Another sportsmen’s group offers wolf-culling incentive

PREDATORS — A third sportsmen’s organization has stepped up with incentives that encourage hunters to bag a wolf to help give relief to struggling elk herds before Montana’s wolf hunting season ends in February, according to a story in the Ravalli Republic .

So far, the incentives have not made much of a difference.

Safari Club International’s Western Montana Chapter announced recently it will raffle off the taxidermy of a wolf pelt to successful wolf hunters this year. The prize is worth an estimated $750.

That organization is the third that has offered a prize or a check to hunters bagging a wolf this season. The others are:

• The Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association started the incentives by starting a raffle for a rifle to wolf hunters successful in the southern reaches of the Bitterroot.
• The Montana Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife followed with a photo contest that offered successful wolf hunters $100 and an annual membership for photographs of dead wolves.

All of the groups say the incentives are necessary to encourage hunters to take to the field and learn new techniques needed to bag a wolf.

Read more: http://www.ravallirepublic.com/news/local/article_a27bd780-35b7-11e1-8834-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz1iQajaWmR