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WOLF NUMBERS IN QUESTION
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 -- 2:51 pm
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
A man who reported a bear-hunting dog was killed by wolves on Sunday says he thinks he knows why there’s been an up-tick in such events.
Jason Tibbett of Humbird and David Murphy of Neillsville were out training their dogs just east of Fairchild. The dogs were performing magnificently, having bayed a bear in less than 10 minutes. That’s when Murphy’s dog, Nelly, a 3 1/2 year old female walker/red tick hound, was killed.
"The one dog of his came running up to him and three wolves were right behind him," Tibbet explains, "so, he kind of waved his hands and hollered and then walked ahead a little further, and the other one lay there dead."
Tibbett’s been bear hunting for 15 years.
He says it’s a way of life for his family; he even takes his two young boys out to the woods with him.
And the dogs are more than just “tools” for hunting.
"They're just more than hunting dogs," he says. "You train them from a pup. You work with them, you spend a lot of time with them. The kids are around them all the time. They're an outside dog that you do everything with."
Now, with three hunting dogs killed by wolves in the last couple weeks here in Clark County, Tibbett has some concerns.
"(There) are more wolves than are counted for," he speculates, "I think that has a lot to do with it. When people start seeing wolves, that means there are a lot more than you see."
"If you see a wolf, they've probably seen you twice."
The DNR has a website that shows areas where dog depredation has occurred. The urge those training bear dogs to exercise great caution if those areas.
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