Back to timberwolves.

Maybe its buried back a couple pages but Sen Tiffany and Representative Jarchow held a wolf summit in Cumberland on the 15th of this month.

Did anyone go? What was it about? Did the WTA go and represent trappers?

Excuse me if I missed any mention of it. It seems 150 people were there according to published reports

The Wisconsin Outdoor News had a nice article about the event. I didn't see the WTA listed, but that doesn't mean nobody attended.

Lots of talk of working to get a rider through Congress similar to the rider used for Montana and Idaho. It has failed twice in the senate. It has been introduced again and is attached to a current bill.

Looks like we lack interest in wolves. No wonder we don't have a season.

around here, its a vanity play.

Having a season or catching one?

Just a over grown coyote no big deal.

To me this issue should frame up this election this fall for our senate race. You either feel the federal government or the state can do a better job managing the wolves. For a different issue, just change out wolves for the other subject. IMO, there is very little the federal government does well anymore other than spend money, but that is for a different conversation. Now, the wolves are the latest shining example. You know it is bad when even the AR groups are asking for the wolves to be returned to the state to manage, yet we can’t get a rider through the senate because of politics.

I truly wonder what Feingold would say if push came to shove and he was forced to answer the question, “Do you favor returning the management of wolves back to the state in WI?” Guessing he will be in favor, but maybe he would buck the will of the people in the state. Either way, the bigger question is if he is fighting so hard for residents of WI, why didn’t he pressure his sitting democratic colleague to get on board with the rider? She has been missing in action on the issue so isn’t it safe to say he will respond the same way? Continue to play politics while the residents of the state are forced to deal with the ramifications of the issue.

See, the author of that rider to return management of wolves back to the state is up for reelection. Regardless of your like for Johnson’s politics, he has shown a canning ability to get his bills through to the desk of the president for signature(someone from the opposite side of the isle) and why I had so much hope it would get done. Wonder how many of these guys that want to get back to 350 wolves have volunteered or donated to his campaign? Maybe helped get neighbors/friend’s registered to vote on this issue and this race alone? How many have forced Feingold to answer the questions above? Until Feingold can show me that he can quit playing politics and start pressuring his own party to ensure this gets through, the senate race should be a one issue election and one he should lose soundly on. Unfortunately for us, we lack the interest in a season.

Two more bear hounds killed in the town of Winter!

Here is an article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local...olves/90140484/

I see there was a nice article in the WI Outdoor news about a bear hunter having to share his tree stand with a cub that was fleeing wolves.

http://www.wisfarmer.com/story/opinion/2...oblem/94089914/

Finally, WI has two senators going to push to delist wolves and return the management back to the states. I applaud her for coming around on this issue and asking leadership to take this up in the coming weeks.

I hope the rest quickly follow suit and it is a sign of good things to come.

No interest in these updates or do you feel this is not as a big deal as I do?

I'll be more interested when they gain more ground. Whatever happened to the SHARE Act that was going to accomplish this same thing?

Same effort tlguy. The Share Act was the bill in the house. Its companion bill in the Senate was were it was blocked. Only difference is it appears it will clear the Senate this time. Tammy was opposed to this effort but has now reversed course. The rural community voice was pretty loud this last election.

Time to have your voices heard. Call and e-mail your representatives in DC demanding a vote on the bipartisan sportsmen act before the end of the year. I think I might tweet Donald to see if he can provide a little push before he even takes office.

I will be supporting that Sportsman Act. This year deer gun season we had 15 hunters and we only harvested 1 buck. I saw 1 fawn all season and some guys saw nothing. We normally do good hunting but the past 5 yrs has been very poor. We hunt National Forest Land. This year my guys saw a total of 8 different wolf sittings with some sightings having up to 3 wolves in the pack. So much for the deer hunting.

trapper234, lack of interest is maybe why this is not across the final hurdle...

Here was the latest on the effort.

http://www.thewheelerreport.com/wheeler_docs/files/1201tiffany.pdf

http://www.wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=1400&yr=2016

Tammy Baldwin has supported the removal of wolves from the ESL throughout her tenure as senator. In 2011 she coauthored a similar letter urging leaders of USFWS to delist. https://votesmart.org/public-statement/6...st#.WEWjKGczWUk Her position has not waivered since.

I also hope delisting occurs, again.

What took her so long to send the letter? Correct me if I am wrong, but this is not the first attempt. How many times did she need to see her party block it before she realized it would fall on her shoulders?

WI currently has over 10 times as many wolves as were required to classify them as recovered in WI based on our Wolf plan. The number are nearly quadruple the number to delist by that same plan, yet DC refuses to act. Could be wrong, but it looks like it took an election to get her to fight for it both times.

I can't speak to exactly why legislative efforts over the past few years have failed. I suspect it's a complicated answer with a multitude of reasons, but Tammy Baldwin isn't one of them. Not on this issue anyway. Her support of delisting is long standing.

The administrative side of the US government (USFWS) was the group in charge of all previous delistings, and they support it still. The courts, specifically Judge Beryl Howell, is the one who sided with the antis and basically stripped the USFWS from being able to administer their own program. Now we need legislative action that results in passing a new law, one that directs delisting by law and keeps the courts at bay.

I hope all our senators work together and are able to get this done for us. It can't be easy to get anything passed in DC.