[jawa]

Originally Posted by nube

Here is my take on it as one of the trappers that has done a lot in my area to clean up the wolves.....

I need a ton of bait. This is my biggest issue. I take what I can when I go up and scrounge around to get a bit but I need a lot of it and when you start hauling bait and finding it it costs a ton of money.

Each wolf on the market will fetch $150-$300 on average. I get a bit more for my good ones selling private. I would say half or more of the wolves I have caught are mange and grossly infested useless hides. Garbage basically. Mostly because they are starving and not healthy I must add....

Most times a wolf trapper will catch a couple a year hear or there with limited bait or equipment out. It will not do anything to kill the odd wolf or 2 out of a pack. They still have killing power. You need to wipe out a min. of half a pack to do the ungulates any good.

You ask why trappers don't do more and it all comes down to money. I put bait out and work hard to catch a pile of useless wolves when I have had $125 coyotes running under my wolf snares all season long that I don't catch. I have done it for the fun of catching them and also my area has been destroyed by our so called expert biologists and all the ungulates are scarce.
I have wiped out a few packs now and have seen triple the deer , moose and elk sign this year. It took years but I am now seeing rewards of it. It is getting better.
But... at a cost to me!
I have continued this year because of a new program to save some caribou..... I figured we will see if there is funding at the end of it and maybe cover my costs or make a few bucks but I am skeptical. If it doesn't work out I might just go back to killing coyotes instead of wolves.

If I was supported by funding I would continue.

Also the other issue is that nobody can trap on a registered trapline except the trapper. If I could bait all over Alberta I would for sure be snaring more wolves. Lots of trappers don't even use their lines anymore and they sit there untouched. Most would agree this is not right. I also asked about buying another trapline and was told I already have one so I wouldn't most likely be approved for it.....

In the end it comes down to 2 things and that is money and bait for myself.
My take on it from a guy who actually does it and sees what the effects are.

You have to break those packs down in size. Hunters can not do it. They can't kill enough to make a difference. You need to knock a pack down to 3-4 animals and they will hunt smaller game and not kill a moose a week like a pack of 6-12 will. You have to realise if you got 2-3 packs in an area what that is doing to the moose populations. It's unreal!

That about sums it up