Wolfer: A Memoir

by Carter Niemeyer, Jenny Niemeyer (Editor), Dee Lane (Editor)

His plan was to stay in Iowa, maybe get a job counting ducks, or do a little farming. But events conspired to fling Carter Niemeyer westward and straight into the jaws of wolves. From his early years wrangling ornery federal trappers, eagles and grizzlies, to winning a skinning contest that paved the way for wolf reintroduction in the Northern Rockies, Carter Niemeyer reveals the wild and bumpy ride that turned a trapper - a killer - into a champion of wolves.

Genres: Nonfiction, Wolves, Nature, Memoir, Animals, Biography

374 pages, Paperback

First published December 4, 2010

About the author

​Carter Niemeyer retired in 2006 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service where he was the wolf recovery coordinator for Idaho. As an expert government trapper, he was a key member of the federal wolf reintroduction team in Canada in the mid-1990s. Carter is an Iowa native, but adopted the West as his home in the early 1970s. He has two degrees from Iowa State University and is a Wildlife Society certified biologist. In 2010 he wrote his first memoir, Wolfer. His second collection of stories, Wolf Land, published in March 2016.

Niemeyer has been a trapper, hunter, and wildlife proponent his entire life. Wolves, he believes, add to the outdoor experience, and people who see or hear them should consider the experience thrilling. Wolves do not, as many believe, kill everything in sight, destroy their own food supply, or lick their chops at kids waiting at bus stops. They are simply predators like lions and bears, and anyone who believes otherwise is, well, wrong.

Reviews

[... · Rating 4 out of 5]

Behind the scenes of the wolf reintroduction, told by a guy who can handle a wolf with only his bare hands and a shoelace. I mean, wow!

The title is somewhat misleading. Carter Niemeyer wasn't really a wolfer; he was a trapper, specializing in foxes, coyotes, and smaller critters. And that part of his life takes about half of the book. He got involved with wolves only later in his life, when the objective, at least at first, was to capture live wolves to relocate them. His role in the reintroduction (and damn, what a mess) was huge. But, in the following years, he did kill some wolves and ordered to kill some more when the rules called for it. That was the price for having the wolves back.

I half expected to read yet another account of the wolf reintroduction (there are so many books on that you'd be shocked), but it only takes a small part of the book and does not repeat what's already been told countless times about it. Like I wrote above, it's a behind the scenes look at the whole operation. For the pre-reintroduction part, there's a huge chunk about the wolves that started trickling from Canada and into Montana in the 1980s, along with some more insight into The Ninemile Wolves and their fate. Post-reintroduction, we get a glimpse of the Idaho wolf recovery program. It's all interesting in itself, of course, but Niemeyer is such a great storyteller that I could barely put the book down. I laughed a lot, too.

I can see why he's popular with neither wolf haters nor wolf advocates. Niemeyer is one of the few people who don't demonize nor romanticize wolves. Life ain't only black and white, folks. Wolves are still blamed for all evil and killed just for being wolves, Niemeyer says, and it's time to stop. He believes that wolves are not the problem. People are. We can just leave wildlife alone. It doesn't need to be managed.

[Kurt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Carter Niemeyer has killed a lot of animals. As a long-time trapper with Animal Damage Control (ADC) his job description included trapping and killing many species of animals that were known to cause problems for agricultural interests.

When wolves from Canada started migrating into Montana to fill the ecological void that was created when they were exterminated from the state years before, Carter was assigned to deal with the problem, which was greatly complicated by the fact that wolves were now listed as “endangered” in the lower 48 states – meaning that simply killing them was not an option.

Instead, his job was to, first, ascertain if a wolf really did kill livestock, and if so, to transport the offending animal to a safer location. He found out that although wolves were only occasionally responsible for the livestock losses, the owners of the livestock, along with his co-workers and supervisors at ADC, invariably blamed wolves regardless – and they expected Carter to conform to their ideology and confirm their erroneous biases:

There was a general mindset at ADC that, as government trappers, we should hate whatever killed livestock. But I didn’t hate what I trapped or killed – ever. That kind of thinking never occurred to me … When I trapped an animal, I did it for what I felt was a good reason, not to satisfy an emotion.

