“Sis,” a beloved and highly trained hunting dog worth $10,000, was recently hunted and killed by wolves. It took William Greenlee, the owner, over two days to locate the remains of his dog on a hunting trip in the Gold Butte/Weitas Road area of Elk River. Sis was one of four Walker Hounds killed by wolves, Sept. 24 on the same hunting trip.
Valuable dogs killed by wolves near Elk River
By Alannah Allbrett
William “Bill” Greenlee (pictured) of Worley and Joseph Melson were hunting bear Sept. 24 in the Gold Butte and Weitas Road area near Elk River with their four dogs. Three female Walker Hounds and one male were tracked by wolves and killed and eaten about 20 miles from the hunting camp.
One male dog got killed “trying to make it back to the females – he bled to
death,” Greenlee said. His female dog, Sis [see photo], is estimated to have
been worth approximately $10,000. “I have a lot of time and training into those
dogs,” Greenlee said. When asked if he took a shot at the large, black wolf he
saw at the kill site, Greenlee said he didn’t have time to shoot at it. “It got
into the brush before I could get a shot.” When asked if he had a wolf tag he
said, “Not yet, but I’m going to get one.” It took Greenlee two days to find all
the dogs, and their bodies had been eaten by then.
In a typical hunt, Greenlee said, they have two strike dogs riding atop their 4-wheelers and the remaining dogs caged. The dogs are trained not to hunt moose, elk, or deer. They are highly prized and specifically trained hunting dogs used exclusively for bear. When one of the strike dogs scents bear, it is turned loose on the mountain to track. When the dog finds the scent, it begins barking; the other dogs are then turned loose.
When asked if he is endangering his own dogs and what responsibility an owner has in a hunt, Greenlee said that his dogs are fitted with radio collars so they may be tracked. “It is different from the old days because of the greater numbers and type of wolves," he said.
Greenlee, originally from Washington, has been a resident of Idaho since 1992, and has hunted near Elk River since 1994. He reports that he has “treed approximately 15 bear this season, and hasn’t killed one.” “Occasionally, a hunter will take one for meat,” he said, “but mostly he hunts for the sport and takes pictures of treed bear." He said that he doesn’t go out to “kill everything in the woods.”
Greenlee said that the type of wolf, native to Idaho, was the gray wolf weighing between 70 to 80 pounds. The wolf reintroduced to Idaho, according to Greenlee, is a sub-species of the gray wolf, the timber wolf, weighing up to 170 pounds. The wolf Greenlee spotted near the remains of his dogs was a solid black, very large timber wolf.
North American wolves average 80 lbs, the heaviest recorded wolf, killed in the Americas, was shot in Alaska in 1939 weighing in at 175 lbs., but that size is considered rare.
When asked what he would like to see happen with the timber wolf population in Idaho, Greenlee said, “They should have opened up the [hunting] season 10 years ago.” Of the current system, “It’s a joke!” he said. He believes that hunting alone will not solve the problem. “Idaho hunters will not take out the 200 animals allowed, and that two hundred is not enough.” Greenlee said, “The state and federal government have things twisted around. They should go back to the original agreement (between Idaho Fish and Game, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and the environmentalists) which was to have 15 packs, which is approximately 150 wolves.” “In the old days,” Greenlee said, “They used three methods to control wolves: hunting, trapping, and poisoning. I don’t want poison in the woods, but they ought to stick to the original numbers. Fish and Game just wants to sell tags,” Greenlee said.