How… rugged? no.
Courageous? Um… no.
Terrifyingly cruel and wasteful? Yeah, that's the one.

That's funny, I saw a movie about Africa where poachers did the same thing to the wild game. Very disturbing to watch, I almost cried, and I don't cry during movies. Seriously, it's illegal in Africa, why is it okay in Alaska?

Where does she stand on Humvee homeless hunting? Same principle as aerial wolf hunting only it puts you closer to your prey so you can see the fear in their eyes.

this story is awful, just awful.

on a related note, isn't this supose to be a celebrity gossip site? i don't mind politics every now and then but it seems like this site is posting more and more of it lately. when i want to be bombarded with Palin news i watch CNN or go to their website. i come here to escape all the awful shit in the world for a few minutes a day but lately i haven't been able to do it. it's your website so you can do what you want with it, i'm simply giving my opinion.

that may make it easier to shoot an actual person. i think she's going for the "i'm one step up from our elderly current vice president" angle.

I wonder how many more stories will wind up under the tag "Killing Stuff for Fun!"… I hope many.

Compassionate Christian conservatism. WWJD (What Would Jesus Destroy).

I can overlook her politics, but I can not overlook her cruelty to animals. This woman doesn't believe in abortion, but yet she goes around killing innocent wolves for sport. I'm so angry!! I'm not voting this election I can't agree with either candidates views.

How in the FUCK is this cunt-faced, beady-eyed, ignorant broodmare even in this position? Oh that's right, our country is full of retards just like her. She needs to take her backwoods ideas, Creationism text, and bastard grandkids and shove them all up her polar-bear hating, intellectually challenged, turn-of-the-century mullet ass!

I thought aerial wolf hunting involved hunting flying wolves, which on one hand would be bad because they are obviously rare, if not endangered, but on the other hand OK because I really don't want to ever get shat upon by a pack of flying wolves.

Awesome! I can't wait to see her policies on border patrol/homeland security!

As an aside, the more I read about this woman the stupider I assume Alaskans are. Of course, the same sort of reasoning leads most of the rest of the developed world to think Americans are idiots, so I should probably stop thinking that way, but seriously, I didn't think it would be possible to find a candidate for any office that was worse than GWB. Can someone please reveal that she once won a wet t-shirt contest while taking a dump on the constitution? After the "She was fully vetted and we liked what we found" retorts, that revelation would make my day.

so….does everyone in Alaska hunt?

It's called population control. Wolves do not have any natural predators and they breed once a year, with typically 5-6 pups a year. They live an average of 8-10 years, so a single pair will have 50-60 or more offspring in their lifetime. And Alaska has a current population of around 6000-7000, you do the math, hunting of certain animals is needed to prevent the population from getting out of control and there being a lack of food and territory for the hunted animal population.

Lily, I will be giggling at inappropriate moments throughout the day because of you…

"population control" is a nice, easy excuse for hunting, but how would you explain the unnecessary waste of fuel for the airplane?

ihbl,I can understand that. What I can't understand is why a person would be like, "Oh! Yay!It's time to go shoot at wolves again!" I mean, can you eat wolves? Because if not, anyone who would shoot them is just a psychopath. Sarah Palin better be LIVING on wolf meat.

Oh. And she better be poor enough to warrant having to live on wolf meat.

i'm sure you could eat wolf but it would probably taste gamey.

No, never mind, it's completely unacceptable.

i bet the only reason she hunts wolves is because she has some sort of deal worked out with sharon stone; 10 packs of lucky strikes for every dead animal.

I bet those wolves are pro-life.

no, she only shoots pro-choice wolves.

Good one deimos! Where is PETA now?

I think they likely use a helicopter (easier to land) and wolves are often culled to reduce their negative effect on endangered large herbivores like cariboo.

No one needs an excuse for hunting, it is the reason humans survived for hundreds of years on this planet. Any citizen of this country has a right to spend their money on whatever legal activity they choose, fuel included.
Before everyone judges hunting, how many of you have ever put out ant or rat poison? Or ran around your house with a can of Raid trying to get a spider or cockroach?
It's funny how people only judge the killing of furry animals as cruel and unwarranted.

And they don't believe in abstinence OR birth control. Hence, overpopulation.

That kid of hers has no idea how narrowly she dodged a bullet.

i bet those wolves are also against off shore drilling.

Exactly. And creationism.

I, too, am tiring of the political news, and spin, on this site.
I come here to laugh at the antics of Lindsay, Heidi, Spencer, etc.
We all have our political opinions. But as I say, opinions are like farts, everyone has them.
Please, I want celeb gossip. It's much more entertaining that Palin vs. the American media.
I can get stuff from other sites.

and they want to pull out of the war. wolves are such pussies.

Last time I killed a spider, I doused it in Chanel No 5. Because being wasteful is my right as an American.

