Phil Davis Wolf Cow 2

As we told you yesterday, Cascade, Idaho cattle rancher Phil Davis has been dealing with wolf depredation to his cow herd for over two decades. In that time he has learned some pretty expensive lessons, and in speaking to a group of cattlemen he advocates for careful record taking. It turns out, it is easy to overlook the fact that a dead cow was a victim of a wolf attack. “I have done it myself. I have ignored the signs and not looked at cattle that have died and assumed that they had died of something else. I will guarantee you that everybody who was in a wolf area in this room has done it and you didn’t know it. You have to get off your horse and get your knife because more often than not these cattle will be intact. When I get my knife out and skin it out, there it is. The trauma on the legs of these cattle that have died from a wolf and you would not know it.” Private thoughts. “We are losing too much livestock and is happening more and more every year, not because there are necessarily more depredations but because more and more operators are learning when they find a dead animal to have Wildlife Services come look and determine if it was killed by a wolf.”