I went out and did what I thought was a thorough, honest job, and because of it, I was branded a traitor. Every time I said a wolf didn’t do it, I got my ass chewed by my supervisor. But I was unflagging in my opinion: Wolves might be a nuisance because they were new, but they were not monsters, and I wasn’t letting bureaucrats or congressmen or anyone else change my mind about it. I didn’t understand why others around me refused to acknowledge this truth. The few wolves that had wandered into Montana had nearly undetectable effects on ranching and didn’t seem to be that interested in livestock. I didn’t believe that injecting a sudden, larger population of wolves into America’s Northern Rockies would create any sort of burden for most ranchers, except maybe a psychological one. Having wolves around used to be part of the cost of doing business.

When the federal government moved to re-introduce wolves into Yellowstone National Park and the Central Idaho wilderness, Carter played an instrumental role in that effort. In the process he became an unlikely champion for wolves and for those who wish for them to re-fill their ecological niche. The biggest obstacle in the re-introduction and recovery effort was not dealing with the wolves. It was dealing with the people, mostly with those who were so adamantly (and mostly irrationally) opposed to the presence of any wolves at all:

In the wolf business, there’s no changing people’s minds, so there’s no point in arguing with them or trying to stop them from doing something illegal or just plain stupid. I’ve never known a wolf hater to become a wolf-lover or vice versa. When questioned, few people have neutral feelings about the subject, and those who are tolerant of wolves are usually afraid to express themselves.

All I knew was that, even with the wolf population growing fast, I could count on one hand the number of folks with real wolf trouble. They were quiet and shunned publicity, and they were too busy with ranch life to join anti-wolf groups.

Carter Niemeyer retired after the successful re-introduction effort – after the wolves were removed from the endangered species list and control of the wolf populations was turned over to the individual states. He always tried to focus on what he called the big picture, about what kind of a world we really want to live in and turn over to future generations:

It’s the big picture and – something I’ll say until I take my last breath: Having too many wolves isn’t the problem, nor is having too few. It’s not about the parts, but the whole. We all have to start at what we have in common or nothing can ever get better.

[Adele · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I am too much of a wolf romantic for this to work for me. I spent the first half of the book waiting to get to the wolves, but I knew going in (thanks, Ashes!) that would be the case, so while I was anxious to get to the wolves, I did find this part interesting. But then I got to the wolves and found I was not enjoying Niemeyer's take on them. Niemeyer's total disregard for his ex-wife as a human being who might have thoughts and opinions of her own did not help. DNF

[DeLene Beeland · Rating 4 out of 5]

One element that shined through again and again in this book is Niemeyer’s use of language and anecdote. He has a folksy way of telling stories that I assume is similar to how he talks in real life. This narration brings the reader into his world of rural landscapes and small towns. You feel wrapped up in his life as he is re-telling it to you. Another element that I appreciated was his use of detail. In the author’s note, Niemeyer tells us that he kept copious records and field reports from his career. While he may have written them as CYA documents, they proved to be a goldmine when it came to writing his book. His ability to name places, dates and people and describe scenes brings his anecdotes to life in a vivid sense. You feel like a silent observer, tucked in his back pocket, as he learns to dart and drug his first gray wolves, or when he’s hunched over a dead cow skinning it out at midnight with an angry rancher standing over him with a light. If there is one thing you will take away from reading Wolfer: A Memoir, it’s that Niemeyer is a genuinely funny guy who did some improbably dirty work over his lifetime. A strong dose of good humor was likely a pre-requisite for his career of restoring gray wolves to the lower-48 states. His new memoir gives an unprecedented look not only into the life and work of a modern-day government trapper, but also into the behind-the-scenes activities that made recovery of gray wolves possible in the first place.

A full, in-depth review is on my blog.

[Jenny Niemeyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was the editor for Wolfer by Carter NIemeyer.

