Before the existance of Fish and Game, PETA, EPA and any government organization whose business is to control everything, the people had to take care of their own existence. I grew up in that time.
I don't think that the Native people living in Alaska 70 years ago had any qualms about killing a wolf that was destroying their food supply. Living in the country, several of my friends and myself, while in High School, trapped animals, mink, skunk and civet cats were mostly what got in our traps and we sold them to a skin buyer in town. While a kid, the county, or state gave a bounty on gophers, I think that they paid something like 20 cents for a pair of front feet from a gopher. Not much, but if you took 5 pairs of feet into the court house, in that period of time you could buy 20 candy bars the size of the 89-cent ones today. Or 20 Cherry Cokes at the Drug Store fountain.
In the State of Alaska where trapping is a profession by some people, I think we could take advantage of a bounty to be paid to the trappers or hunters. Question: What does it cost to hire pilots and planes to hunt wolves? Maybe a $250 dollar bounty would increase interest by the trappers in the State of Alaska and also give a little incentive without endangering pilots flying close to the ground. I'm a pilot and understand the problems which could be encountered. It costs lots of money now to hunt, so a little encouragement would help.
My personal opinion is that until there is some kind of bounty on wolves, brown bears and black bears, the destruction of the moose supply from Nome to the Kenai Peninsula will not be controlled.
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There are those who oppose any kind of predator control, hunting, or active wildlife management of any kind. They're all about this utopic "balance of nature" which has never existed in the history of the world. The so-called balance of nature is like ice ages... periods of excess and deprivation with intercritical periods of "balance". If there was any "balance" to nature, we'd be kind of warm all the time and never quite fully light or completely dark.
It's not built that way. None of it.
AKmainiac got it wrong
While I agree with the article about a bounty incentive, I disagree with the comment by AKmainiac. There is a balance of nature...always as been. While there are times of excess and deprivation, those are the exception to the rule. Mostly nature does pretty good without our help.
I oppose aerial slaughter of wolves on the Kenai. I dont, though, oppose predator control, hunting or active wildlife management. Those are very different things.
Really?
"While there are times of excess and deprivation, those are the exception to the rule."
They are the rule... a period of excess hares and rabbits leads to an excess of lynx and other predators. The excess hares and rabbits, between eating themselves out of house and home, and being preyed upon exponentially more each year by the excess lynx and predators, eventually become less prevalent. The lynx and other predators go hungry, starve, eat domestic animals, and stop having young.
The so-called "balance" is nothing more than the swinging from up to down, on a see-saw. Excess and deprivation is the nature of nature. I am surprised at times by people thinking that populations co-dependent upon each other exist in a vacuum. Man has already rocked the boat by eliminating many predators and habitat. It falls upon man now to manage things. One might disagree with "slaughtering wolves from the air" and still agree with hunting and wildlife management, predator control. But if one shoots a wolf from the air, ground, or in a trap, does the wolf care?
Ever been there? Done that?
I like how the bleeding hearts (like orionsbow1) indicate the "slaughter of wolves" from aerial wolf hunting.
Gee has he/she ever actually GONE aerial wolf hunting? I wonder if he/she realized that wolves are not as stupid as he/she's comment. When they hear a plane, they disappear like dust in the wind. There is no slaughter, it is about as succesfull as trapping is (or less).
Yes, it can and does reduce the predator population, but to think it is a slaughter is an indicator of how uniformed people like orionsbow is (ironical name) truly are.
So put down the Big Hunter Junior Bow Wii Video Game Controller and start talking to the pilots who have actually hunted from the air. Next, unplug that Netflix and get out of the house to visit ADF&G to find statistics.
Try to formulate the truth before you follow the path of the lemming...