First legal wolf killed in Idaho

[gunslinger598]

http://www.2news.tv/news/local/56659032.html

Story Created: Sep 1, 2009 at 3:53 PM MDT

Story Updated: Sep 3, 2009 at 3:02 PM MDT
By KBCI Web Staff

BOISE - Fish and Game officials in Lewiston say a man has shot and killed the first wolf in northern Idaho.

Tuesday was the first day to legally hunt wolves in Idaho.

Ed Mitchell, spokesman for the Idaho Fish and Game, says the hunter killed the wolf north of Highway 12 in the Lolo National Forest. Hunters are only allowed to hunt wolves in the Lolo and Sawtooth National forests.

"It's a pretty rugged area," Mitchell said.

Mitchell says the Northern Idaho killing was the first in the state.

Dave Cadwallader, director of the agency's Clearwater Region, says the hunter, Robert Millage, is from Kamiah and shot the wolf from about 25 yards away with a .243 rifle. The wolf is a young adult female and likely weighed about 60-70 pounds.

Idaho set a quota of 220 wolves this hunting season as part of its plan for managing the population. The quota is 75 in Montana.

Wolves are hard to track because they move 30 to 50 miles a day, and hunters can't use bait or artificial calls.

"Most of the experienced and serious people in hunting would rate them to be a very hard animal to hunt," Mitchell said. "They're extremely smart and catch on quickly."

The Defenders of Wildlife have condemned the hunting of wolves.

"It is irresponsible and biologically unsound to allow hunting of wolves when they are not fully recovered as a regional population, and should not have been removed from the endangered species list," the group says.

In all, three wolves were killed on the first day of hunting, Fish and Game says.The man reported as having killed the first wolf in Idaho when the hunting season opened Tuesday is now being harassed because of it.

After word got out that Robert Millage shot a wolf, his personal contact information started showing up on websites such as Craigslist. (Outposts received a comment with this information but refused to publish it.)

Millage told the Lewiston Morning Tribune that people opposed to the hunt starting phoning and e-mailing, angrily calling him names and suggesting his business as a real estate agent will suffer because of what he did.

"People are loons. If they want to call up and have a discussion, I'm all about having a discussion. But they call me a fat redneck and a wolf killer and compare me to Michael Vick," Millage said. "I have a thick skin and a good sense of humor. What am I going to do, yell back at them?"

The Kamiah, Idaho, resident seems to be taking it all in stride, though has alerted his local law enforcement. Though he feels it is OK for people to disagree with wolf hunting, Millage doesn't believe they should be badgering those participating in legal hunting seasons.

"It doesn't seem very American, if something doesn't conform to your ideas and points of view, to threaten them," he said. "I obeyed the law and did what [Idaho] Fish and Game wanted us to do. I can sleep well."

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: Robert Millage with the wolf he shot on opening day of the hunting season. Credit: Associated Press


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outpost ... -vick.html

[mikld]

I read the comments following the article. I saw a bunch of uninformed do gooders condemning this as "murder". Even I, a loooong time city boy know wolves are not house pets and when not controlled do great harm to livestock and game. There was a post on this forum a few weeks ago about wolves killing 120 sheep in one night. Don't the anti-hunters have access to that information? Is that "Bambi" thinking?

[gunslinger598]

Our forefathers wiped out these predators for good reason.

[Griff]

Some folks have a warped priority sequence. They place animal life ahead of human, who they see as an intruder on the natural order of things... yet... whether you like the evolutionary model or the Biblical version, history tells us were are part of this same natural order... plus by either instinct or biblically, we are ordained to be master of our domain.

While I have no desire to see the wolf become extinct... neither is uncontrolled growth of the population a good end.

More good use of the chlorine in the gene pool is necessary.

[pharmseller]

I called Mr. Millage today to congratulate him on a fine animal. I told him not to let the crazies get him down. He thanked me and said he wasn't going to let the anti's bother him.
He's turning the wolf into a full body mount.

P

[TedH]

Good for him! Too bad he must endure the idiocy from the granolas as well.

[Sixgun]

Good The same crybabies who complained are the same type of people who would never make it if society took a downswing to "let the strong survive".

I have a hard time believing that such people even exist---where's the logic???-----------Sixgun

[marlinman93]

Bleeding heart liberals without a care for personal rights, or laws. They could care less if there are 10 million wolves, they'd still scream when one was shot. Wolves in Idaho have made a unbelievable comeback, and they needed to be hunted to control the populations from exploding further.

[3leggedturtle]

These are same people that if fox or racoon kills their cat or yotes and wolves kills their dogs they want the DNR to get rid of them. They think all animals can play nice together:)

[Gaucho Gringo]

The animal rights people would have a different tune to play if they had to spend a couple of days unarmed in the wilderness surrounded by a wolf pack. Maybe I could start a new business: Campouts In The Wilderness With Wolves. The survivors if any might have a complete new tune.