Gila Wolves

D

diehardhunter

Active Member
Messages
151
I'm looking at putting in for 16a and 16b for elk. I've never hunted in a area with wolves. I am wondering if I should be concerned with them if I am hunting by myself.
 
You shouldn't be too concerned, but as in any wilderness situation, awareness is important. The Gila is a huge area and there aren't that many wolves. I have camped over 50 nights in the Gila in the last 6 years, often in very remote places, and have never seen or heard a wolf. You are probably more likely to be shot by a careless hunter than attacked by wolves.
 
Don't go out at night check.
Stay away from the skinny ones check.
Leave the calls at home check.
Send back the red riding hood check.

Thanks for the laugh guys. Thanks for the info Cory that's what I was looking for.
 
Spent a week there last fall. Saw no sign of wolves whatsoever.
Yotes up the wazoo, but no wolves.
 
I hunted 16A two years ago and have camped there a couple times and have run across one wolf. I wouldn't worry too much about them
 
you gotta figure that for every wolf that is accidentally blasted back to hell there is probably 50 to 100 elk and deer that may be allowed to survive to be hunted by a non liberal taxpaying two legger some day.
 
LAST EDITED ON Mar-21-11 AT 01:22PM (MST)[p]i hate this dam "bring back the wolves" bull $#!t!! our predecessors killed them off for a reason. now them morons dont know what they are doing to our counties wildlife!!

let the good times role
3865wolf+pelts.jpg


sorry for the rampage. had a bad day at school. held that in for a while, it was time for it to come out.

"Better to dwell in the wilderness, Then with a contentious and angry women Proverbs 21:19)
 
I hate to open a can of worms and Ill probably catch hell for saying this but if the wolf population is kept to a realistic number I have no problem with them. Its when the management of them is crap like it is in the northern states they become a problem. By the way I am not a wolf lover.
 
diehard
i respect your opinion just as i expect respect for mine.

on the other hand 16a is a beautiful unit with some awesome wildlife. good luck with your hunts this year

"Better to dwell in the wilderness, Then with a contentious and angry women Proverbs 21:19)
 
>I hate to open a can
>of worms and Ill probably
>catch hell for saying this
>but if the wolf population
>is kept to a realistic
>number I have no problem
>with them. Its when the
>management of them is crap
>like it is in the
>northern states they become a
>problem. By the way I
>am not a wolf lover.
>


As we have seen in the other western states, wolf numbers are not managed by biologists. They are managed by politicians, that are influenced by people that have never lived here.

NM would be no different.

Not to completely change the subject, a complete suit of body armor is the only sure way to protect yourself from a wolf. :)
It is a little heavy and hot, but, it works against mosquitoes also.


"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own." - Unknown
 
Nmelk,
I meant no disrespect, I apologize if I came across that way.

Paul,
I think your dead on with what you said. I think if by some weird chance I draw a tag Ill just hunt like normal. Unless somebody comes out with a camo armor suit I might just have to have one.
 
i realize there was no disrespect intended from your post, i just wanted to let you know i am no political sportsman like some of the other fellas. i have my opinion and you have yours. my opinion stands the same. i don't want anything to do with the wolves. but if there is ever a hunt held for them i will be among the first to buy a tag and kill as many as legally allowed. one of these days the wolves are going to get even more out of control. our ranchers and young hunters will get hit the hardest by this non-sense.

again i am just blowing off some steam. no disrespect intended towards any readers.

good luck on your applications fellas and happy hunting!!

"Better to dwell in the wilderness, Then with a contentious and angry women Proverbs 21:19)
 
I heard one on my last trip. It was a little different than the 500 coyotes we heard every night. The warden and the local rancher said there were at least 2 in the area that they knew about. I think they're supposed be a lot smaller than a northern wolf? So I never really cared if they were there or not. The only thing it made me do was not want to take a shot at a coyote. With my luck I would hit it, and it would turn out to be an endangered rare wolf that PETA was following around and they got me on video shooting it.
 
Sadly, NMPaul is correct, the wolf situation is being managed by judges and politicians who pander to tofu eating subaru drivers who do not live, work or recreate in areas depredated by the sweet little wolfies. I wonder how the wolf fans would feel if I "introduced" a fire ant colony into california every time someone "reintroduced" a wolf next to one of my favorite elk herds. I think wolves are pretty fascinating critters unto themselves, and I enjoy watching them on Nat Geo, just so long as the episode was shot in some exotic location thousands of miles away from my local elk herd or my neighbors cattle.

As a side note, how's that little Diehardhunter II doin'? You got him shootin a bow yet?
 
He's doing good. Its tough to find short enough draw length for a 2 week old though. Im trying to think of a way to convince his mom that a month old is plenty old enough to go turkey hunting.
 
DHH-

I think most of the above comments are outdated. I hunted NM last year and saw more wolves than elk. Wolf kills littered the unit and they surrounded us on several occasions at night as we hiked back to camp. Still scored, but they came into camp and ate my meat and carried off my antlers, which my bull green scored 465. Suggest you pack a Glock 9mm and be ready to use it. The wolves are out of control there.

