Help support Joe Fleming

[kenneth Griffiths]

Who thinks that joe should get charged with shooting a wolf. He just may yet.

[kenneth Griffiths]

Not me that's for sure.

[Fred Woodman]

Great question, given what has just happened at Middle Gull Pond, who was to say it wasnt a Husky? 

The wolf he shot certainly looks more like a husky than a coyote....... Certainly too large for a coyote, Huskies, run around 80 lbs.

Certainly makes one stop and think, 

Maybe Joe just luckier than the boys at Middle Gull Pond ?

Had that wolf been Mr Smiths pet Husky "Fluffy", we would be saying the same about Joe as the boys in Middle Gull Pond wouldnt we...?

So because Joe was luckier than the boys at Middle Gull he should get off scott free ?

So now we have Ok'd Husky shooting on the premise " I thought it was a wolf?"

I dont know where I sit on this one.

[Billy Guest]

it was actually in Middle Pond. Which is along the southern shore highway...about 10 mins from the Goulds...

[Jacalynn Furlong]

I don't think Joe should be charged with shooting a wolf or anything at all for that matter, more like give the man a metal, if it weren't for him we would have never known about the wolves in our  woods, if anything we should be giving him a pat on the back. 

[Billy Guest]

But...when it all comes down to it...as has been said before...we, as hunters, are 100% responsible for whatever happens after we pull that trigger!!! If he shot a wolf on a coyote license...He is at fault..whether we agree or not. I have to agree with Fred...same situation, to a certain degree, as what happened in middle pond.

[kenneth Griffiths]

What happend at middle pond got nothing to do with this. The man though he was shooting a large coyote and i am sure that everyone on this site would have done the same. The guys at middle pond never had time to see what they were shooting, just shot. That was there fault for not 100% making sure what they were shooting and the dog was black. So for sure not even close to a coyote. But joe's was as close to a coyote as you can get. So who said that the guy who shot the 65lb coyote at the same store where joe has his, that is not a wolf. How many people heard of a 65 lb coyote??? Now how many have heard of a 82lb coyote?? Get my point?? I will still support Joe..

[Fred Woodman]

dont misunderstand me , I dont doubt for a second that I would have pulled the trigger on that wolf. BUT that dont make it right.

But as hunters we have to be fully aware of what we are saying. Others will use our very views against us.

Question, why is it Ok, to shoot a wolf in Newfoundland on a coyote license.?

Given the hype the poor lowly coyote got and how we have villanized it because its going to eat our dogs and cats and even attack people. Children god knows what else. Lord knows we need to rid ourselves of this nuisance right. I mean we surely need to protect ourselves property and even other other game animals so we can hunt them for ourselves. RIGHT.

Of course, but if all thats true, how can we disagree with SOPAK, after all all they are trying to do is rid us of an animal that will/has done 10,000 % more harm than all the coyotes and all the wolves will do over the next 50 yrs.

Yet as hunters we disagree with removing moose.we even have a petition to save the moose....coyotes yes they will eat our dogs....moose no they are killing people ..see where I am going with this.?

[Edward Smith]

interesting points Fred, a lot to think about. The only problem I see with this discussion, is the fact that Wildlife officials were also convinced that the animal was a coyote (prior to the DNA Result). However, I have to agree that we vilianize the coyote way too much. Great species to hunt, very difficult, making it a real challenge. My View on this dog shooting is two fold: 1) the guys who shot the animal should have ID'ed the target prior to firing; if the target was going to fast to fully ID the animal, it was too fast to shoot! Secondly, The dog owner (and this is going to cause a stirr) was also minimally responsible too. There is a law (wildlife act section 102) states that "dogs must be leashed in areas frequented by wildlife" From April 1-August 15. Having said that I think there is a 99% fault of the hunter and a 1% fault of the dog owner. The greatest responsibility is with the hunter who needed to totally ID the animal he was firing at.

The difference as I see it with Joe, was that he was hunting coyotes when two animals (one a definite coyote & the other we found out was a Wolf) emerged. Both animals looked identical (to the hunter) just one was larger. He spent time to ID the animal and harvested what he & wildlife officials thought was a extremely large coyote. We now, all of sudden have this retrospective view that we could or would have identified it as a wolf from the start. I do not believe that for a minute. So, we all must remember that hind sight is always 20-20!

 

[Fred Woodman]

Agree 100% Ed.

Having said that we are all guilty of having our dogs off leash between May 1 and Aug 31. That dont make it right.

But in any mistaken identity case fault, altho not always criminal, will lay with the person who pulled the trigger.

As for the mistaken moose scenario, the hunter is at fault.He shot a cow on a bull only license. Lots of case law to back it up. I know of a case where hunter went and reported it immediately to wildlife and was later convicted.

[Byron]

Absolutely agree, if you need to go as far as a DNA test to tell it apart from a coyote then why wouldn't you shoot it?  I am sure I would have.  Also agree with identifying what you shoot at, too many people shooting at anything that moves.

[kenneth Griffiths]

Moose are not killing people, people are driving way to fast at night. I was on the highway friday night and you couldn't see a foot in front of you. I had my family in the car with me and i was doing 70k all the way in and cars were passing me like i was stopped. If there was a moose on the road they would hve never seen it. I also see alady driving a car at a high speed on the highway and she did hit a moose and toor the roof of the car. She never died but was in bad shape. So i don't think that it's moose, it's speed and not paying attenion to driving.

On the outter ring road there were 4 car crashes right in front of the sign reduce speed when raining, road may be come slippery. So that never helped either, slow down.

[Billy Guest]

I agree fully Ken!! Our highways are full of speed demons...If I set my cruise in my truck at 105kms for example on an ideal day....Not one vehicle will stay behind me...NOT ONE!!