 90's and I had it completely mounted. I have missed about 7 in the last 5 years with handguns. Last year I missed one broadside up at the farm in Fryburg. They are smart and they are tough to get to stand still very long but I will eventually get one with a revolver or maybe an Encore.

The fisher was first spotted by my dad at least 5 years ago just south of the Knox exit off of I-80. He has seen others since but that one he has seen more than once in that general area. I also know some guys that hunt down on the Clarion River that have some pics on trail cameras of one.

[the priest]

Fryburg/Knox, huh??? Pretty close!

[45colt]

Those critters are just about all over.
Might want to check out varmintal's website.
There are many varmint forums.
I'm at California Predators Club.Stop by if you like.
The yotes are giving the ranchers "H".As many times,they'll kill just
for the fun of killing.It's the same with wolves.
They don't kill the weak or sick.A myth.They go after healthy animals too.
The introduction/re-introduction of wolves or coyotes,unforseen
problems are waiting to happen.

[majorKAP]

I'm the one who done it. I snare a few here in KY each week, load them into the truck, and set them free in PA. It's a catch and release program I initiated. ;D

Seriously though, I believe that the INTRODUCTION rumor is nothing but that, a rumor or an urban myth. Coyotes need little in the way of an introduction. There are few obstacles they need to cross between US states that would require human assistance.

Yes, occasionally even I will kill one that has been "tagged". Game biologists do that sometimes in their studies of the animal.

I have a large photograph hanging in my gun room. It was given to me after my grandfather's death in 1978. The photo hung on a wall in Grandma and Grandpa's house. It shows a dead coyote displayed on an old wooden table. The picture used to frighten my mother when she was just a little girl. The photo was taken in the 1940's! That was several decades before most experts agree that coyotes were even in Kentucky.



Grandpa was a hunter/fisherman/trapper all of his long life. The coyote had been seen several times in Winchester/Clark County, KY. It had been identified (mistakenly)as a wolf, and the local cattle and sheep farmers had put a bounty on it's head. Grandpa collected that bounty and got a write-up and picture in the local "Gooseneck Astonisher". It was a big deal in that little town.

I don't hate coyotes. They have plenty to eat around here. Little evidence suggests that they have done ANY harm to our native game species. I watch them quite often happily going about their business ferreting out mice and grasshoppers from the fields. I watched a pair early one evening leaping frantically into the air and twisting about. I thought they were possessed, or something. Only after the sun descended over the horizon was I able to determine what they were doing. They were snagging fireflies right out of the sky. I also watch them routinely eating the apples and pears that have fallen to the ground under my trees.

It's difficult for me sometimes to take a hard-line against them when they are only managing to eke out an existence, but their reproductive rate is prolific, and they have no natural enemies.

So, what we need here in KY are a few of those "introduced" PA wolves to help keep our coyotes in check! ;D

[joej]

I'll go along with MajorKap's remarks relative to "the rumor", as coyotes go where ever they please and have no respect for State or county lines - the only thing they will respect is a wolf pack's territory because to be caught by a wolf pack means serious injury at best. Coyotes can be a real PITA for some ranchers but it's very uncommon - the coyote will always get the blame for the wanton slaughter that a couple dogs will do but that's not too common either. The coyote will take a lot of upland game birds and waterfoul in the spring and will take what he can get throughout the rest of the year. The introduction of the Gray Wolf in Yellowstone a few years back has been shown to be a mistake in my opinion - those big boys have been spreading out to surrounding States and they do raise hell with everything, especially big game such as moose, elk and deer.

[Robster]

"I read this weekend that wolves are now in 'upstate' NY state,...."

Upstate NY is a stone's throw from Canada. Actually, they border each other. Ontario has wolves, The one and only wolf I ever saw was in Canada, not far north from Ganonoque. Canada also has moose. They are migrating into NY from neighboring states Maine, vermont, New Hampshire. I have seen their tracks while at the Moose River Plains. I do not think it is out of the realm of possibility that wolves could also move into NY. Winters can get bitterly cold up in the north country, and the frozen water could make it very easy for wolves to move into the Northern Adirondacks. Bear are moving up into my area from PA. and NJ. 20 minutes from my house, they found sign and pictures of a mountain lion. Not sure where THAT came from, but........

As far as wolves being RELEASED into NY, I too have heard the rumor(just like the rumor of releasing mountain lions into upstate NY....Hey, didn't they just find one?) I am not sure that would be something they desire as the game in the ADK's is not plentiful(lack of logging and lack of wildfires have allowed forests to become old growth with little understory forage) therefore it would not be long until they moved to farm country, suburbia, and problems like mountain lions in California.

Keep in mind this is my 2 cents and has not had any scientific fact finding missions to back it up. Just the world as I see it.

BTW, nice coyote rug.

[cubrock]

In NC, it is generally acknowledged that our coyote were introduced into enclosed fox preserves, from which they escaped. Fox hunters would put them in their preserves because they give a better chase than the foxes. I've heard this story countless times from biologists and the fox hunters themselves.

[tomf]

yeah, importing exotic flora/fauna for your own reasons generally becomes a disaster ( southerners see "kudzu" , "nutria", and "water hyacinth" ).