Carter has been in the wolf business a long time - longer than anyone in the West. It's a weird thing, the relationship between wolves and people, but Carter seemed to have a knack for bridging the gap between those who can't quit fighting over this iconic animal. His stories were so crazy that they had to be true. So many people told him, "hey, you ought to write about that," that he started taking them seriously. In 2007 I sat him down and told him to forget writing, just type. Dump it all out on paper. Three years and a thousand two-sided pages later, we had a really fat first draft, and eventually whittled it down to digestible size.

What happened to the other stories? Stay tuned for book two....

Jenny Niemeyer


www.carterniemeyer.com

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter is the reason I even read this book -- she met Mr. Niemeyer as part of her National History Day project on the wolf controversy here in Idaho. So after that meeting I was very intrigued by his line of work and this memoir did not disappoint. Such a great way to read and learn about the big mess that's been made out of one of the most misunderstood and villified animals we humans have encountered. If only our elected officials and federal and state agencies could adopt the same pragmatic, thorough approach Mr. Niemeyer did about wolves....

[Robin Mullet · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Caveat: Carter Niemeyer is a friend.) All of us who know Carter have been waiting for this book. It is written in a voice that is uniquely this man. I liked the technique of the "Unchapters"- just separating parts of the book by photographs. Carter not only tells some of the inside story on wolf reintroduction and recovery, but issues an honest, hard look at the USDA's Wildlife Services, and the atmosphere within that organization. It won't make him more popular with some folks, but the taxpayers of this country should thank him for revealing some of the waste and poor management of that agency. What disappointed me about the book is that I know there are a lot more interesting (and funny) stories that weren't included! I will warn those who love animals that some of the passages may be difficult to read, but Carter gives an honest picture of predator control in the Northern Rockies. Read it.

[Heather Spitzberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than one side of wolf issues

A necessary read for this seeking to understand more than one side of the wolf issues in the American West.

[Sangay Glass · Rating 5 out of 5]

I worked in domestic-bred wolf rescue, so I’ve had this book on my shelf for years—and I’m sorry I didn’t read it sooner.

It’s packed with valuable insights, wrapped in a well-written and engaging memoir. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in wolf/rancher dynamics or wolf conservation from a fresh and honest perspective.

The author does a beautiful job presenting both sides, without preaching or ranting—even though he clearly faced his share of harassment. This book was a major influence on my current WIP. Whether you love wolves or hate them, don’t miss this one.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars -- What happens when a government trapper decides he doesn’t want to kill wolves, but rather conserve them?

Carter Niemeyer is, first and foremost, a trapper. He has been hunting and trapping since childhood, and the first half of this book is a log of his many wilderness adventures, most of which involve killing large numbers of animals.

I found myself having to take periodic breaks from all the killing and read some much lighter fare, which isn’t something I commonly do. At the same time, it’s important to fully understand and activity if we are to oppose it, and I found I learned quite a bit about trapping and trappers from the author’s personable tone.

Although most of the killing in this book happened anywhere from thirty to fifty years ago, I couldn’t help but ponder all of the little lives lost. Niemeyer had some better arguments than most for recreationally killing animals—for example, the sale of pelts from the hundreds of foxes he killed funded his daughter’s medical care—but there’s still a lot of tragedy here. When an animal is trapped, shot, or poisoned, it not only denies that individual animal a chance to live another day, it also takes food from the mouths of meat-eating animals who could have relied on that animal to survive, or, if s/he was successful in escaping predation, the nutrients his/her carcass could have provided other organisms after death.

Many animal advocates mistakenly believe that those whose hobbies or professions hinge on killing animals, must hate animals. Consumptive users of animals often feel admiration, fascination, and even a sort of affection for the qualities they see in the animals they kill. The trapper admires the cunning and beauty of the fox. The hunter speaks of the majesty of the bull elk. The cockfighter is thrilled by the rooster’s bravery in the fighting pit. And so on. In many cases, these people know a great deal about the ways and habits of animals that those not involved in such activities do not. However, while the animal advocate looks into the eyes of another being and sees a someone there, a subject-of-a-life, the animal user’s feelings stop long before that. Niemeyer writes:

But I didn’t hate what I trapped or killed – ever. That kind of thinking never occurred to me. … When I trapped an animal, I did it for what I felt was a good reason, not to satisfy an emotion. To me, it was like picking corn or chopping hay.

