Upper Snake River Trappers of Idaho, Inc.
Trina Johnson Memorial
College/University Scholarship
The Upper Snake River Trappers are pleased to announce that Mr. David Anderson II is the 2009 winner of the USRT Annual Scholarship Award. David recently graduated from Eastern Idaho Technical College (EITC) in Idaho Falls, ID. He was enrolled in the welding program and graduated with an advanced welding certificate. His goal now is to go back to school to get an Associate Degree in welding and then start in the EITC auto and diesel mechanics program. David loves the outdoors and he has a number of hobbies and interests. Some of them include hunting, camping, fishing, trapping, competitive archery and spending time with his family.
What Impact Do The Wolves Have On The Fur Bearing Animals In Idaho?
by David Anderson II
This topic is appealing to me because I am an outdoors man. I made a serious effort to find documented facts for my readers. What I found, as I researched the Web and consulted with the local Fish and Game Office, was that there just isn't a lot of information available to document the impact of wolves on other fur bearers (such as fox, coyote, bobcat, mink, muskrat, beaver, etc.).
I spoke to three Fish and Game officers, who said they were not yet aware of any such documentation because they had just started to manage the wolf populations. I found plenty of information on how wolves impact livestock and elk, but nothing on the other fur bearers. So I went to local trappers I already knew have had experience with wolves. This included myself and the official Idaho State "wolf trapper."
What I found was very interesting. The state wolf trapper, Rick Williamson from Arco, told me he had collared a wolf last fall that was staying in a certain area. When he went to check why it was staying in that area, he found it living on a stretch of beaver ponds and killing the beaver for food. The carcasses and tails were everywhere. "Now I don't know how many beaver that wolf killed," Rick told me, "but it was a lot and it had to have affected the beaver colony in some way." Rick is convinced wolves have an adverse effect on all the other fur bearers.
I also spoke to a trapper from Swan Valley, Idaho who was trapping fox and coyote. He told me about a time last year when he had discovered wolf tracks on his trapping line. That wasn't surprising to him, he said, as he sees wolf tracks all the time. This particular time, however, when he checked his snares, he found he had captured two coyotes the night before. He described how the coyotes had been shredded and wolf tracks were everywhere. This reinforced my own belief that wolves are a very territorial animal. If they will attack and kill coyotes caught in snares, it is probably safe to assume that are also killing them in the wild.
I have also had problems with wolves on my own trap lines. My trapping partner and I were running a pine martin line just last winter. On several occasions, we found wolf tracks in the snow near our trap sets. We soon learned this also meant dead pine martins. Sometimes we would find a pine martin trap half eaten - other times the wolf would have stolen the entire trap completely off the tree, box and all. One time I found my trap set almost a 100 yards away from where I had placed it. A few more finds like this forced me to rethink how to anchor my trap sets to trees. Since then, I have only had on missing pine martin due to wolf activity.
I conclusion, my research shows we really can't document adequately the impact wolves have on the other fur bearers. My own opinion is that they have a significant impact and play a bigger role that most people think, especially in the way the other fur bearers hunt for food. Wolves put major stress on them just by their very presence. I believe that the new hunting season on wolves in Idaho, which allows shooting but does not allow trapping, will help alleviate some of the stress on the other fur bearers, but it won't make a significant difference until actually trapping wolves is permitted. Even if we succeed in reducing the number of wolves, they will still have a major impact on the other fur bearers - and always will.