Do You Know What Time It Is? Time For The A2K NFL Pick-Um Game!

It's a really big deal for people who don't live here, rjb.......one of our local restaurant owners has actually received death threats from some idiot who says he lives in Canada. Bottom line: some of our outfitter/guides have had enough of the dramatic loss of elk due to wolf introduction here twenty years ago. Wolf populations have exploded to ten to twenty times the numbers that FWS said would be used as benchmarks, and the resultant loss of game and livestock has had serious negative effects on our local economy. Some businesses are sponsoring a wolf and coyote derby next week to call attention to what has been happening since 1995. However, this is utter sacrilege to the wolf advocates, for whom reality is never part of the issue. Thus, the derby is far more important to folks in California and east of the Rockies than it is to those of us who live here.

The NPR story I heard was pretty balanced I thought. I missed listening to the repeat.
I winched at the description of this planned culling event as a "derby."
For me, a southerner, the image that comes to mind is a bunch of boozed up rednecks with guns cruising around in pickups, shooting and yelling.

Doesn't work that way out here. The country is far too rugged to be cruising in pickups, and wolves are hard enough to find without any yelling. I'll be amazed if they can bag ten, but any dent they can put in the population is a potential benefit. If I can figure out how, I'll see if I can post a picture of Gary Beers and the wolf he shot below North Fork a couple of years ago.

Well, I couldn't, but if you go to www.snopes.com/photos/animals/idwolves.asp and check out the next-to-last picture (among the rest that snopes claims is false) , that picture is of a friend of mine from Salmon who is slightly less than six feet tall, and the picture is not photoshopped. It gives you an idea of just how big these Canadian wolves are, and it's not all that hard to extrapolate how hard they are on elk and livestock.

I'll check on that, Doc.

But we digress from the topic of this thread: Football.

Hell, rjb, this particular thread becomes moot in four days. I think we're allowed to digress at this point.

Digression is my middle name.

Week 17 choices - hulking doubts remain, of course.

Carolina
Green Bay
Tennessee
Pittsburgh
NY Giants
Cincinnati
Indianapolis
NY Jets
Detroit
New England
New Orleans
Denver
San Francisco
San Diego
Seattle
Philadelphia 34-17

Good luck, RM!

No, wait, it's my middle name!

Cowdoc - I looked at the pictures, wow - I see your point.
On the other hand, they're beautiful to me, if dead.
But I still see your point.
On the other hand, they were there first, weren't they?
And so on.

I'll also check out the NPR article. I used to listen to NPR all the time in my car, but not for years now. I remember getting sick of their voices, whether or not I agreed with them. Odd to do that - I'm sure people would get sick of my own voice fast, fast, fast - but I got tired of those presenters at the time.


Meantime, which maladroit team will I end up with, Minnesota (I liked Cordorrelle early on, or the hapless Detroit team?

Actually, osso, those wolves weren't there first. We had a few timber wolves that continued to exist here until the bigger, faster, stronger Canadian Grays were brought in and released in January, 1995. We don't know if our original wolves were killed or interbred, but they were the first things to go. The pro-wolf advocates vehemently deny that the other wolves existed, but they were here. One of the Fish and Wildlife folks told me some years ago that they could have prevented the introduction, but they were never able to find the den we all were convinced existed in North Basin. We had seen an occasional wolf come from there, out either Poison Creek or McDevitt Creek for many years, so we knew they were there. Alas, no one ever found their den, and the project went forward. Sad, but true....now our native wolves are indeed extinct, at the hand of man, but indirectly.

Ah, and yikes!

Carolina
Chicago
Houston
Pittsburgh
Washington
Cincinnati
Indianapolis
Miami
Minnesota
New England
New Orleans
Denver
San Francisco
Kansas City
Philadelphia (38-23)

Good luck Ragman. Thoughts and prayers are with you as you go through the chemo.

Week 17 Picks

Carolina
Chicago
Tennessee
Pittsburgh
NY Giants
Cincinnati
Indianapolis
Miami
Detroit
New England
New Orleans
Denver
San Francisco
Kansas City
Seattle
Philadelphia 33-17

12/29 early:

Carolina
Chicago
Tennessee
Pittsburgh
NY Giants
Cincinnati
Indianapolis
Miami
Minnesota
New England
New Orleans

late:

Denver
Arizona
San Diego
Seattle

night:

Philadelphia(31-24)

Carolina Panthers
Green Bay Packers
Tennessee Titans
Pittsburgh Steelers
Washington Redskins
Cincinnati Bengals
Indianapolis Colts
Miami Dolphins
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
Denver Broncos
Arizona Cardinals
San Diego Chargers
Seattle Seahawks

Dallas Cowboys (24-21)

Good luck, Rags!

Edgar, you neglected to pick the St Louis @ Seattle game.
I see that Aaron Rodgers will evidently start at QB for the Packers vs the Bears.
The problem is the Packers' defense will also start.

Seattle

WEEK #17 Schedule

12/29 early:

Carolina

Chicago

Houston

Pittsburgh

NY Giants

Cincinnati

Indianapolis

Miami

Detroit (yikes - could the choices be less appealing?)

New England

New Orleans

late:

Denver

San Francisco

Kansas City

Seattle

night:

Philadelphia


27 - 17