Quote:
Originally Posted by NCC
There used to be 150 elk in the Blackstone in the 90's and now there are zero. Plenty of grass, no poachers, no subsistence hunters, no industrial activity and no cow tags.
Same thing in the National Parks and the Willmore. The grass is stirrup high, virtually no hunting pressure, and there are very few ungulates.
These are just two examples of the many mountain areas that don't see much hunting pressure and have no game animals left. The ungulates aren't starving to death, they're being killed by predators. When a herd of 30 cow elk has no calves by fall, it's not a nutritional problem.
The bio in BC that had video of a single gbear killing 50 caribou calves should be enough evidence to convince SRD that predators are the problem but no one wants to believe it.
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Have predators not been around as long the deer, elk, moose, goats, and sheep? Everyone talks about the good old days where there used to be lots of game. They have been logging and clear cutting areas for over a hundred years and even with logging the grass still grows as it get sunlight and water. I have seen lots of elk in these areas feeding. As far as predators go if they have been around as long as the ungulates why is it just now that we seem to think we have a problem with them. Do you seriously think that the no grizzly bear hunt has a lot to do with it, now remember when the grizzly hunt was still on it was very limited tags per zone and not all those tags were filled in those zones every year. I’m sure the cat numbers haven’t exploded either as they still have a hunt for them, same with the wolves. Trappers are still trapping are they not? If there were more ungulates back in the good old days wouldn’t that mean more predators, oh and back in the good old days there were also a way fewer hunters out there then there are today. Do you not think human pressure has something to do with the problem, and back in the good old days it was easier to access areas as well. Cutting down the ease of access mean less people going into some of these areas which in turn makes it easier on the predators.