A circular firing squad was not what I would have ever imagined for the stake holders, the ranchers, other animal producers, and sportsman and hunters groups trying to maneuver their way through the impacts of the Colorado wolf introduction process.

Without retracing the details of the now well-documented fiasco plaguing the reintroduction of wolves to Colorado by a closely contested citizens initiative in 2020, I am a member of the Colorado Cattleman’s Association and producer raising Scottish Highland cattle in northern Larimer County. I was actually shocked to see the CCA leadership and other aligned groups come out against the effort to put a citizens initiative on the 2026 ballot to end the madness. I have “skin” in the game… If I had a mass wolf depredation event similar to what occurred recently on Pitkin County ranches, it would put me out of business, or in jail.

Why do we have such conflict among the many stakeholders about the proposed 2026 ballot initiative to stop the import of wolves into Colorado?

The first thing to do is examine one’s own biases and life experiences and how they effect our assumptions. What is your bias? My basis of opinions come from owning an operating a commercial 150 cow calf operation near Wheatland Wyo., for 15 years, and transitioning now as a small producer of around 15 breeding registered Highland cattle. Before those years learning about cattle, I had a long career as an architect residing in Boulder, Colo. I rarely looked at the weather radar or a wolf map showing the movement of wolves designated in purple patches throughout the state. Wow, how things have changed.

At my ranch in Wyoming, I raised around 135 calves a year. Wolves had not been imported to Wyoming at that time. Enjoying nature’s amazing dance, for 15 years we watched deer, bear, elk, antelope, badgers, all kinds of raptors and birds, a rattlesnake or two… and yes that ranchers dreaded predator, the coyotes. I never killed one, unlike most of my rancher neighbors who likely kept their rapidly growing packs in check for a $50 bounty. Over those years I lost only one calf to coyotes, if I calculated that right, 1 out of 2,205. Coyotes seemed to be happy with stealing the cows afterbirth, rather than taking on a pissed off 1,200 pound Black Angus momma. In that same period, I lost six cows and calves to lightning, three hit by cars on the county road and three to poachers who snuck up at night in a van and slaughtered the mother cow in front of its calf and drove off. At my ranch in Colorado after 10 years of breeding around 100 Highland calves I have not lost any to coyotes, or other predators, unlike my immediate neighbors who have lost many animals. The difference between me and my neighbor is likely due to the long sharp horns of Highland mothers and my livestock guardian dog, Mist, a Great Pyrenees, Anatolian Shepherd cross.

I have no real animus toward wolves yet…

As the purple wave of wolves move closer to my front range ranch, my batting average of zero predator loss will sadly change.

After the first wolves were introduced in Colorado, I was skeptical of the “mitigation” efforts touted by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife and wolf advocates, but willing to give the process time. Recently the Coloradoan reported “ranchers experienced chronic wolf depredation despite using all reasonable non-lethal deterrence measures and removing any attractants capable of luring wolves” which also included the highly touted use of range riders. Ranchers near Walden report that red flags draped on fences called “fladry,” cannons and other methods employed early in the battle are now being ignored by those crafty predators. 

The State Colorado is stone cold broke, the amount of money provided by the state to compensate ranchers for their losses has dried up in the first year of claims, wolf depredations are worse, non-lethal deterrents are not working, four counties in California and other states have employed declarations of “state of emergencies” about extreme cattle depredations and wolves too close to population areas. Seven imported wolves kidnapped from their natural habitat in Oregon and Canada have been euthanized or killed in Colorado.

O.K. people, now is the time to put down the guns pointed at each other at the “wolf corral” and join the effort of “Colorado Advocates for Smart Wolf Policy.” Sign the petition or better yet get a petition from the group and get 40 of your neighbors to join the effort. End the madness. Show the nation at a grass roots level, that Colorado agriculture and those who live it, and support it, aren’t going to allow politician’s imported wolves to destroy our way of life. I’m all in, how about you?

West is the author of “Twenty Miles of Fence; Blueprint of a Cowboy” and was nominated as a 2024 finalist for best Memoir/Biography by the Independent Bookstores of the Western States.