I too was shocked by the estimate population of Elk. I don't remember reading that the moose population was zero but that doesn't mean you are wrong. It's time they open up hunting for sure but the biggest problem is that it took this long for RMEF to go after Defenders of Wildlife. Hunters aren't doing near enough to fight back. After all, it's not happening in my state yet!

That Yellowstone Elk population was around 7,000 about 10 years ago and 20,000 about 15 years ago.  What I'm saying is that the wolves hit their carrying capacity in Yellowstone about 10 years ago and are now spreading instead of continuing to hammer the same herd of elk.  A lot of what you'll read will suggest that they'll eat all of the elk out ofan area,  which isn't true.  Moose are much more vulnerable and totally different story.

Anyway, point is that Northern Yellowstone elk herd has been hovering around that number since 5 years after the wolf introduction. 

Unofficially there is at least one pack of wolfs here in Colorado althoe I doubt that the game and fish actually there is one.  There have also been single ones that have come as far as Vail.  Plus as far as Utah there was a wolf killed less than 5 miles from the Utah Idaho border in Idaho so I would be willing to bet that they are also into Utah.  As far as the moose in Yellowstone I don't really remember there being that many to start with but I have been wrong before. 

Just think of the added hunting opertunity there may be in the coming years. 

lets face it in time they will be in every western state in places that never had wolves. I don't see away they could stop it now. even if a state declared they were not going to allow wolves and were committed to killing all of them on sight some liberal judge somewhere would overturn it. I was suprised that we  can even hunt them now

There are legal hunts that have happened in Idaho and Montana and other states will get the opporunity once they submit a plan that is acceptable to the fed's.

The real issue here is the smoke and mirrors surrounding the re-introduction itself.  The wolf was re-intro'd under the pretense that it was experimental and non-essential.  But once the wolf started spreading then these groups started perpetuating the idea that the wolf was critical and must be protected at all costs.  The goal for the re-intro was supposed to be limited to 30 breeding pairs and 300 total wolves when re-intro'd in 1995.  There are now over 1700 wolves in the Yellowstone region and the Def of wildlife believe there should be even more before protection is lifted.  Data was cherry picked by Def of Wildlife to give a picture of healthy elk herds that were not much affected by the wolf.

On a side note the moose populations in Yellowstone were listed at almost zero, not quite zero but still really the same thing.

Here is a link the entire letter.  The wolves are having a major impact on elk herds around the west.

http://www.rmef.org/NR/rdonlyres/B5773431-39F6-4028-8BA6-2AF3EF8E7A31/0/RMEFLtrDefenders410.pdf

you get to see how good of a hunter you really are, when competing with the wolf.

Wolfs in Colorado, they will not spread that far, that’s what everyone was told. What about the one hit on I-70 about 4 yrs ago?

Yes the wolfs are there, I have seen them in Rocky Mtn. National Forest NF, above Gramby (spring 2009). Colorado Game and fish say they are not there, when I asked if I could shoot them, they told me NO.  I said if they don’t excesses then there will be no problem with me shooting them. The Warden in North Park told me point blank: if I find out you shot a wolf; that he would ensure I go to jail. He did not like the questions.

I believe the people in Cody have the right idea - the three SSS = shoot, shovel and shout up.