I only kill spiders if I'm going to eat them.

Yeah. I heard a wolf recently say that if they reinstate the draft, he's moving to Canada.

So. I shot him and ate him.

and then canada said "leave us out of it". the wolf slowly realized it's fucked.

Elly Mae, you're right, you're opinion means nothing. The reason there are politics on this site is because it still is gossip and because we like to talk about it. Maybe you have better things to do… well, then, skip over it and move on.

PS - the fact that Heidi and Spencer consist of 66% of your celebrity examples is sad. My guess is you need to broaden your horizon in general.

Hear hear! I second that, AdAd. 66% of Speidi-only news is best gotten on Perez Hilton, one hundred percent of the time.

Fine example of liberal bullshit machine in full tilt action. Go stick your heads in a wolf's dead asshole.

Seanie, quit flirting and get me some communist wolf stew, please…

Tonight's top stories on all the entertainment news shows will mention Palin, she's entertainment because politics is the ultimate reality show. Or the ultimate reality show is politics.

And Seanie White,
If it's true, then is it still bullshit?

Word of the day: Deebo - to bully, be a bully, or bully-like

v: Sarah Palin deeboed the state commissioner when she didn't get her ex-brother-in-law fired.

adj: Sarah Palin is deebo angry that her teenage daughter got knocked up by a f***in' redneck!

n: Deebos of the world prepare for one of their own to hold the second highest office in the US of A.

PS - I want to make deebo (the ultimate bully from Friday) a part of our English dictionary. :)

just got back from alaska, it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. don't necessarily think that alaskans are lame, just a super powerful few who seems to make the decisions for all. a bill was recently just passed in alaska allowing these practices to remain in place and it was pushed by large corporations and politicians who benefit from protecting corporate interests. i have been following this for awhile now and i'm glad this issue is getting the attention it deserves.

anyway, sarah palin sucks.

*sigh*
ihbl, it's the TYPE of hunting (or the MANNER of hunting) that people find so objectionable. And, in this case, the idea of people like Palin deriving great pleasure from chasing animals to exhaustion before shooting them.
Before you puff your chest up and get so defensive and obnoxious, consider those things.

MOCT: I thought you were going to say I deeboed Elly Mae. At first I was sad, but then I realized I pretty much did. WOO HOO!

Aerial hunting is deplorable. So is factory farming. Drive by a slaughterhouse when the cows are being herded into the 'processing area' and you'll see what I mean. Both are equally inhumane.

WTF?! that's just another one of those things i can never imagine a caring, compassionate, level-headed person doing…. WHO THINKS THAT'S OKAY?!

There you are!!!! I was wondering if "small s" sarah was going to show up again. It's a good thing you have a blog. Otherwise I'd get confused…

I kiiiind of get the gist of it though. In rural areas a group of hunters will pick a day and hunt a ton of deer because they over reproduce. But the way they do it with wolves is a little stomach turning. But theeeen… it's not really like you can sneak up on a pack of wolves. They're a dangerous breed - haven't you seen The Neverending Story??

So what? What are we afraid of exactly? That being elected vp will compel Sarah Palin to start aerial people hunting? Who gives a shit what she does in her downtime? Let her hunt wolves! Aerially! This has no bearing on Palin's politics whatsoever.

@47 - Good call but, fricking, there needs to be a limit on Sarahs around here!!! (Palin included)

Poozy, are you saying that character doesn't have any bearing on politics?

Seriously, sar. It's sarahdiculous up in here.

"ihbl, it's the TYPE of hunting (or the MANNER of hunting) that people find so objectionable. "
I never defended this TYPE of hunting. I simply tried to explain why hunting is needed. If that's so obnoxious to you then don't read my posts.

No, but it does have a bearing on her character. Politics can change, character seldom does.

flying wolves is the best thing i've heard in a while.

Sarah, that is not what I'm saying. My point is that I personally am of the opinion that Sarah Palin's hobbies- for example, hunting- do not inform her politics. To each his own I say.

Oh, that makes me laugh every time I think about it.

Yeah, Poozy, who cares what she does in her downtime?
Who ever cares what politicians do in their downtime?
Umm … like, everybody.
What they do in their downtime says a lot about them.
What this downtime activity says about Sarah Palin is she's a gun nut and she tolerates cruelty.
In other downtime activity, she proves herself a religious nutjob and sympathetic to Alaskans who want to take their state out of the USA.
No, wait — that last one relates to her work as governor, addressing the Alaska Independence Party. And the fact her husband was once a member of that party.
Here's what the Alaska Independence Party's founder said about America in 1992: "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government." Could you imagine the media firestorm if someone even remotely connected to Obama had ever said that?

