lol... "Another example that Wooten likes to share with others regarding his unethical and illegal hunting techniques involves a wolf hunt where he illegally chased down the animal with his snowmachine to kill it unfairly" Sarah Palin - August 10, 2005 http://media.adn.com/smedia/2008/07/23/10/palin-email.source.prod_affiliate.7.pdf
I predict this thread will, at final tally, have fewer responses than my FAIL-laden thread about the genetics of political fear.
Semi-related Troopergate hunting story. Also revealed yesterday was that Todd wanted charges brought against Wooten for illegally shooting a moose. It didn't matter that Palin's sister and father were complicit in the event because the sister allowed Wooten to use her hunting license and her father butchered it. When Monegan told Todd that bringing charges against Wooten could result in charges against the sister and father as well, Todd said that didn't want charges brought against them for their involvement in the "crime", only Wooten.
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To clarify: Up until March of 2005 it was illegal to shoot a wolve from a snowmachine. Shooting from a helicopter has never been illegal for predetor control. She supports predetor control just as many Texans support shooting of hogs for the same reason
"Oh, come on you bunch of whining pansies, until you take a load of birdshot in the face from Dick Cheney, you got no right to complain." Harry Whittington
No, she floated the idea of giving people money for turning in wolf paws because even after they had opened up "predator control" of wolves to the public, she wasn't satisfied with the amount of killing. It didn't occurr to her that it's most likely because the wolves have been overly thinned out and now are getting harder and harder to find and she's ignored the research of experts who say it's unnecessary to keep hunting wolves.
Jeez what a crybaby ... who among us hasn't tasered an 11 year old? Personally I find it more challenging from a helicopter than a snowmobile. Rookies.
The method may have been illegal (at the time), but it is hard to stomach an accusation of unethical and unfair hunting practice from someone who publicly advocated virtually the same practice except with a different vehicle.
If you went face to face with a hog you probably wouldn't live to tell about it. Hogs have no natural predetors. I'm not trying to stick up for anybody, just stating what was legal and whats not. I don't know much about Alaskan wildlife and I doubt too many people on this board do either. Shooting by helicopter seems to be the most efficent way to shoot wolves which Alaskans deem to be predetors. Hunting in Alaska is probably a huge revenue stream for the local economy, it makes sense that they would want to keeps wolves from killing potential money making wildlife.
Yeah, but Palin and other Alaskans are ignoring data that shows wolves mostly scavenge, IE eat the big game animals like moose after they already died. So A)they aren't killing the big game animals which makes it unnecesary to kill them and B)they are being hunted to extinction in Alaska.
Well, they're an invasive species, so there would be no natural predators here in North America... but there are animals that would eat them, it's just that most of those predators have been killed off in Texas. I don't want to get into a dissertation on ecosystems, but go look at Yellowstone before and after the introduction of wolves... the ecosystem is much healthier now with stronger ungulates, a sharp decrease in coyotes, and a huge increase in vegetation, particularly in riparian areas, that would have been grazed without some predators roaming around. You can't look at wolves, moose, and caribou by themselves as if there is no relation between them or the larger environment.
But wasn't the motivation there to protect other animals to make them available to hunters (for sport)? Frankly, I don't any moral difference in paying civilians to kill wolves from a helicopter in order to preserve other animals for sportive killing, versus allowing civilians to "illegally" kill wolves from a snowmobile (also for sport).
