Sisters Country rancher seeks compensation for wolf depredation

By Bill Bartlett | The Nugget

Long Hollow Ranch sits on 12,000 acres across two counties. Its main entrance is on Holmes Road in the heart of Sisters Country. The most visible part of the operation is its wedding and event venue but behind the bucolic setting are cows. Hundreds of them. The ranch also sits on an AKWA (Area of Known Wolf Activity).

Long Hollow is claiming the loss of seven cows to wolves beginning in February of 2023 with the most recent loss last year between May and July when two calves went missing. One of the five (four in the Deschutes County claim) on February 28, 2023, was an 800-pound dairy heifer. All the others were in the range of 350 to 600 pounds.

Ashanti Samuels, Long Hollow owner, did not wish to speak on the record.

On July 19, 2022, a new AKWA was designated in the Upper Deschutes wildlife management unit. Since August of 2021, there have been public reports of wolf activity in this area and one wolf was counted in the 2021 annual count. Remote camera photographs of an adult wolf with pups taken in July 2022 established that wolves have become resident in this area, prompting the designation of this AKWA.

In April of last year, six wolves were counted in the Upper Deschutes pack during the winter count. The pack produced at least two pups that survived until the end of the year and was recorded as including a breeding pair. This pack is far south of Sisters Country.