2010 in review Wolves & Cattle

Despite the headlines, cattle losses during the summer grazing season appear to be normal.

Non-lethal efforts to reduce wolf depredations on livestock such as the range rider program were funded by the federal government and conservation groups such as Defenders of Wildlife, Oregon Wild, and local citizens seem to have been succesful in 2010.

This was the summer where private landowners and federal allotment permittees were on heightened alert to protect their cattle from wolf depredation.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed nine calf kills and the USDA Wildlife Service confirmed 11 in a month’s time between May 5 and June 4. All of these depredations occurred on private land in the Wallowa Valley.

Almost as suddenly as the wolf kills started in the valley they stopped for about three months. As many of the county’s cattle were trailed out to higher country the wolves, too, moved uphill for cooler temperatures and, perhaps, to feast on young wildlife like deer and elk.
While there was little evidence of wolf-caused elk and deer kills, perhaps four total according to Oregon Cattlemen’s Association Wolf Chair Rod Childers, there has only been two confirmed calves killed since the late summer.  Many speculate, including Marr Flat rancher Todd Nash, that the steep terrain and heavily forested region makes it nearly impossible to find wolf-killed cattle.

Nash is missing 16 calves so far, but isn’t quite finished gathering his cattle from the forest.  He had one confirmed calf killed May 20 and lost two to illness. The unexplained loss is similar to what he realized in 2009.

The summer of 2010 kept the ranchers who graze along Big Sheep Creek and in the Divide country busier than usual. ODFW kept records of the wolves’ movements through signals received from the collared animals. The agency also encouraged ranchers to pick up old cattle bone piles. Dennis Sheehy got an idea to put bells on the necks of 60 of his 225 cows.  Innovation, increased time out on the range and sleeping with one eye open was not unusual for these producers.

Nash participated in a range rider program funded by the state and federal governments. Late in the summer, Defenders of Wildlife, which is getting out of the compensation business in order to put more money on the ground for non-lethal wolf deterrents, offered to help pay for the range rider through the fall.

Both Jason Cunningham and Dan Warnock, men who have ridden the tough canyon country most of their lives, kept track of the wolves activities as range riders through radio telemetry, scat and paw print sightings, and occasionally a wolf howl in the distance.

Nash said despite the help of the range riders, they didn’t see any wolves to chase off.

“I can’t say I’ve even seen any, except maybe the two I thought were coyotes that killed my calf in May,” Nash said.

Cunningham’s closest encounter with wolves occurred one night when some came into his camp. Warnock discovered a calf killed in September; the only depredation found by either rider in five months of riding through wolf country.

The 620-pound calf Warnock found dead belonged to Denny Johnson who grazes his cattle on his own private land. Iva Lou Johnson said after the depredated calf was found, they moved their cattle to another pasture immediately, about five days earlier than planned.

“There was a lot of wolf activity on our land this summer,” Iva Lou said. “There were tracks everywhere and according to ODFW they traveled across our land every seven days.”

Despite all the activity, neither Denny nor Iva Lou saw any wolves this summer, at least not close up. Surprisingly, the Johnsons didn’t lose any other cattle other than the one confirmed wolf kill.

“They were dancing around us all summer,” Denny said. “We knew we were going to get hit.”

The Johnsons prepared for wolf activity by hiring two riders to help cover their vast range land. Johnson said this was particularly helpful during the hay harvest.

Of the increased riding, Johnson said it doesn’t do a lot of good at 3 or 4 a.m. when the wolves are considered to be the most active.

“We tried to take all the necessary precautions,” Johnson said.

The Johnsons, like many Wallowa County ranchers, use border collies to work their cows. This summer their behavior changed.

The border collies were very active when they came across wolf scent,” Johnson said.  “The hair on the back of their neck would stand up and they would urinate everywhere.”

Johnson said the ranchers have been made to be responsible for potential wolf depredation on cattle.

“It’s easy to make decisions when you don’t have to be responsible for them. It’s a very emotional issue. We work very hard, long winters to save our cows and we have struggled to pay for the land we ranch.”

Dennis and Marcie Sheehy, along with their son-in-law, Levi Herman, increased their time on the range with their 225 cows and their calves.

“We were out there a lot,” Dennis Sheehy said, “but we don’t think it made a difference.”

Marcie and Dennis both said they ran into the range riders often this summer since their cows are on adjacent allotments with Nash’s and sometimes the cattle get mixed together. The Sheehys were in regular contact with the riders and apprised of the wolves’ locations throughout the summer months. Yet they are missing a few cows.

“We are missing two or three cows and two calves,” Marcie said, “and we are hoping when Todd brings his in ours might be with his.”

Dennis said that this summer’s loss was similar to their average. One depredated calf could not be determined a wolf kill, but was found by a Wildlife Service’s agent to have been dined on by a bear.

The Sheehy’s cattle are wintering in the mid valley. When they returned to their winter pasture their daughter, Carrie Herman, said, “Those cows are skittish. They’ve been with the wolves this summer.”

Dennis Sheehy said that the cows did seem sensitive to their working dogs.

“They were not quite normal going through the chute,” Sheehy said of the cows return to the valley.

Like most of the other ranchers who grazed in the Divide country, Sheehy said, “We knew the wolves were there, but no one was seeing them.”

Duwayne Voss, another rancher who grazes cattle on private land in wolf country, did see some wolf pups early in the summer. He grazes on the Divide and the Zumwalt Prairie. Voss said he experienced about a normal amount of loss.

“I was short some calves and found dry cows off and on during the summer,” Voss said.

Like the rest of the producers interviewed, Voss spent a lot more time on the range.

Russ Morgan, ODFW’s wolf coordinator, said it was too early to have an opinion on the wolves’ impact on cattle loss. He is waiting to get statistics from the ranchers to determine whether the non-lethal measures helped and if the losses, so far, are not much different than the 2009 grazing year. 

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