Fish and Wildlife Wolf Cull within RFMA

[M shooter]

I just received a letter from Fish and Wildlife informing me that they are going to be doing a wolf cull within the boundaries of my RFMA.

I know they have done this before in other parts of the province but this is the first time I have heard of it in the NE part of Alberta.

What are the experiences of other trappers that have gone thru this. Will they give me the opportunity to salvage any of the furs? Are they even worth salvaging given that some trigger happy officer hanging out of a helicopter will be taking them down.

Is there any sort of compensation based on the number of wolves they remove?

[RockyMountainMusic]

Originally Posted by M shooter

I just received a letter from Fish and Wildlife informing me that they are going to be doing a wolf cull within the boundaries of my RFMA.

I know they have done this before in other parts of the province but this is the first time I have heard of it in the NE part of Alberta.

What are the experiences of other trappers that have gone thru this. Will they give me the opportunity to salvage any of the furs? Are they even worth salvaging given that some trigger happy officer hanging out of a helicopter will be taking them down.

Is there any sort of compensation based on the number of wolves they remove?

No you don't get the pelts, and no you get no compensation. Just wait for the poison that's next and will take out most of your other fur bearers too. We have been fighting the Gov for years in our country with little to no help because everyone has so much hate for the wolves they are blind to everything else. As much as I believe in predator control what they do is plain disgusting. Good luck up there your going to need it, I said long time ago this will spread and not just affect our area but most don't listen til it affects them personally!

[The Spruce]

Same on my line. I plan to have most of the wolves in my shop before they show up. I am assuming this is going to take place on the bombing range, but may affect packs that boarder it. Wish I could trap there, you could just drop a snare over a wolves head while feeding it a tuna sandwich up there. But why would the government want to salvage fur....hey wait, isn't it illegal to waste?

Spruce

[RockyMountainMusic]

Originally Posted by The Spruce

Same on my line. I plan to have most of the wolves in my shop before they show up. I am assuming this is going to take place on the bombing range, but may affect packs that boarder it. Wish I could trap there, you could just drop a snare over a wolves head while feeding it a tuna sandwich up there. But why would the government want to salvage fur....hey wait, isn't it illegal to waste?

Spruce

It was illegal for the chopper owners to take the hides to BC and sell them too but didn't stop them.....The laws don't apply to the GOV Any chance I can get a copy of these letters from one of you? Ill PM you both my email

[catnthehat]

I was informed as well , they are going in on a friend's line.
Cat

[nube]

Save the Caribou at all costs lol But the sheep and goats don't need any help

It sure would be interesting to have a chat with some of the Bio's face to face about this stuff. The stupidity of some of it is unreal

[HunterDave]

Curious.....What is the reason for a wolf cull in areas other than where the woodland caribou are? Wasn't that the reason for the wolf cull in the first place?

[nube]

There are Caribou North East Dave

[jawa]

Would be mutch cheaper to buy trappers snares and give them a hundred bucks a tail , and would probly be way more effective

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by nube

There are Caribou North East Dave

There's another carriboo herd in the NE? I thought that the wolf cull was to save the Little Smoky herd and they are in a completely different area.

"The Little Smoky caribou herd is located in the foothills region of West central Alberta (see Figure 1 below). The range spans across Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) 352 and 353. This area is between the town of Grande Cache and Fox Creek Alberta."

https://sites.ualberta.ca/~rbchrist/...es/Page326.htm

[Lefty-Canuck]

Almost hit a caribou in my truck on the Cold Lake Weapons Range heading to the Cogen plant.

LC

[HunterDave]

Never mind, I think that I found it. It must be part of this program:

http://www.coldlakesun.com/2016/06/2...ration-project

Cenovus Energy is aiming to protect local caribou through a 10-year, $32 million restoration project.

The Caribou Habitat Restoration Project will help to protect threatened woodland caribou near the company’s operations in northeastern Alberta by restoring vegetation along old seismic lines.

“Seismic lines are long, straight pathways cut into the forest by oil and gas companies to study geology under the surface,” said Sonja Franklin, media advisor at Cenovus.

