Earth Matters: After big game dwindles, guide switches to wolf tours

Hunting trip operators in Idaho found that people will come from all over the country to go on their wolf-themed eco-tours

April 7, 2000
Web posted at: 1:54 PM EDT (1754 GMT)

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From Correspondent David George

FRANK CHURCH WILDERNESS, Idaho (CNN) -- For 15 years, guide Travis Bullock flew hunting parties to his camp deep in this Idaho mountain wilderness to bag big game such as elk and deer.

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But times have changed -- and so has his clientele.

After wolves were reintroduced to Idaho five years ago, the elk population began to decline. So did the number of hunters seeking out Bullock's expertise.

Some wildlife experts say the elk decrease is just part of nature's cycle, but Bullock and other hunters blame the wolves.

So, in a classic case of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," Bullock decided to make money off the wolves by running eco-tours for wolf lovers.

"We all got to laughing, and we said, 'Boy, wouldn't it be funny if we put a bunch of people out there on the hill and howled like a wolf, and maybe we can get people to come out and look at 'em,'" Bullock said.

And they do come, from all over the country.

However, the chance of actually seeing a wolf on one of these trips is pretty slim.

Tenderfoot tourists are more likely to see evidence that wolves have been nearby.

Tourists on the tours rarely see wolves, but they are more likely to see evidence of them, as shown by this plaster cast of a wolf track

Tourists are shown how to make their own castings of tracks left by wolves who recently devoured an elk they killed just a few hundred yards from camp.

And there is definitely something about hearing a wolf in the wild.

"Oh, it's neat," said tourist Kathy McCollum of Hot Springs, Virginia. "It sort of stops your blood cold right there."

Bullock says eco-trips don't pay as well as hunting trips, but with the elk population in apparent decline, the wolf trips are helping cover his bills.

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Eco-Tour.org
Blue Water Divers and The Salt Raker Inn
Evergaldes Day Safari
Defenders of Wildlife
Wolf Recovery Foundation
Wolf Education and Research Center
American Farm Bureau - Voice of Agriculture

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