Good luck and stay thirsty my friend.

WP

"My only regret in life is setting my goals too low"
 
LAST EDITED ON Mar-31-11 AT 09:29PM (MST)[p]The people who claim they have not seen wolves in 16A must have some kind of problem. Maybe they are vertically challenged enough that they can't see over the tall grass???

That country is my most favorite place on earth & I have spent a ton of time in the 16's and in the past 6 or so years I have NEVER made a trip there and NOT seen wolves. I guarantee you that there are WAY more damn wolves in the greater Gila than the idiotic liberals are claiming. They are trying to trick us, scam us, lie to us about the true number of wolves. Our elk herds are doomed just like our northern brothers' elk herds have vanished, ours will too.


"Windage & Elevation Pilgrim, Windage & Elevation"
 
Think I would have fought the wolves with my bare hands if they were hauling off my "465" bull;)
 
I've got a question for everyone here? I live in SE NM and don't get into the Gila very often. A neighbor lady told me that her aunt lives near Pie town and that the folks there have had to build a large cage somewhere near Pie Town so that thier kids can wait for the school bus at the stop without fear of being attacked by wolves. Is there any truth to this? If so, shame on every individual who has had a hand in this reintroduction debacle. Big city folks should concern themselves with the predators walking their own streets and leave country folks to deal with the ones on their lands the way they have been doing for 100's of years. JMO
 
I live near Pie Town and the cages for kids are along the hwy from Reserve up to here. The lobos have been sighted all the way up here.
 
Thanks for the info Hank, my neighbor is a fine rancher lady and I hated to doubt her, but stuff like this is just hard to fanthom. Now, I know it's true! You'll never hear this on the news, but you will surely hear about all the tree hugging, fur saving, self rightous tea toadlers worrying about the welfare of the wolf! Wow, I guess I'm pretty ticked off and I don't even live there! Just can't help, but wonder what part of my TAX Dollars went to support such a bad cause, and no one even had the decency to ask me. When will the insanity stop?
 
^Unfortunately, probably never...if anything it is just going to get worse

What is truly disgusting are the pro-wolf "sportsman's" groups lurking about, and beguiling naive outdoors people into sending them money

The Gila wolves are a race of livestock killers, but as their numbers increase, I'm sure we'll start to see a quite significant impact on our wild ungulates there

Whence the problem will grow exponentially and devastatingly...

its a timebomb...tick-tock, tick-tock
 
LAST EDITED ON Apr-04-11 AT 08:10PM (MST)[p]3 years ago while bowhunting 3rd season in 16 A, I was returning to camp about 30-45 minutes after it was "close your eyes" dark.

Had an itchy feeling keep bugging me, while hoofing it in. About 1/2 a mile out from camp, I started noticing movement just on the outside of my headlamp, not enough to see anything solid right off, but I kept seeing it "flash" in and out of the light.

About 1/4 mile from the camp ( I could see the "glow" of the lanterns ) I hit the brakes ( I was jogging at this point ), made a sharp 90 degree turn towards the movement and had a wolf staring straight back at me, maybe 75 yds.

How do I know it was a wolf? I shoot between 20 - 40 coyotes a year for gas money for the hunting jeep, and I have killed them from 15 - 50+ lbs. This canine was half again bigger than any coyote I have killed. Long lanky legs, big "ruff" around the neck.

I yelled at it, and it backed out of my headlight. I then dropped the hammer and RAN full out to camp, it paralleled me until I hit the edge of camp and all of the coleman lanterns.

Typing this now, the hair on my arms is on end.

I never carried a side arm up until that point while I bow hunted. I never leave camp without one now.

NMYB

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Teach your kids to hunt now, and you won't have to hunt for them later.
 
Dude! NEVER run from a wolf! Face that damned dog and warn it EXACTLY how you will end its miserable life if it decides to push its agenda...keep an eye on it, and calmly make your way to where you need to be

anyway, Glad you're OK!
 
LAST EDITED ON Apr-04-11 AT 08:26PM (MST)[p] I could see camp, nothing was stopping me from getting there, even if I had to drag it chomping on my leg.

I understand fight or flight and canines, I just wanted to get to camp.

If it happened today, who knows how it would have went down... SSS

NMYB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Teach your kids to hunt now, and you won't have to hunt for them later.
 
Super advice for all of us guys, thanks. I bow hunt too, and think that I'll start stuffing a good handgun in my pack from now on. I'll put it on my packing list, it might be well worth the extra weight.
 
a good pistola out in the woods is a good idea anytime!

Lions, Poachers, and Bears, oh My! oh ya, and now frikken wolves!

Dang Varmits! Arrest em if ya can...but if any of em pose a threat, shoot em till they're dead!
 
>Chances of seeing a wolf ?
>1/353,000
>Chances of drawing a 16A tag
>? even worse
>Defiantly a non-issue????????


+1... As a non-resident, I would LOVE to see a wolf in the Gila. That would mean I ACTUALLY DREW A TAG!!!
 

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