“While modern techniques for these activities are less invasive and are designed to promote natural regeneration, many of these pathways have not naturally returned to forest cover over the past 20 or 30 years.

“With our proven reforestation techniques, we can restore these lines to forest cover and help reduce the fragmentation of caribou habitat. That’s going to make a difference to caribou, which need large undisturbed tracts of land to thrive.”

The 10-year project will expand upon the caribou habitat restoration work Cenovus successfully completed with the Linear Deactivation (LiDea) pilot project that took place from 2013 to 2015.

LiDea restored the caribou habitat on the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) by treating 240 km of forest fragmentation within an area of 370 square kilometers. The reforestation techniques involved planting 270,000 seedlings.

“At Cenovus, we’ve been working on cutting-edge caribou habitat restoration for several years,” said Jon Mitchell, vice president of environment and sustainability at Cenovus, at a press conference on June 14.

“Today we’re taking our voluntary efforts to a whole new level with this ambitious project to restore fragmented boreal forest in an area that is home to the Cold Lake caribou herd.”

From 2016 to 2026, the expanded project will treat 3,500 km of old seismic lines, access roads and other linear disturbances within an area of 3,900 square kilometers. The area is located north of the City of Cold Lake and along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, largely within the CLAWR. The restoration plans will involve planting an average of 4 million tree seedlings.

“Our decision to launch this 10-year project was made some time ago. In fact, work on the expanded project was already underway this winter. We’re doing this because it’s the right thing to do, and it also addresses a significant environmental issue in the areas where we operate,” said Franklin.

“Woodland caribou are a threatened species in Canada under the federal Species at Risk Act. Many caribou populations are declining – estimates put the Cold Lake herd at approximately 150 animals and falling.”

The initiative is the largest single restoration project of its kind ever undertaken by a company anywhere in the world.

According to Franklin, Cenovus hopes their project can be a model for the Government of Alberta as it works to put in place its action and range plan for caribou recovery. The plan is required under the Federal Species at Risk Act and needs to be in place by October 2017. Details of the provincial government’s range plan for this area are expected to be announced in 2017.

“Habitat disturbance is due to agriculture, industry, forestry, and oil and gas development,” she said.

“With this project, we are able to help close some of those linear pathways which will make caribou less vulnerable to being hunted by their predators and help reduce the fragmentation of the caribou’s habitat.”

[Torkdiesel]

Sorry to hear that boys, unfortunate to say the least.

It would have been nice if the province put a real bounty on the wolves for the trappers. Pretty hard to justify the time and funds required to trap big numbers of wolves with almost no monetary gain.

Paying almost 2K per wolf for the pros is a pricey venture.

[M shooter]

I just find it some what ironic that they ride everyone elses ass about utilization of a resource and then say its ok for them to fly around around in a helicopter, blast some wolves and leave them to rot. I sent an email to the resource manager listed on the letter to see if we can at least salvage the furs. I will let you know if I get a response back.

[dsh352]

It's amazing how the GOA "manages" caribou. Unfortunately if they are starting the wolf cull on these lines they will shoot and leave the wolves to rot. The trapper will not be informed of anything. I know on my line I never was.
Just wait if they start poisoning because then they shoot all the moose for bait. And after a few years there's no coyotes foxes or wolves left.....

[dsh352]

And if they are talking about closing "linear disturbances " then they are going to reclaim all the cutlines so no one can travel them. Talk about BS.

[blgoodbrand1]

Why is not the first call to the area trapper?
"Here are some funds. Get the gear and bait you need and hammer the wolves"
If the trapper doesn't want to then look to alternatives.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sooner]

Originally Posted by blgoodbrand1

Why is not the first call to the area trapper?
"Here are some funds. Get the gear and bait you need and hammer the wolves"
If the trapper doesn't want to then look to alternatives.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Seems to me getting trappers to do the work by supporting a solid bounty would still be cheaper then the run and gun by helicopter and poison bait sites. Win win Imo.

