Hunting Dogs and Wolves
Yet another reason for hunting wolves.
We have done so many stories on wolves and how they have decimated ungulate populations throughout the Northwest. And I know there are both sides to every story but one thing is for sure, if you lost your hunting dog to a wolf, you probably wouldn’t be too much on the forgiving side, would you? So imagine going bird hunting with your favorite dog in wolf country. Could that be risky? Listen to Todd Grimm, state director of USDA Wildlife Services: “We got a call that wolves had killed a dog that was accompanying a band of sheep in the Boise foothills. We went up and examined the carcass of the dog, we were expecting to see a guard dog but found out it was a herding dog, so it was a border collie instead and it was obviously killed by a wolf. You determine that by taking a look at the wounds? Yes. We skinned the animal and looked at the wounds, looked at the subcutaneous hemorrhage associated with the bite marks on the animal and nothing bites down like a wolf, they just crush tissue when they bite. They don’t kill the animal for food, they just kill because… What is your thinking? Why would they go after a border collie? They did not eat this border collie. There are times when they will eat dogs. As far as what their motivation was, it is impossible to say. For the most part, wolves and dogs do not get along too well together. The dogs are almost always on the losing side of that depending upon how many there are. There could be many reasons. One wolf against one guard dog is not a match. Unless the dog is fast, he’s going to die.” So hunters, beware. If you are in wolf country and you’re not keeping a very close eye on your beloved dog, tragedies can happen.