Well, Run-DMS, what politicians do in their spare time speaks volumes if you interpret their activities that way. Politicians' hobbies are only significant if they are construed as such. Perhaps the focus of this election ought to be ideology and not trivial nonsense with no political bearing. And Run: Sarah Palin's hunting habit and the Alaskan Independence Party are unrelated. Stay topical baby.

"how many of you have ever put out ant or rat poison? Or ran around your house with a can of Raid trying to get a spider or cockroach?"

ants, rats, spiders or cockroaches, living outside and not invading my home, are welcome to live long and fruitful lives. when wolves start invading my home, I'll agree with your analogy. until then, it makes no sense.

ihbl, if you understood that this discussion was about the type of hunting, why the screed in defence of hunting in general?

There's a week's worth of Commies in this post alone…

If she enjoys running an animal into exhaustion prior to shooting it in the head (which means she had the gun already but not the skill to kill the animal prior to exhausting it), then I would prefer not to put her second in command. That is akin to torturing an animal in my book and I've had enough of torture with the current administration.

Sorry, Poozy baby, but I just had to slip in the AIP stuff.
I guess you are conceding my point that what pols do in their downtime is something people care about.

And that, jenjen, illustrates my point to perfection.

What jenjen said, Poozy.

What exactly is your point, Poozy? That pols' activities are important only if we care about what it might say about their character?

Haha! Agree to disagree, Run (baby).

I keep trying to leave but I just can't let this go! No, no, my point is that some of politicians' activities are politically relevant and some are not. This is not, but it unfortunately is easily manipulated as misguided illustration of some kind of character deficit of Sarah Palin's. Peace.

#62 - Probably the same reason that you feel the need to call her a "gun nut"

We have extremely different feelings about this.

Methinks it is too late to dig one's foot out of one's mouth, baby.

no need to fight people; soon the wolves will learn how to operate rocket launchers and aerial hunting will become a thing of the past.

The dolphins already have, I know that much. That's why tuna got so pricey all of a sudden.

Poor Sarah. She's just a good ole' boy trapped in a woman's body. Have some sympathy people!

I step on babies in my spare time but that doesn't make me a bad person….

Lily the flying wolves comment brought a tear to my eye.

On a more serious note. I can't tell my daughter about this. It would make her cry.
She needs to try that on Okami sometime. Her plane would run out of gas, she would have to make an emergency landing, and then he would kick her ass.

BB&B… huh?

Ohhhh… Sarah PALIN! Got it.

tehe, sarah had a blonde moment.

@ comment #59 Run DMS: YOU ARE RIGHT!

* Someone close to Obama DID say some disparaging things about America.

There WAS a firestorm. (Rev. Jeremiah Wright, JR.)

Addicted to Addiction.
Apparently you have a lot more time on your hands than most of us.
Living on welfare, heh?
Did you make it through high school because you don't apprently don't know what the word etc. means.
Ditto for Sarah.

Why can't they give the wolves condoms?

I wonder about Presidential hopefuls who pick a VP with hunting skills.

(Cheney)

I know one of my ex-husbands NEVER envited me to go hunting with him. He was quite the scaredy cat.

Elly Mae: Do you know what an ad hominen attack is?

kittenpaw: Tried it. Their nails kept piercing the condoms.
Stupid wolves.

aw, the neverending story.

atrayooo!!!!

the swamp of sadness!

noooooooooo!!!

From Snakes on a Plane to Wolves From a Plane. Screw it, Samuel L. Jackson should run.

ihbl, population control is one thing but the whole chase them until they are almost dead part is cruel and wasteful. She's an asshat.

And to the bright bunny who complained about politics on this site, go away. I wouldn't be here if Cord didn't talk about politics.

Oh my god, don't talk about swamps!

The Bog of Eternal Stench!

Palin and McCain!

DAVID BOWIE'S CROTCH!

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Cindy McCain and her wolf eyes better watch out, Palin is all about uzi's in the sky.

dance magic dance. fuck! now it will never go away!

i'm super ceral manbearpig, i hate you for that. last time i thought about that song it was in my head for like a month. you are evil manbearpig.

If only, deimos. I wish I could be like the Woodland Critters. They would piss AIDs into Palin's eyes.

Oh wait, they're super evil, so I guess… the wolves are the ones keeping them from bringing the antichrist into the world… and Palin is killing these wolves..

I can piece it together somehow…

ihbl: re: "Before everyone judges hunting, how many of you have ever put out ant or rat poison? Or ran around your house with a can of Raid trying to get a spider or cockroach?"

That argument would make sense if a wolf set up camp in her home and began fouling her food supply. I mean, if I came home and wolves were eating my sugar and leaving their droppings in my flour I'd definitely get out the wolf spray and go to town. However, I'd never break out a helicopter and go hunt down cockroaches out in the wild.

There's been a distinct shit theme to my day. It's not usually like this for me.

