Wolves Kill!

Those two words will come as no shock to most of you reading this, but for the campers who nearly lost their lives in Northern Minnesota and Banff National Forest to wolf attacks – the idea of being physically attacked by a wolf was probably the last thing on their minds when they went on their adventures in our wildlands.

In 2013, 16-year-old Noah Graham suffered puncture wounds on his head and face after a wolf attacked him while camping near Lake Winnibigoshish.  The wolf attacked him from behind and had his head in its jaws!

During the attack, young Noah reached behind him and pried his head out of the animal's clenched jaws, saving himself from certain death.  “I won’t be sleeping outside, again, any time soon,” he later said.  “There was no sound at all; didn’t hear it. It was just all of a sudden there.” Now imagine if that was your son or daughter…

And then in August of last year, another family camping in Canada’s Banff National Forest was jarred awake as the walls of their tent were being slashed by an animal.  The animal was a large gray wolf.  It proceeded to attack the family and was in the process of dragging off the father when a good Samaritan intervened and spooked the wolf off.  The wife later described the terrifying ordeal as a “scene right out of a horror movie!”

What do these two horrifying events have in common?

To start, they were the latest examples of a burgeoning wolf population in North America that has grown exponentially in the last decade leading to more man vs. wolf confrontations.

The wolf population has boomed since wolves were added to the federal Endangered Species list in 1975 and later re-introduced into the Northern Great Lake states and across the Western range in the early ’90s.  Wolf populations in the continental United States now total more than 6,000 animals and growing.

For all intents and purposes, the gray wolf is a conservation success story.  50 years of recovery efforts have restored wolf populations to a place where they no longer need to be protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Despite efforts by the Trump administration to remove the wolf from endangered protection, activist judges backed by several well- funded animal rights groups like the Animal Defense Fund have sued the federal government preventing management by the states.

The result of this back and forth battle is a full-on wolf war – and we have reached a crisis point in this predator vs. game vs. man saga and its time to do something about it.

That is why Hunter Nation has partnered with Big Game Forever and several other prominent outdoor groups to launch a national grassroots campaign to return the management of the gray wolf to the states.

Our efforts will include educational town hall events where citizens can learn more about the proliferation of the wolf and what it’s meant for wild herds, livestock, pets and community safety in their individual states.

We will be building a robust coalition of outdoor, sporting, farming, ranching, and pet owner groups to help us fight and win this war. We will also be supporting legislation being forwarded by Senator Mike Lee of Utah and Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin that will help settle this ongoing dispute by prohibiting activist federal judges from intervening in the management of these species once they have reached their population goals and are removed from the Endangered Species list.  We will be activating our Hunter Nation army to put pressure on members of Congress to take action on this critical bill this spring.

As we see it, predator management is a key issue in protecting our outdoor heritage and ensuring that our wild game populations continue to be responsibly managed.  Some will accuse us of wanting to kill all the wolves.  Let me state clearly that nothing could be further from the truth. Hunter Nation and our partners understand that the wolf is an important part of our ecosystem, but if not managed properly they will continue to hunt, kill, and decimate wild game populations throughout their range.

Please stay tuned at HunterNation.org for updates on the wolf project and how you can get engaged in this critical fight in your state and community.

May God continue to bless you, your family, our troops, and the amazing United States of America.
Luke Hilgemann

 

Hunter Nation Team Expanding

We are excited to announce the addition of Cody Heitschmidt to our Hunter Nation team!  Cody will be serving in the role of Director of Special Projects and will be working to build out our Grassroots teams in all of our priority states.  He will also serve as our lead contact on the Wolf Management project.

He is a lifelong hunter and a passionate defender of freedom, having served as a Marine sniper earlier in his career.  Most recently, he helped build several successful start-up companies and has expertise in the fields of technology, sales and marketing, and team dynamics.

Please feel free to reach out to Cody if you are interested in becoming a State Director, District Director or volunteer for Hunter Nation in your state.

 

 

RESPONSIBLE PREDATOR MANAGEMENT

https://player.vimeo.com/video/391002007