This boils down the animal protection vs. animal use debate down to its barest elements, and those on both sides of the debate are wise to understand the other’s way of looking at the natural world.

So we’ve established that liking animals or enjoying their traits doesn’t rule out hurting and killing them for many people. Nor is pet keeping, a normal predicator of increased sympathy toward animals, a sure thing in fostering compassion. Niemeyer had many pets, including animals of the species he went out and killed every day, including animals his own activities had orphaned. His daughter frolicked with orphaned coyote pups he brought home. A rare “soft” story featured the family bottle feeding and raising an infant porcupine. Niemeyer grew up on a farm, and his view of pets was the traditional rural point of view at the time—animals lived until they died. Farm animals could be cuddled and named, but one day they would be killed for the stew pot, and then they would be replaced. Once again, “it’s like picking corn or chopping hay”—a being one person may know as an individual is of no more consequence than any other resource to his neighbor.

Because Niemeyer was such a successful and well-respected trapper, it is perhaps natural that he’d go to work for the US Government’s Animal Damage Control program. While giving lip service to finding “solutions” for “living with wildlife,” ADC (now called Wildlife Services) essentially exists to kill a buttload of wild animals on behalf of the ranching industry. The author discovered early on that ADC’s reliance upon the shotgun solution for everything was not always the best course of action. Early on, the author took on a case involving golden eagles preying upon young lambs. The research he did showed ADC’s original plan, killing the golden eagles, was flawed. As a result, both eagles and lambs were spared.

The ADC’s plan on that most hated of small predators, the coyote, was also rife with problems. Writes Niemeyer:

To Animal Damage Control, aerial hunting and the concept of preventative control meant killing every coyote in sight, no matter how far from livestock it was. Killing from the air had been gaining popularity over the more difficult and time-consuming task of trapping.

And while the author obviously does not have a problem with lethal control of animals who are causing actual damage to ranchers, he saw time and time again that the scorched earth tactic not only didn’t work, it often didn’t even remove the “right” animals.

Which brings us to the most controversial animal of all: the wolf. Niemeyer was thrilled to be chosen to live-capture wolves from Canada when the US Fish & Wildlife Service voted to reintroduce them to Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s. However, his employers at ADV weren’t at all happy about that. The author was branded a “wolf lover,” an “extremist,” a “traitor to ranchers.” Even when he reluctantly trained his crosshairs on a wolf sentenced to die for killing livestock, the mistrust and false rumors continued. One wonders how Niemeyer managed to do his job each day without going bonkers.

The author makes it clear: Most ranchers don’t hate wolves. They get as much a thrill as anyone else to spot one of these rare predators in the wild. They just don’t want to lose their livestock. Something to keep in mind when you hear anti-wolf forces trying to frame the debate, claiming they speak for all farmers.

So do wolves kill livestock? Yes, occasionally, they do. However, are they mindless slaughtering machines, putting ranchers out of business left and right? Absolutely not, asserts Niemeyer, and he should know:

Between 1987 and 2000, I skinned every animal in Montana that wolves were accused of killing. After a while, I wondered about the competence of my supervisors, who parroted ranchers no matter how outlandish the story…

He continues:

I can understand missing a calf or two. Wolves can be blamed for it. But when large numbers of cattle or sheep go missing on the range, it isn’t as wolf problem; it’s poor livestock management. … It is a fact that wolves kill so few livestock that the predators barely register on the pie chart of the US Department of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Statistics Service. It’s respiratory and digestive diseases, birthing problems, old age, poisonous plants and weather that cause most livestock deaths, although coyotes can be hell on sheep. … I don’t know anyone in the ranching business who went out of business specifically because of wolves.

