Wolves i n 81

NebrCatMan · Jul 4, 2011

Back in the fall of 2009 I hunted unit 81 around grouse mountain and there was not the number of elk there that there was in prior years. My buddy that I was with was there a time or two before and always saw elk. We ran into a group that hunted that area for close to 10 years and always saw lots of elk. But they said the elk were disappearing and they blamed the wolves and grizzly bears. An outfitter said the wolves are running alot of outfitters out of business. We did take a cow and saw a few others but the numbers were down according to everyone we talked to. Is that still the way it is. Would like to come back to Wyoming someday soon, but if the wolves and bears get worse than they were, I will go somewhere else. When we were there we backpacked in several miles in an area where foot or horse traffic allowed only, no vehicles. This was not a wilderness area. Had a very aggressive bear visit us 2 nites in a row and was really close to our tents the second nite and did not want to leave. So we did . Went back to base camp and hunted from there. It snowed and the next nite we heard the wolves howling and tracks were all over next am. Just wondering if it is still that way or did we just hit a bad time?

TOPGUN · Jul 4, 2011

Seeing as you can't hunt the bears or wolves, I don't know how their populations would have decreased to make the hunting any better than what you found it to be in 2009!

wyoarcher · Jul 5, 2011

The only thing that has changed is the two years that the bears and wolves have had to add to the pack or break out and start new packs. Have watched wolves through the winter and spring up here chase the elk around and around. Grizzlies have been around as well. G&F trapped one big problem bear off a ranch about a month ago and transported it around the other side of the mountain to Dubois and I just was told he is back to the two ranches that he was harrassing. They have no fear of man.