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Wolves?

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loneranger

Well-Known Member
Heard on the NEWS last night two wolves were sighted,, in SE Iowa .One sighting in VanBuren County. Said they were expected travelers from the North. Now come on. Wolves coming all the way from Northern Wis or Minn, to VanBuren County! That,,,is hard to swallow.
 
loneranger said:
Heard on the NEWS last night two wolves were sighted,, in SE Iowa .One sighting in VanBuren County. Said they were expected travelers from the North. Now come on. Wolves coming all the way from Northern Wis or Minn, to VanBuren County! That,,,is hard to swallow.
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Wolves have easily traveled from Yellow Stone to the Black Hills. Why is it hard to believe that they wouldn't follow the Mississippi out of Minnesota? Especially when overpopulated, they travel a lot looking for new ground & food. You think CWD is a threat? SSS!!!
 
Mt Lions from the West, moose and black bear from the North have all visited Iowa. A wolf is not that hard to believe.
 
I suppose anything is possible,,but I can understand bear, they are not so wary of humans,,eat garbage or about anything. Mtn lions from the west,,yea I can see that, Colorado, Neb,Kansas,,alot of wide open country out there,,but wolves are a different animal. I also know of people that have dog/wolf crosses for pets. Saw one up near DesMoines. Attacked my dog in fact. Maybe escaped pets? Who knows? Just strange to me. I lived in N.Lower penn of MI. A decent wolf pop was established in the U.P. and once in awhile a stray wolf will come down across the Ice into the lower,,but way up there the sightings are rare. I am not worried about wolves or lions for that matter in SE Iowa. Tiny Ticks Yea,, THEY,, are the number one threat!
 
A little over a year ago, we had a collared female wolf from Wyoming on the North Rim Kaibab NF (north of Grand Canyon). She traveled so fast that the biologists up north lost her signal. MN or WI to Iowa is a day trip for a wolf.
 
Distance is not the question to me. Once you leave the wilds of Nat forests in the north, you travel thru a lot of Suburbia, Cities,,Farms. Why would they keep going all the way to southern Iowa? Also seems like human intervention would happen before making it here. I have not read any details on the matter. Not denying it could never happen. Just strange to me.
 
loneranger said:
Distance is not the question to me. Once you leave the wilds of Nat forests in the north, you travel thru a lot of Suburbia, Cities,,Farms. Why would they keep going all the way to southern Iowa? Also seems like human intervention would happen before making it here. I have not read any details on the matter. Not denying it could never happen. Just strange to me.
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Certainly uncommon but it does happen. More than one tagged or collared wolf has made it into central Indiana. Had to come down through Wisconsin and south of Chicago, but still made it. Think of how many thousands of coyotes go unseen and then think of how easily a single wolf could lay low in the day light and travel/hunt at night. There are no mates and not near the cover so they are not going to set up residency. This is just how mother nature works though. Occasional lone animals migrate looking for new territory. The ones that find good habitat eventually start running into other migrators and set up home. Ones that pick unsuitable areas to migrate to die before establishing a breeding population.
 
loneranger said:
OK,,OK can happen,,but man,,some cunning ,smart animals!
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Exactly. The wolf from Wyoming that ended up in No AZ didn't travel strictly through wilderness areas to get there. Utah has lots of rural communities loaded with ag industry. She had to pass through lots of "other stuff" to get to the Kaibab NF.

Then there's the collared wolf that made it from Wyoming to El Paso, TX...in the grill of a semi. Poor driver had no idea what was happening when law enforcement caught up to him!
 
AZHunter said:
Exactly. The wolf from Wyoming that ended up in No AZ didn't travel strictly through wilderness areas to get there. Utah has lots of rural communities loaded with ag industry. She had to pass through lots of "other stuff" to get to the Kaibab NF.

Then there's the collared wolf that made it from Wyoming to El Paso, TX...in the grill of a semi. Poor driver had no idea what was happening when law enforcement caught up to him!
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Ha! That's the way all wolves should migrate. :D
 
Between wolves, mountain lions, bobcats, cwd, and coyotes and being able to manage predators deer won't stand a chance in 20 years. LOL. We definitely do not need wolves in Iowa with breeding populations.
 
Doubt they will ever reach a breeding pop. On the other hand,,Coyotes are a problem. Had Coyote hunters around my place with their dogs for a week. I have heard growing numbers of them over the past year. Last night sounded like the hunters came up with a fat -0-! Possibly the hunters were just checking out things to steal. I am not far from the ongoing theft investigation!
 
I live in west central WI and we have a pretty substantial wolf population. Its not all big forest around us. They survive well in populated rural areas and don't really have much fear of people. More food for them with the livestock and pets. They adapt just like the coyotes.
 
There was one killed by a train near Marland, a small town in north central Oklahoma, that was a captured and collared in North Dakota. According to Department data the cat headed south soon after it was collared and had traveled pretty much nonstop. The N.D. Dept. never released information about the direction or whereabouts of the cougar until it was killed. I can understand some of their thinking, not wanting to have a crowd following it or trying to kill it, but it would've been nice to know if it was in your backyard or your cow herd

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