It’s probably safe to say that free roaming dogs –yes, old Fido—pose more of a clear and present danger to livestock than do wolves. Nevertheless, there was tremendous pressure for Niemeyer to lie and affirm that wolves had indeed killed the animal, even when they clearly had not.

[M]y agency didn’t want me going the extra mile for a bunch of wolf-lovers, even when it meant that a rancher might not get paid.

By the way, it was around this time that the group Defenders of Wildlife came up with one of the most ingenious plans for repairing bridges between environmentalists and ranchers—paying ranchers the market value of livestock confirmed lost to wolves. I’ve always thought this was a great plan that should be expanded to include animals such as bears and mountain lions.

After reading this book and thinking about the reintroduction of wolves and all of the suffering it has resulted in for the very species it was supposed to be helping, I’ve concluded that yes, PETA did have it right, as they occasionally do. Wolves should have never been captured and transported to the United States. Some wolves were already naturally migrating down from Canada, and if this was allowed to continue quietly happening, the tremendous uproar and illegal kills and sport hunting seasons and all the rest might have never happened. Yes, I realize wolves have helped the environment in wide-reaching and unforeseen ways, aiding the survival of everything from beavers to aspen trees. But is it worth all of the wolves’ blood shed?

In conclusion, this is not an easy book for animal lovers, meaning those who believe animals have inherent worth and individuality, to read. However, at the same time, I do see how all the killing talk is necessary to bring consumptive users into the fold. The fate of wolves is held in the hands of the hunters and the trappers and the ranchers and the government agents. It is them, not the animal advocates already on the wolf’s side, who the author is speaking to.

[Leah B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who is passionate about wolf conservation. Wolf conservation is messy and deeply political, and there is no way to better understand the nuances of reintroduction than through Carter’s memoir. You would hope that reintroducing a keystone species to the wild lands they once roamed would be an accomplishment widely celebrated - but that’s not the way our world works and I deeply appreciate how Wolfer outlined the red tape of the reintroduction program and gov agencies.

The journey of wolf conservation has and continues to be an arduous road, and it’s those like Carter we have to thank as they embrace the difficult discussions and choices that need to be made to move forward. Knowing where Carter began to where he is now makes this journey all the more powerful. It is empathy and willful understanding that made the reintroduction effort successful. In my book, Carter Niemeyer is a hero for wolves and our wild spaces.

[Natalie Heyward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carter Niemeyer writes a fantastic memoir on his life and career as a biologist and wildlife manager. This book highlights the complicated politics and morals surrounding wildlife management, specifically apex predators. Niemeyer really “walked the walk” and respected and engaged all sides of these complicated issues. I 100% recommend this read to anyone who is interested in wolves or the politics of conservation in the face of the livestock industry.

[Gretchen Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is good if you want to read why wolves need to be allowed back into the wildlife ecology. Informative. Unfortunately, the author is extremely unpleasant and hates being questioned on some facts. I was very disappointed to find that out as I truly love our wolves. This book is great on wolves; just dont get too excited about the author.

[Ann Samford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed listening to this book. The narrator had a beautiful voice and I just imagine the author living this authentic life of a cowboy spending a career working with farmers and wolves. The book helps clarify what’s going on in the west with the introduction of wolves. The story is a first person matrix i’ve of the authors life…

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've lived in my neighborhood for about fifteen years, and have spent plenty of time getting to know my neighbors over the back fence, at weddings and barbecues, but I must say it's quite different getting to know a neighbor by reading their memoir. I've known Carter for a number of years, but his job kept him traveling quite often, and I just got a chance a couple of weeks ago to have a long conversation with him, during the course of which he was kind enough to give me a copy of his book, Wolfer, a winner of the Independent Publishers Book Award, which it richly deserves.

