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FeedThe gospel according to Ron Gillett
Here’s my interview with Ron, as published in Audubon.
Best,
Ted
Lionizing Sundles as a martyr for its righteous cause is the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition which distributes bumper stickers that read: "Save Idaho's Wildlife, Kill Wolves." And it offers instruction on how to violate the Endangered Species Act: When you kill a wolf, just claim “self defense.” The coalition is gathering signatures for a ballot initiative to eradicate wolves from the state. “There are three things that protect our liberties here in the West--the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box,” declares coalition director and former hunting outfitter, Ron Gillett, who has done more than anyone to bring wolves to his hometown of Stanley (a place they had traditionally shunned) by feeding elk, which shunned Stanley before he put them on welfare. Gillett reports that the state population of “wuffs,” as he calls them, may be as high as 2,800 (2,150 above Bangs’ estimate).
In May 2006 one of Gillett’s neighbors called the police after he had fetched a rifle, presumably to dispatch a wolf that had killed a runt yearling elk. “If that wuff had taken one step toward me, I would have shot it in a second,” he told me. “Are you pro-wuff? ‘Cause if you are, I don’t want to waste my time with you.” Luckily for the interview, he cut me off before I could answer. “Where you out of?”
“Massachusetts,” I replied.
“You guys have no idea what we’re going through.”
“That’s why I’m talking to you.”
After a lengthy dissertation on “kooks” and “eco-terrorists” delivered in a loud, sustained whine, Gillett got down to wolf biology as he perceives it: “The wuffs follow the elk herds around in the spring and kill the calves as fast as they’re born. They kill all the prey first, then they kill all the other predators--mountain lions, bears, coyotes, bobcats. Anyone who likes wuffs doesn’t like wildlife…. The people in rural Idaho will not let these wuffs kill everything off; it may take civil disobedience. Wasn’t there a thing called the Boston Tea Party in your state? I believe in private property. I believe that the U.S. Constitution is supreme, not the Endangered Species Act. We are small, rural Idaho communities that are trying to survive. And then you put out a land piranha like the Canadian wuff that kills everything. Local businesses that depend on tourism are going busted. Who wants to bring their family up here and camp out and worry about their kids being taken down by a wuff?”
http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=17691&utm_source=newsletter1&utm_medium=email
Posted at 08:13 AM | Permalink
Reader Comments:
The list of people who have had run-ins with Gillette seems to be a long one, and he's currently facing charges for roughing up an older woman who happened to be pro-wolf.
A high altitude perspective on the guy suggests he's borderline in many ways, yet seems able to attract a following anyway.
Is this guy kidding? "Wuffs" are not land piranhas, and they dont kill bears, maybe the occaisional coyote. To say that they harm wildlife is beyond foolish, does he not realize that they once lived there without human intervention, and where a healthy part of the ecosystem? Its people like this that harm the sportsmen community in general. Somebody get this guy a copy of Sand County Almanac.
Thanks. I interviewed Lynne Stone shortly before the alleged assault, and from what she told me I'm not at all surprised hear about it. Here's the link (you might have to paste it into your browser).
Best,
Ted
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005120020
Custer County, Idaho, especially Challis, is a pretty scary place. The politics are waaay far right of Atilla the Hun...and the way they hunt "barh" up there is to bait the critter. That means you get something dead, a large animal thingy, and place it on the edge of a meadder, close to tress. Then ya waits 'til it's all maggity and stinks for miles. After hanging out drinkin' Bud in the saloon you and your pard go take a look and shoot the biggest. It's a never fail way of getin' her done.
Yep. Bear baiting is legal up thaaway. One of the sensible locals tried to introduce laws against it. All she got to show for it was her house broke in to and everything she owned broke up. The cops did nothing. Chewing straw and grinning they simple said to her, "Bahr done it."
She moved away because the good ol' boys told her next time would be worse.