Sunday, May 04, 2008; Posted: 02:09 PM
As a rancher in the Big Hole Valley, she's used to seeing
coyotes and figured this was just another one. But the next day she realized it was a much larger predator.
"I probably walked within 30, 40 feet of him and assumed it was a coyote," Weaver said recently at her home, which sits on a sagebrush plain near the North Fork Big Hole River. "Then I saw the tracks, and it was like a horse in size."
The wolf walked within a football field of the house. Weaver, who grew up in the valley, said it gave her a slight chill to know she'd been so close to a wolf.
It wasn't the only time she,
husband Ray and their son Darrell have had a wolf pass through their family ranch. They said wolf tracks have shown up on several occasions, and they only expect that to happen more often as the population grows.
For ranchers in the Big Hole Valley and throughout southwest Montana, the presence of wolves has become a fact of life. They say although they don't like wolves, which have multiplied and spread out since they were reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in 1995, they're learning to live with the large carnivores.
"They're here, but I hate accepting it," said Carl Lewis, who ranches in the northwest part of the valley, just a few miles from the timber line in the foothills of the Anaconda Range. "It's just another way for our cattle to die."
Harsh winters, heavy snow
Raising cattle in the Big Hole Valley is tough work. The winters are long and harsh, with heavy snow at times and bitter
temperatures. Some ranchers haul their cattle out of the valley in winter and calve in warmer locales. Others keep their cattle in the valley all winter, feeding them hay.
But the broad valley also is renowned for producing
quality summer pasture. Ranchers put up native grasses -- it's too cold to grow alfalfa -- in traditional haystacks, earning the valley the title of "land of 10,000 haystacks."
Ranchers say the wolf is just another part of life to which they've had to adapt. They
strongly opposed the reintroduction, but said now they know the wolves are here to stay.
"We just have to live with them," Darrell Weaver said.
The problem, however, is that as wolf populations continue to expand, the predators will more and more come out of timber on public land and down into the
valley.
That sends them through pastures with cattle around.
"They have nowhere to go -- they have to expand down into this valley," Darrell Weaver said. "I just think this valley is badly set up for a wolf population."
The Weavers had a wolf pass through a herd of cows and calves two years ago. Although the wolf did not attack, Ray Weaver said the cows became nervous and one of the mothers trampled a calf to death.
And the loss of a calf for a ranch with 250 cow-calf pairs hurts, he said.
Darrell Weaver said it's not just the loss of money that hurts ranchers. He said when you go into the cattle business, you have to take caring for your livestock as a responsibility.
"You have a moral obligation to the animals you raise to take care of them," he said.
Ranchers change some practices
The Weavers have changed some of their practices to deal with the presence of wolves. Darrell Weaver said during calving, which they've always done close to the house, they are more vigilant of their cows.
Calving has always required work through the night. But now they take extra steps to ensure the mother cows are OK and they're more attentive to the calves that are already born.
They shine spotlights into the cows every couple hours to check. And they're more on edge, with binoculars and a spotting scope near the window to constantly keep an eye on the cattle. They also, like most ranchers in the area, keep guns in their vehicles so they can shoot a wolf if it's caught in the act of attacking cattle.
"Whenever the cows are bawling, you get up," Darrell Weaver said. "Cows start bawling when a coyote passes through and usually you write that off, but you can't anymore."
Gloria Weaver said just knowing wolves are around and could attack your livelihood adds anxiety.
"Nobody sleeps as well when you think something like that is going on," she said.
Some don't have problems
For some ranchers, the increasing wolf population hasn't affected them much. It all depends on where the ranch is located in the valley, especially if it's close to forest where the wolves tend to hang out.
Cal Erb, whose ranch lies in the valley bottom along the Big Hole River, counts himself among them. He lost a horse to a wolf several years ago, but said that was likely a straggler just passing through.
He said he rarely has problems because his property is so far away from public land and the timber there, where the wolves spend most of their time looking for prey.
"For them to travel all the way down to our place, they wouldn't like it down there because it's just open; there isn't really anyplace for them to hide," he said. "They're causing people a lot of difficulty, but they haven't caused us a lot of problems."
Head west from Erb's ranch, however, and the story is far different.
Rancher Carl Lewis said he sees more than a dozen wolves a year, almost always an individual that isn't traveling with a pack. He's had wolves pass within 100 yards of his house and had a calf attacked two years ago.
The calf survived. But Darrell Weaver, who helps doctor animals throughout the area in neighborly fashion, said its wounds were frightening.
"The crushing force was just incredible to me," he said. "It was just pink foam coming out of that wound."
The attack, coupled with wolf tracks on several occasions within 100 yards of his house, has changed Lewis' attitude. He is constantly on the alert for wolves, with binoculars and a spotting scope handy to scan the landscape.
"I spend two to three hours a day watching my cattle," he said. "When they are around, you spend more time watching your cows."
And all of the ranchers say they make sure they're armed at all times in case they catch a wolf in the act of attacking cattle. Every pickup truck and every tractor has a rifle kept in it, Lewis said.
Nervous about riding colts
The wolves have affected him in other ways.
He's more nervous about riding colts in the timber because they're skittish around wolves, he said. One time he was on horseback when his stead got spooked by a wolf and took off through the timber.
And his herding dogs act more nervous as well, while the cattle become more fearful of the dogs, Lewis said.
He said while wolves may be another hardship to raising cattle in the West, ranchers feel their hands are tied because they still have to catch a wolf in the act of attacking cattle to shoot it.
"You can vaccinate for everything in the cattle, but you can't for this," he said, pausing before adding, "I mean you could, but it's illegal to do it."
What's illegal is shooting a wolf without cause outside of an established hunting season. The large predators were recently taken off of the Endangered Species List and Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials have a fall hunt planned.
But that might be held up if a group of 12 environmental groups succeed in getting an injunction to return wolves to federal protection.
Lewis said if the hunt occurs, he'll definitely have a tag in his pocket.
Wolf killing is justified
Leon Coon was glad he had a rifle handy when he watched a wolf move in on a herd of cattle on the North Fork Ranch several years ago. The manager of the property, which is nestled right against the timber, cracked off a shot at about 100 yards and killed the wolf.
The case was investigated by federal officials, who determined the killing was justified under rules that allow ranchers to kill wolves caught attacking livestock. And in March 2007, they lost a calf to a wolf that was confirmed.
Coon, a big guy with a sun-tanned face, said while those are the two instances that have been confirmed, wolves are often around. That's because the ranch sits right between the home territory of the Mussigbrod and Battlefield packs, both of which have gotten into trouble.
"We see their tracks a lot," he said. "It's just tough because they have all the advantages -- they're always there and they see you long before you see them."
The ranch has a lot of willows in its lush creek bottoms. And while that's provided some shelter for livestock from harsh wind, it's also cover for wolves to hide and stalk their prey.
Like other ranchers, Coon said he knows he'll have to live with wolves. But he too said he doesn't have to like that fact that they were brought back.
"People are out here 24-7 raising these cattle, and it just irritates the heck out of you that they're putting something out there to eat them," he said. "But we don't have much choice."
Reporter Nick Gevock may be reached at nick.gevock@mtstandard.com.
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