Carter has spent the better part of five decades, since he was shown by his father how to trap gophers when he was nine years old, in the business of Animal Damage Control. He put in many long hours studying the habits of all the creatures he pursued, so as to be more effective catching them, and this book has lots of great tidbits about animal - especially predator - behavior. The Hancock County Courthouse, where he grew up in Iowa, paid a bounty on all gopher feet turned in. He says, "...I dumped the feet onto the counter and a white-haired lady took a pencil from behind her ear and sorted them into groups...Nobody was grossed out and nobody scrubbed off the counter when we were done." Simpler times.

Eventually, he graduated to bigger game, and pretty much financed his bachelor's degree in Wildlife Biology by selling fox furs. He went on to work on a master's degree, working as a lab instructor, taking undergraduates on field trips to "look at habitat features, identify birds and animals in the wild, and recognize their presence from tracks, scats and vocalizations" - all skills with which he was intimately familiar. While trapping skunks for his thesis study on rabies, he started out buying sardines and tuna to bait his traps, but soon lucked onto the Kentucky Fried Chicken dumpster, where he found plenty of material for his 30 traps. When the customers were grossed out by him picking through the trash for food, the manager began meeting him at the back door with boxes of leftovers, instead - which not only baited his traps but often fed him and his assistants.

The list of animals Carter has trapped in his lifetime is rather amazing, including skunks, foxes, coyotes, golden eagles, bobcats, racoons, and many more I've probably already lost track of. Eventually he would move on to the most controversial creatures of all, wolves. Our federal government for many years now has footed the bill for trappers to remove predators that threaten ranchers' livestock, using any means that comes to hand, including traps, poison, shooting from helicopters and small planes.

If you've ever believed your goverment representatives when they've described a program as temporary, or claimed that a tax would expire, I have the following quote from Carter's book for you to consider:
"Most of the rancher who came west to run cattle and sheep supported a heavy-handed predator control program courtesy of the federal government. When the profit margins on sheep plunged and may of those ranchers switched to cattle, they retained their attitudes about predators, insisting that the killing program continue. Coyotes, the predator that does the most damage to the sheep industry, can't do much damage to a calf that isn't small, weak or sick. Full-grown cattle are just too big for them. But the government spends millions of dollars a year killing coyotes anyway because it's what's always been done. It's still true today."

Another quick hit about sheep I liked, "...wolves and coyotes were doing a lot more cleaning up than killing - when it came to cattle, anyway. Sheep were a different story. Everything was waiting to kill one of those." Poor, pitiful, stupid sheep.

Carter worked for a number of years for the government in Montana, dealing with packs of wolves that had migrated over the Canadian border into the area around Glacier National Park, and that were accused (often wrongly) of killing livestock. Most of the time the wolves were trapped and relocated, though sometimes the repeat offenders had to be killed to stop their predations.

In the mid 70s, however, the Endangered Species Act was passed, and change was about to come upon the West. The act mandated that the federal government had to create a plan for restoring species that were endangered in the U.S., such as wolves, to their old habitats. While a small majority of the public had a live-and-let-live attitude about wolves and their reintroduction, the extremists on both sides of the debate raised their voices the loudest. Carter had a unique front row seat throughout the process, and describes events in a wry, understated manner.

I used to live in Northern Idaho, and some of Carter's descriptions of the old ranchers really took me back. He's nailed them - spot on!

If you live in the Northwest, and have only heard what the newspapers were willing to publish about the controversy over wolf reintroduction, you really ought to pick up a copy of this book. The stories contained within its pages are mostly amusing, sometimes disgusting, and occasionally maddening. It's not my usual cup of tea, but I loved it. It may appear in some Christmas stockings this year.

[Steve Voiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clear memoir about a skilled trapper who assesses his opinions about the role and value of predators and their role in the ecosystem of wildlife in America.

