04-29-2006, 05:38 PM
I am glad to hear we have a couple back in the neighborhood.
Yes we do need to keep a control on the number of wolves, I also agree we need to keep a control on the number of people.
I do understand the plight of the wolf and feel for them I also understand the plight of the farmer and more so the need to protect our children, Mind you that when the area was first settled not only were there wolves present there were black bear grizzly bear coyote badgers wolverines mountain lions and people like me, (pre European occupation)
Here is what most people don’t realize; these critters running wild seldom came in to the farm. With traps of all sorts set around year round. They died out due to starvation and lack of housing. Michigan was clear cut from the Ohio border to the northern most tip of the up. Any piece of ground that was workable was cleared. All the trees you see around you except for those in thick bogs and swamps and on steep cliffs are re-growth. There are few trees left from before the clear cutting of the 1860’s to the 1920’s. When I was a kid we used to see the stumps from that era, today there are few if no signs left.
Back during the depression president Roosevelt created a work corps called MCC. During those twelve years he was in office, (yep, 12.. this was when term limits were set)
The MCC replanted areas all over the state of Michigan. Many of the old pine forest were planted by this corp. we still have a few standing with in a couple hundred yards of my home here near Detroit.
When I was a kid the woods were no ways near as full as they are now, yes we have fewer woods due to development.
That being said, I would like to share with you a couple tidbits of the feeding habits of the wolf. Yes they do eat deer, Yes the do eat bear, Yes they do eat elk, Yes they do eat moose (note we no longer have a hunt able population of moose in Michigan) Yes they do eat wolverines, Yes they do eat cougars (mountain lions) Yes they do eat badgers. Yes they do eat rabbits squirrels turkeys quail pats ducks geese swans and any other fowl they can catch.
But did you know they would rather eat fish over any other prey? This is true, they will hunt trout and salmon right along side of grizzly and black bare. They even will hunt salmon and trout next to man if man would just leave them be... Scientist have already proven this, It would have been nice if salmon had been reintroduced in the areas where the wolves were released. Would have made a great deal more sense than just turning them loose. You wouldn’t plant a fish in a pond with out creating some kind of structure or suitable habitat. so the why did they with wolves. every thing needs to eat.
My Siberian husky, (the dog closest related to the wolf) would rather have a fish over a hamburger. She is spoilt rotten, you cant feed her any raw meat other than squirrel and fish, every thing else has to be cooked... She loves to go fishing, she can tell you to stay off the ice when it is not safe, she can tell you if there is a fish directly below the ice 25 feet down. (Yes I use here to point out my ice fishing holes every winter) Now you know my ice fishing secret.
once again I say the elk and moose was hunted to extinction in Michigan but the wolf and wolverine and mountain lion were starved out of existence in the state of Michigan. There is some rumor that the mountain lion was reintroduced in to Michigan but officially there is nothing to substantiate this rumor. I would like to think that the state is healing and the cougars found their way back because the area was once again becoming hospitable.
Sorry for the history lesson, but I thought it is important for every one to know the truth of this matter.
You have more to worry about your neighbor’s dog than you do from any wolves. Only under extreme conditions will a wolf come to your door unless invited. so as long as you aint throwing scraps of meet and throwing deceased farm animals in to the fields they will consider the area unfit for hunting. So don’t feed the deer in your front yard and your worries about wolves will be next to nothing....
so I say to you, any thing that eats fish cant be all bad.
I said earlier I feel the plight of the wolf. I today am living under the gun of the wealthy developers. my home is no longer fit for my life style. Here where I was born was farm country and today it is a mass of housing developments. where I once hunted fished and raised a hundred head of chickens freely I can no longer do so. I soon will be starved out of my home for the sake of the really rich.
The wolf is my brother, the wild cat my sister, the great bare my uncle, and the fish is my life’s blood.
[signature]
Yes we do need to keep a control on the number of wolves, I also agree we need to keep a control on the number of people.
I do understand the plight of the wolf and feel for them I also understand the plight of the farmer and more so the need to protect our children, Mind you that when the area was first settled not only were there wolves present there were black bear grizzly bear coyote badgers wolverines mountain lions and people like me, (pre European occupation)
Here is what most people don’t realize; these critters running wild seldom came in to the farm. With traps of all sorts set around year round. They died out due to starvation and lack of housing. Michigan was clear cut from the Ohio border to the northern most tip of the up. Any piece of ground that was workable was cleared. All the trees you see around you except for those in thick bogs and swamps and on steep cliffs are re-growth. There are few trees left from before the clear cutting of the 1860’s to the 1920’s. When I was a kid we used to see the stumps from that era, today there are few if no signs left.
Back during the depression president Roosevelt created a work corps called MCC. During those twelve years he was in office, (yep, 12.. this was when term limits were set)
The MCC replanted areas all over the state of Michigan. Many of the old pine forest were planted by this corp. we still have a few standing with in a couple hundred yards of my home here near Detroit.
When I was a kid the woods were no ways near as full as they are now, yes we have fewer woods due to development.
That being said, I would like to share with you a couple tidbits of the feeding habits of the wolf. Yes they do eat deer, Yes the do eat bear, Yes they do eat elk, Yes they do eat moose (note we no longer have a hunt able population of moose in Michigan) Yes they do eat wolverines, Yes they do eat cougars (mountain lions) Yes they do eat badgers. Yes they do eat rabbits squirrels turkeys quail pats ducks geese swans and any other fowl they can catch.
But did you know they would rather eat fish over any other prey? This is true, they will hunt trout and salmon right along side of grizzly and black bare. They even will hunt salmon and trout next to man if man would just leave them be... Scientist have already proven this, It would have been nice if salmon had been reintroduced in the areas where the wolves were released. Would have made a great deal more sense than just turning them loose. You wouldn’t plant a fish in a pond with out creating some kind of structure or suitable habitat. so the why did they with wolves. every thing needs to eat.
My Siberian husky, (the dog closest related to the wolf) would rather have a fish over a hamburger. She is spoilt rotten, you cant feed her any raw meat other than squirrel and fish, every thing else has to be cooked... She loves to go fishing, she can tell you to stay off the ice when it is not safe, she can tell you if there is a fish directly below the ice 25 feet down. (Yes I use here to point out my ice fishing holes every winter) Now you know my ice fishing secret.
once again I say the elk and moose was hunted to extinction in Michigan but the wolf and wolverine and mountain lion were starved out of existence in the state of Michigan. There is some rumor that the mountain lion was reintroduced in to Michigan but officially there is nothing to substantiate this rumor. I would like to think that the state is healing and the cougars found their way back because the area was once again becoming hospitable.
Sorry for the history lesson, but I thought it is important for every one to know the truth of this matter.
You have more to worry about your neighbor’s dog than you do from any wolves. Only under extreme conditions will a wolf come to your door unless invited. so as long as you aint throwing scraps of meet and throwing deceased farm animals in to the fields they will consider the area unfit for hunting. So don’t feed the deer in your front yard and your worries about wolves will be next to nothing....
so I say to you, any thing that eats fish cant be all bad.
I said earlier I feel the plight of the wolf. I today am living under the gun of the wealthy developers. my home is no longer fit for my life style. Here where I was born was farm country and today it is a mass of housing developments. where I once hunted fished and raised a hundred head of chickens freely I can no longer do so. I soon will be starved out of my home for the sake of the really rich.
The wolf is my brother, the wild cat my sister, the great bare my uncle, and the fish is my life’s blood.
[signature]