JohnA: We noticed we hadn’t seen many deer or elk lately on our property and that our Great Dane was acting nervous when he went out at night. We also hadn’t heard the distinctive call of the coyotes so familiar to us over the years. The answer of course is that we have a small pack of wolves in the forest above the house. We can hear them at night and have found signs of them. It is curious to us because we don’t allow hunting on our property. We like it to be a safe sactuary for all wildlife, including over 60 wild turkeys who roost in our trees at night. This no hunting policy has been met with much dismay by hunters who stop and check out the property, but we don’t believe in hunting just for the sport of it. But, unfortunately, the wolves pay no attention to the ‘No Hunting’ signs and are slowly thinning the wild turkeys. More below

Question: Would you like to live close to a pack of wolves?

Now, I won’t shoot one, unless they are a threat to our domestic animals, but I certainly understand the dislike for them. Like man, they kill for the sport of it, often leaving their prey unconsumed. That’s what irks me the most, I guess, along with the threat to the wildlife we’ve grown used to seeing around the place. It’s a difficult issue, to be sure, and not without controversy, but when you have it thrust onto your property it becomes a little more personal.