[Rochelle Wanner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read for the genre. Easy read.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have heard of Carter Niemeyer whenever wolves come up for many years, and this year had the chance to hear him speak in person, as well as in a great interview on NPR. I have great respect for him, and the role he played in wolf management and reintroduction, so I was very interested to read this book. That said, I found it a tough read in places. This is informative, and tells a hard truth about the internal politics and sometimes screw ups that were at play in the agencies he worked for over the years. Although I admire the author and enjoyed the book overall, the reason I found it difficult to read is that I have some fundamental differences in philosophy and world view from the author. As a kid and an adult he enjoyed trapping. Although I recognize that many hunters still engage in trapping, I can't personally understand how anyone can both appreciate and like wildlife and yet kill animals via trapping, which causes so much stress for the animals. The details on trapping and skinning in the book are hard for an animal lover - I'm not judging, I'm just saying if you don't come from a perspective where a lot of animal killing is acceptable, even if done "properly," this is a bit of a tough read. I am glad I made the effort, and I do recommend it. I think the author was uniquely positioned to play the role he did because at heart, essentially, he does share more with hunters and trappers who kill coyotes and foxes and other animals perceived to be nuisances than he does with "conservationists." At the same time, however, instead of being close minded and "us vs. them," he listened to wildlife advocates and tried to be fair, which caused him in some cases to take the side of an animal (usually wolves) wrongly accused. The fact based vs. opinion based approach to doing a job that has a lot of political heat on it is a tough one to take - and the admiration Carter has from many sides is a testament to how well he did his job. I will likely never understand his fascination with taxidermy, why he found hunting or trapping thrilling, or how he can take the lives of animals he can also - I think genuinely - respect. But I can easily understand that he had a very tough job to do and that he did it well, and without him, animal welfare would fare worse. I also think he continues to call out government foolishness and bad policy (he has a blog and a FB page with current commentary) and this book helped me understand why he sees the issues the way he does. It is honest, insightful writing. I recommend this to anyone interested in the wolf issue - from either side. He is not a "wolf lover" - he's a fact lover who respects wolves but doesn't have an issue with killing them in certain circumstances. This is a bit of an enigma in some respects but the book did a great job of laying it out as best he could. Fascinating.

[Pamela Okano · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read book for anyone interested in wolves or endangered, threatened, or otherwise vulnerable predators. The author is a wildlife biologist, but he's not your usual wildlife biologist--he started his career as fur trapper. Through a long career, he was involved in most, if not all, of the major wolf reintroductions in the West. Originally part of the federal govt's wildlife control agency, he eventually went on to USF&W, which emphasized conservation more than killing. That said, under federal law, wolves that kill too many livestock must be killed. The book details the trials and tribulations of federal bureaucracy (some federal employees hated wolves), having to deal with the unreasoned hate many ranchers have for wolves, and the sometimes ignorant fanaticism of the pro-wolf faction, all of which sometimes precluded a reasoned dialogue on how to best deal with the issues. Yet, at his retirement party, Niemeyer seems to have earned the respect of most of the varied factions he'd had to deal with. I've read Douglas Smith's wolves book as well and if Smith's work hasn't yet been proved wrong, it appears that healthy wolves generally prefer to hunt wild animals rather than livestock. But some ranchers will insist that wolves have killed their stock, even when a necropsy proves it was disease or some other predator. Of course, some wolves do kill livestock, often on leased federal lands. The whys and the wherefores of leasing federal land to ranchers is beyond the scope of this highly readable memoir.

[Steven Howes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wolf reintroductions back into the continental US was, and still is, an extremely controversial issue, especially in the states where they initially occurred (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming). Such introductions were the basis for Nicholas Evans's novel, "The Loop" which is one of the best books I have read. This book is a detailed description of actual events that took place during wolf reintroduction as experienced by the author while employed by USDA Animal Damage Control and US Fish and Wildlife Service. If you ever read the adds in old magazines and comic books for the North American School of Conservation and how to become a government hunter, trapper, Forester, or Game Warden, Carter Niemeyer is a guy who got to live the dream (although he did it by earning two degrees in wildlife management from Iowa State University and a lot of hard work). I enjoyed this book because after having worked for the US Forest Service for nearly 35 years, I could relate to the author's frustrations when faced with poorly thought out agency policies, government waste, agency turf wars, and just plain stubborness by people on both sides of an issue. No matter what your personal thoughts are about wolf reintroductions, I think you will come away with an idea just how extraordinary these animals are after reading this book even though they can cause problems in some areas.

