Wolves 'Exploring' Area Northwest Of Silver City
	From the April, 2000

By Lisa Parker
Sun-News

Three of the four-member Mule Pack of Mexican gray wolves, having been in the Gila Wilderness barely three weeks, have "explored" their way onto a private ranch about 12 miles northwest of Silver City, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the ranch owner.

The wolves -- the pack's alpha male and two yearling males -- left the pregnant alpha female and were tracked Thursday night to near the center of the Double E Ranch, about 5 miles east of Gila. The Double E consists of 7,000 acres of private land and about 23,000 acres of leased public land, according to owner Deborah Eggleston.

Eggleston said the wolves are apparently moving about her property in a triangle-shaped area between Hells Half Acre, First Valley and Stone Canyon. An approximate 800-acre piece of BLM land sits in that vicinity, surrounded by Double E private land.

Eggleston said Friday, "We were notified last night by Wendy Brown (acting coordinator of the Mexican gray wolf recovery project) that they've tracked the wolves to our property. ... We had an airplane out here all day yesterday just circling," she added, saying at that time they didn't know what the plane was doing.

The wolves were located in an area about 2 1/2 miles from the Eggleston's home, she said, apparently in an area along Bear Creek. Brown asked permission to enter the Double E Ranch in an attempt to locate the wolves using telemetry, and arrived at the ranch Friday morning. Eggleston said Brown was not sure whether the wolves were on Double E private land or the BLM land-island.

Eggleston said, "I told her I want the wolves off my property now and she can do whatever it takes to get them off my property."

The wolves aren't welcome there for "two very specific reasons," she said. "Our cows are calving right now" -- about 250 head -- and "the New Mexico Game and Fish has spent a lot of money trying to salvage bighorn sheep here." She said anywhere up to 40-50 sheep range on her property, and are currently lambing.

According to studies done by the Game and Fish over the last two years, she said, the ewes like to lamb in the same area the wolves are apparently located. The Eggleston's cows are also in that area.

"Now you can't tell me those wolves will continue moving when they've got this prime meal ticket," she said.

According to Eggleston, Brown said if there is an indication the wolves are staying in the area the Service will trap and remove them.

The four members of the Mule Pack were released into a soft-net holding pen in the Chicken Coop-Creel Canyons area of the Gila Wilderness on March 24. The Service said the intent was to hold the wolves in the acclimation pen for up to 30 days. However, within less than 24 hours they had chewed out of the pen, according to Vicki Fox, a Service spokeswoman.

The alpha female is denned near the release area, according to Tom Bauer, assistant regional director of the Service's southern region. To reach the Double E, the three male wolves ranged across 20 miles of Wilderness, and about 4 miles of national forest, private and BLM land.

Bauer said Friday morning, "They are on private land within the (Blue Range Wolf) recovery area. But, he added, "Under the rules that we're operating under wolves cannot be on private land without the permission of the landowner."

Attempts will be made to "haze" the wolves back to the Wilderness, Bauer said.

But, he added, "We've got to expect this kind of thing. That's why we wrote the rules specifically addressing what happens if they move onto private land. ... They're exploring."

Of the wolves' move to the area, he said, "It's my understanding that the habitat that we believe they're in is excellent habitat for wildlife." When questioned about the quality of wildlife habitat in the Chicken Coop-Creel Canyons area, he characterized it also as "excellent."

That's why the wolves were put into the Chicken Coop-Creel Canyon area in the first place, Fox said. "The whole idea of moving the wolves into the Gila was for that purpose -- that there would be more game available and it would be much better habitat" than the Arizona land the wolves inhabited earlier this year.

The Mule Pack was trapped late this winter because of the onset of calving season, and the pack's proximity to a large number of cattle, according to Brown. She said in March that the Mule Pack has never depredated cattle, and was moved strictly to put the wolves into an area with more elk. Elk are estimated to make up about 80 percent of the wild game kills that reintroduced wolves have made. The Game and Fish estimates there are 1,000 elk in the Gila Wilderness; 24,000 to 28,000 elk are estimated to inhabit the Gila National Forest, according to Game and Fish figures.

But Eggleston was not surprised the wolves had showed up so quickly on her land. She said people in the area are against wolf reintroduction, partly because they don't feel there is enough game, including elk, to support the wolves and keep them in the Wilderness.

Larry Lightner, a local outdoor columnist and sportsman, made a similar comment Friday. "Since the wolves are on the move and getting closer to Silver City, this fact seems to support the sportsmen's contention that there is an inadequate prey base to keep the pack in a permanent location."

Fox said the Pipestem Pack was placed in the Wilderness's Halfmoon Park area April 4 and placed in a soft-net pen. She said that pack is still in the pen, and the pregnant alpha female could possibly give birth before they are released.

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