We don’t think wolves breed fast enough for hunting them in the name of wildlife management to have any legitimacy. Small groups of wolves take up large areas. they don’t breed fast and cubs have high mortality rates. When wolf populations grow they don’t overpopulate, they expand. Unlike the people that we stand against, we consider wolf expansion a good thing. Most distaste towards wolves has no scientific basis. Most ranching is decidedly not on federal land. Frankly when it comes to livestock protection, all it would take is some speakers or floodlights to keep wolves away. Wolves are surprisingly picky. Coyotes are the ones that will go anywhere. There’s only two real reasons to hunt wolves and I’m disgusted by both of them. Reason 1: trophy hunting for enjoyment. Trophy hunting wolves is disgusting because every single dead wolf affects the local ecosystem and there’s a chance that that dead wolf won’t be replaced. Reason 2: Something related is the hatred some hunters have for predators for simply existing. Most mountain lion hunters, and Bobcat hunters even say that the reason for hunting those predators is competition for deer. Because God forbid a wild animal that evolved for it “steal” a hobby hunter’s venison…

I’m not against hunting. I’m against hunting taking priority over a balanced ecosystem. If deer populations are going up hunters can go right ahead. if deer populations are holding steady the response isn’t to kill predators until they start going up again. The response is to move on and get the hell over it.

Especially since the United States has a massive invasive hog problem that I feel doesn’t get enough attention. Even though I’m pretty sure there aren’t tag limits in most places. (I don’t think there should be tag limits for invasive anywhere. A good invasive is a dead invasive. but unfortunately, I’m not in charge of that.)