[Francis Opila · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author grew up in Iowa where he really enjoyed trapping animals. Then he got a job in Montana for Animal Damage Control (later renamed to Wildlife Services), an agency in USDA, that was supposed to deal with predators that allegedly killed livestock. Early in the book there's a picture of Niemeyer with scores of pelts from the coyotes that he killed. He later represented Animal Damage Control when wolves were making there way from Canada into the states, sometime before the reintroduction. He presents a very balanced viewpoint of the wolf situation in the states, illuminating the hysteria on both sides of the issue - no one is neutral on this. He was very adept at skinning dead livestock and determining the cause of death. Turns out that many of the claims that ranchers had for wolves killing their livestock were not true - the sheep/cattle often died of other causes, but wolves happened to be in the area. A very interesting read. Lots of humorous anecdotes.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit, I was slightly disappointed with this book. As an avid wolf fan and being excited to read about the exploits of a federal trapper who was 'pro-wolf', the amount of detail covering the politics outweighs the actual re-introduction and conservation of these beautiful animals. Don't get me wrong, I realise that the politics is important to the story, and needs to be there, but I feel personally that words are wasted on the rigmarole going on in the offices of the big-wigs, rather than painting a picture of the important work that Niemeyer and his colleagues worked so hard to do. Otherwise an enjoyable and ultimately interesting, if slow in places, read.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book incredibly informative and indicative of the current wolfmania. I read it because NE OR is presently "dealing" with several packs of wolves that have migrated from Idaho, but anyone who has an interest in wolves, ecology, ranching, or just land use rights in general would get a new perspective from this book. Niemeyer is one of a kind - he has truly "been there" for the whole of wolf reintroduction in the Western United States. It's not a book written for the sake of beautiful writing, keep this in mind, but a highly important book none the less.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book that really describes the history of wolves in the US during the 1980s and 1990s through reintroduction. I liked how blunt Carter Niemeyer is, though the writing is not very refined. His personal reflections on wolves and the ethical problems associated with predators is very informative. I learned quite a bit about predator control programs in Montana and strongly recommend this book if you want to understand how predators are treated in the US.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a great deal, learned a lot about wolves and people, laughed more than a few times and shook my head with recognition of bureaucratic BS that Carter lived with and fought through. While I don't know Carter I do know others who had careers with public land management agencies who always maintained high principles and who could deliver bad news as well as good. I have high respect for the Carters of the world.

[Woody · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating, insightful perspective on wolf management issues written by a trapper turned conservationist. Niemeyer devoted 32 years to hands-on predator management in Montana and Idaho. He spent much of his career in the vortex of the wolf reintroduction controversy. In fact, he caught and transferred most of the wolves that were re-introduced to Yellowstone National Park. Anyone who wants to gain a better understanding wolf issues should read this book.

[Trustno1k · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this memoir. I decided to read it after reading Shadow Mountain. I have a fasination with wolves. If you like or dislike wolves, this is must read because it really gives you a true education of just how much wolves have impacted our ecosystem...past and present. Is the wolf an animial we can live without? You be the judge after reading this book!

[Barbara]

I can't believe I actually enjoyed reading a book by a guy who loved to "plonk" prairie dogs.

True account of the guy who ended up being Montana's only "wolf guy" - the one who determined which livestock were actually killed by wolves (lots fewer than the ranchers claimed) and deciding whether ranchers got compensated for the kills.

[Jeanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great writing; an amazing story illustrating the complexities of protecting our natural resources, in this case our endangered and misunderstood wolves. Should be required reading for all middle school students, and then perhaps we will raise more enlightened adults who will be better aligned in respecting and protecting one of our great natural resources.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating read, a book written by a former "animal control" agent for state government. If you care about wolves, this is a must read, as it sheds light on the complexities of wolf reintroduction.