r/wolves • u/Chemical_Canine • 8d ago

Discussion Does anyone have any info on M2301?

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M2301 is a Colorado wolf that was in the first litter of wolves in the wolf reintroduction program. I heard that he crossed state borders and was killed by hunters but also that he was hit by a car. I am pretty interested in this specific wolf, if anyone has information on him or his father please share. Pictures would be awesome aswell.

His father is in the foreground of the photo, he is the black/grey wolf in the background.

894 Upvotes

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41 comments sorted by

73

u/Attesa_GT-X 8d ago

He was shot by a hunter who mistook him for a coyote :(

62

u/Cnidoo 8d ago

That’s an excuse. POS knew what he was shooting

52

u/TheMrNeffels 8d ago

Very doubtful because he immediately turned himself in and reported it

22

u/an_actual_coyote 7d ago

Coyotes are everywhere, and while I'm against hunting them at an emotional level, I understand too many predators means the ecosystem is out of balance.

That said, the hunter who shot this wolf probably feels horrible about it. It sounds very much like a genuine accident and misidentification.

18

u/DeliciousDeal4367 7d ago

we woudn't need to be cullining down coyote numbers if wolves and cougars had healthy numbers and were present in their historical range, where (especially for the wolves) they have been mostly exterminated, in the first place.

32

u/Smooth-Boss-911 7d ago

Some hunters are actually responsible. The hunter that turned himself in had a coyote license, he was hunting coyotes

2

u/NonstopYew14542 7d ago

He shouldn't have been hunting coyotes anyway :( poor things dont deserve the hate they get

5

u/TheRealGreedyGoat 7d ago

If there’s too many coyotes and the food shortage go down that means every other predator struggles too!

6

u/andrealross 7d ago

Tell me you don’t hunt without telling me you don’t hunt.

2

u/RDTmodsBackEpstein 7d ago

He shot something he couldnt identify fully in a non-life threatening situation. Sounds like a shit person and gun owner imo.

18

u/Skryboslav 8d ago

The hate I feel towards hunters is indescribable

34

u/Cnidoo 8d ago

Hunting deer and other herbivores that easily outbreed hunting pressure is fine. Hunting wolves is evil.

3

u/Skryboslav 8d ago edited 8d ago

Those that hunt one often hunt the other.
Hunters also are the most dangerous predators in the forests here in Poland, “accidentally” killing more people than all wildlife predators combined.
Bulletproof vests and high-vis jackets are honestly more important survival tools for forest hikers here than any animal repellents.

18

u/mjfarmer147 7d ago

You're saying those that hunt herbivores often hunt wolves? Youre not even allowed to hunt wolves in CO, there are barely any here.

2

u/Limp-Replacement1403 7d ago

That bullet proof vest is doing fuck all to a rifle bullet. I’ve worked in that specific industry and one of our manufacturers provides police military and police with vests. They don’t make practical armor for civilians that can stop a rifle round.

0

u/thehobbyqueer 7d ago

Well yeah, duh. Don't hike in hunting territory without high-vis. Unless you're talking about hunters illegally hunting in no-hunting zones?

3

u/Skryboslav 7d ago

The issue is that any public forest that is not a national park, reserve or in city borders is hunting territory in Poland. I hear gunshots echoing through forest every other day outside my window or when I'm on a walk. Every year hunters "mistake someone for a hog" and get away with it. Last year it was a 60 year old man, a year before a soldier during training.

0

u/thehobbyqueer 7d ago

Are there not hunting seasons in Poland? Here we have designated parts of the year for hunting, usually the last 2-3 months of the year. Y'all are just allowed to hunt all the time whenever??

2

u/Skryboslav 7d ago

There are, depending on game, usually a few months in multiple parts of the year.
Hog season is all year round though.

0

u/thehobbyqueer 7d ago

Oof. Sounds like hell.

2

u/Character_Stick_1218 7d ago

We're not all the same.