[Torkdiesel]

Originally Posted by blgoodbrand1

Why is not the first call to the area trapper?
"Here are some funds. Get the gear and bait you need and hammer the wolves"
If the trapper doesn't want to then look to alternatives.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep !!!

[nube]

Any anyone who says a trapper can't decimate the wolf population is wrong. I am not seeing much for tracks in the areas i hammered them last year. Which totally shocks me. I am used to trying to wipe out coyotes at home here and seem to get nowhere with them but these wolf packs I hit last year are really hurtin now. I think I actually did the moose and deer some good. I have actually seen some moose this year which was nice and have seen more deer this year than all other years combined. Might be a fluke but if not it really has changed things.

[Torkdiesel]

Originally Posted by nube

Any anyone who says a trapper can't decimate the wolf population is wrong. I am not seeing much for tracks in the areas i hammered them last year. Which totally shocks me. I am used to trying to wipe out coyotes at home here and seem to get nowhere with them but these wolf packs I hit last year are really hurtin now. I think I actually did the moose and deer some good. I have actually seen some moose this year which was nice and have seen more deer this year than all other years combined. Might be a fluke but if not it really has changed things.

Without a doubt you helped out the deer and moose that were left by wiping out a good number of the remaining wolves in the area.

Now your area probably was in tough shape already with the thinning of the ungulate population by hunters and the wolves already. And from the looks of the starving wolves you caught last year that were in terrible shape they were likely barely hanging on as it was. But snaring them and taking them out surely made a difference.

From what I've been reading about removing wolves from an area is the moose population can rebound and increase by up to 50% in as little as 7-10 years. The key is to reducing the numbers by a substantial amount when their population is healthy also.

High volume snaring will hopefully be the answer for me

[nube]

I also noticed the wolves I am catching this year have good fur on them as well. All in good shape as well and fat. Not sure if it is the weather or that their are less wolves in a pack to feed or what but it is interesting to note

[357xp]

Dave, there's woodland caribou all over northern AB and doing quite well from what I've seen in my sledding expeditions. Our gov just likes to focus on certain areas but use the same plan for that certain area for the whole province with out checking the whole province.

[Flight01]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

I was informed as well , they are going in on a friend's line.
Cat

Where abouts Cat? I haven't been informed of anything.

[dugh]

Flight, I have heard of notification letters being sent for lines west of Conklin at least as far as highway 63 and north I don' know how far
In my opinion part of the problem is differing agendas leading to a total lack of communication. You have groups like the U of C studying wolves in their natural environment, they aren't interested in studying snared wolves or packs pushed by trappers. In some cases there are collared members of packs so their location is known. You have the government cull reducing wolf numbers. These two groups have conflicting agendas and now add trapper harvest to the mix. It's my opinion that both these groups see the trapper as a nuisance not an ally.
Never cry wolf.
Doug

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Flight01

Where abouts Cat? I haven't been informed of anything.

You have mail!
Cat

[Torkdiesel]

Originally Posted by nube

I also noticed the wolves I am catching this year have good fur on them as well. All in good shape as well and fat. Not sure if it is the weather or that their are less wolves in a pack to feed or what but it is interesting to note

That's good to see. Maybe getting closer to the numbers there should be now !

[Big Grey Wolf]

Nube, appreciated your wolf harvest last year on your line. We managed to pick up 2 bull moose this year one on Smokey and second on Berland. Keep up the wolf harvest noticed less wolf sign than past years.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by 357xp

Dave, there's woodland caribou all over northern AB and doing quite well from what I've seen in my sledding expeditions. Our gov just likes to focus on certain areas but use the same plan for that certain area for the whole province with out checking the whole province.

Thanks for the info.

[M shooter]

I received a phone call from Env and Parks and got some more details about the wolf cull. They are talking about 200 wolves in the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range and upwards of 400 wolves outside of the range.

There has been absolutely no consultation or information prior to this, they will not be keeping track of the number of wolves taken from within each RFMA and there is no compensation on the table.

I find it hard to swallow when they hold industry and individuals up such high standards as far as consultation and effective use of our natural resources but when the government wants to so something they literally just run and gun.