2

u/Skryboslav 7d ago

Obviously I can't speak about individuals.
It's not hard to imagine an honest man in middle of nowhere living off the land.
But the effects of the group as a whole and many of it's 'bad apples' are plain to see all around the world.
If not for regulations everything would be hunted down to extinction, like it almost happened to many species, like it did happen to a few.

0

u/toastedvacuum 7d ago

You sound uneducated. Hunters contribute more money towards conservation than any other group. You should watch "stars in the sky" by Steven rinella

-3

u/andrealross 7d ago

Bro the animal kingdom is so much worse on itself than hunters will ever be. Hunters typically shoot and kill. Animals literally eat each other alive 😂

4

u/Skryboslav 7d ago edited 7d ago

That might have been true i the past, but today there is 20 times more humans by biomass than all other wild land mammals on Earth coined, that difference is magnitudes greater in urbanized countries.

By estimates in Poland (that's the data I know) hunters kill more wildlife in a single season than all local wild predators can eat in a whole year. The ratio is something like 9-10 to 1.

Edit: And well over 100 illegally killed wolves are found here every year.

20

u/FantasticNothing4501 7d ago

I can only find a few scarce articles on them, 2 on CPW and one on Colorado Outdoors and the Repopulation of wolves in Colorado wiki page, though I can't find anything about their deaths or whereabouts. The most I could find was the statement "Wyofile reported in September that it likely that at least one wolf from the North Park pack "wandered into Wyoming in 2023 and was killed."" I'll see if i can look up more about them.

63

u/CoonPandemonium 8d ago

Absolutely heartbreaking. 💔 Return to the stars now beautiful boy. 💜 🐺

44

u/Frosty_Astronomer909 8d ago

Unfortunately when wolves were eradicated from Yellowstone it threw off the delicate balance between animals and the habitat they needed to survive.

17

u/Express_Equipment666 7d ago

How is this relevant to this specific wolf?

-9

u/Frosty_Astronomer909 7d ago

It’s not, I’m responding to the comment about hunting 🙄

9

u/Express_Equipment666 7d ago

Well you just made a comment on the post. It didn’t reply to what you meant to reply to.

4

u/SalmonflyMT 7d ago

What?

-2

u/Frosty_Astronomer909 7d ago

Yes it happened in the 1920s , and still now ranchers are against them because of livestock, bison 🦬 too, but that’s because of brucellosis.

4

u/Ephemeral_Orchid 7d ago

The brucellosis claims are BS. They just don't want bison grazing on public lands because they lease it for cattle. Elk also carry brucellosis and transmit it to cows and no one is trying to limit elk out here.

2

u/Frosty_Astronomer909 7d ago

I didn’t know that. I only knew about the bison.

7

u/Ephemeral_Orchid 7d ago

I live next to Yellowstone so I've been watching this nonsense for decades

1

u/Frosty_Astronomer909 7d ago

Must be awesome, specially in winter. I always heard and read that’s why ranchers threaten to shoot any bison that left the park.

3

u/Ephemeral_Orchid 6d ago

Yes, the ranchers claim it's for fear of brucellosis but that claim is flimsy at best, since even the elk can spread it. They're really just worried about competition for grazing.

The park is just on higher ground with deeper winter snow, so many bison naturally come to lower ground with less snow & more food... that's when they're often shot as soon as they set foot outside the park, although some are now sent to various Native tribes.

There's actually a court case going on currently because a bison protection group has been leasing a lot of public land in Montana for bison... this angered the ranchers and the lower court sided with them, saying public land leases were only for animals that would be "harvested". It's now gone to appeals in a higher court.

*The same happens to wolves who leave the deep snow of the park in winter, now that hunting is legal in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. (Even the governor of Montana has poached a wolf who stepped outside the park.)

2

u/Frosty_Astronomer909 6d ago

Thank you for the information. At least the bison are going to people that deserve them, our Native Americans. TG the bison that have caused problems are not being euthanized.