Sorry 'bout that. I used to wrong tag. Go me!

or maybe she wants the wolves dead so noone will ever know about her shameful past or something.

i'm having a boring day and now i'm singing dance magic dance while my coworkers stare at me.

Shameful past, present, it's all good.

Come on. Who doesn't shoot wolves from a plane.

If she bobbed for them I would be OK with it.

I like to capture my spiders and other household pests and put them in a jar. Then I hire a pilot and rent a private plane to fly me to NYC. Midflight, I lightly stomp on the bugs so that they're JUST barely writhing. I then drop them in the lavatory and release entire lavatory contents somewhere over Ohio. Because I'm an extravagant, hate-filled anti-environmentalist. Oooh! Maybe I should look into this vice-presidency thing… Does it pay well?

Do you think Sarah Palin wore a red hooded poncho
while wolf hunting?

Because THEN I get it.

No Big Bad Wolf messes with Grandma.

Why do the conservatives on this site always make us look so stupid in general. It is distressing. I would like to aerial hunting but only if the target was Sarah Palin.

In all fairness, Sarah Palin is dear friends of the Three Little Pigs.

They told her of the huffing, and puffing of the Big Bad Wolf nightmare that they went through. Thank goodness the third pig had built his house out of bricks.

If not for that stroke of luck, the Three Little Pigs would have surely been a most delicious bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, and a nice pulled pork sandwich for the Big Bad Wolf.

Sarah became furious! She got a description of the Big Bad Wolf.

Then in a true American Courageous Maverick Spirit, she set out to insure that no pigs in HER state would ever have to fear the Big Bad Wolf again.

Thank you Sarah! Oh, I LOVE the red cape.

I…live in Alaska.
whoops did I just admit to that?
Also, I am not a great fan of Sarah Palin for many reasons, however, SHOCK!, there might be one or two things I agree with her on. It's just odds.
Anyways, in some places we are having a big problem with wolves. @say what? and @Lilly the Pink. Yes wolves, do come into yards, cabins, and small subsistence livestock that people depend upon. There are many native villages numbering in only 100-200 people. Wolves often enter these areas and eat people's dogs (which they may depend upon for transportation, or as is often the case is some poor 6 year old's puppy that she gets to see disemboweled, and goats (of which they depend upon for food and milk). Additionally when the population is too high, they eat too much of the herd for there to still be enough for these people to subsistence hunt and at the same time keep up the size of the herd for ecological benefits.
The manner in which it is done is considered to be the most efficient. With millions of square miles of wilderness it isn't a good idea to try and 'humanely' poison these populations and then try to chase them down in the wild to keep THAT ecological impact from happening. Permits are indeed sometimes sold to people, to the tune of thousands of dollars, but that's a matter of practicality. It funds many other parts of the wilderness reserve and keeps the expenses down to this admittedly expensive but needful process.
For many people, it's the wolves or themselves and their traditional way of life.

also it is damn hard to hunt these things. Fast, cunning, and scary. You can't just go out with a high powered rifle walking around or even on some sort of snowmachine or atv without serious risk to yourself. Thus the air route.

Plus the wolves at Red Riding Hood's grandma.

There IS that.

Also, when we are broke, and barely scraping by, We are keeping the wolves from the back door.

Also, don't get fooled. Sometimes those dastardly wolves like to put on sheep's clothing.

The wolves ATE RRH grandma. I forgot the E.

OK, I'm watching the RNC…Mitt, WTF??? Quit trying to change the friggen subject! We are talking about Palin and her downsy kids here, not the friggen economy. Sheesh.

i was gonna ask about if she enjoys it as a sport, or she said she does it for the population control and stuff. i don't get people who hunt for the hell of it. like, right over my head. lately i've had to make nice with some people who are hunting fanatics and i have to tell you, it's all i can do not to scream at them when i have to see ANIMALS MOUNTED ON THEIR WALLS. they are ANIMALS. MOUNTED ON THE WALLS.

anyway whatever, i'm admittedly not a vegetarian, and that talk of a BLT is just about to send me to the store.

Downsy is the next kid's name! Guaranteed!

At all the people who are pro hunting wolves (which were just recently taken off the endangered species list)… How is hunting them down one by one, using several gallons of fuel, in an airplane, effective in eradicating the problem?

BBB, easy, you kill them with global warming. Bah, dum dump!

Also, as megs so kindly pointed out, the permits for this wolf hunting costs to the "tune of a thousand dollars". That's just the permit.

Elitest much?

(I like to fish. That permit costs me about 60 bucks.)

Mags. I typed megs. Mags @ #107.

I will stop now.

OOOH good excuse (one) Lisa.

@bedbugsandballyhoo

I've already pointed out that it is hard to hunt them on the ground, air is really the only viable option. Other population control methods would be much trickier to effect as well. Using high-powered rifles means that you can really only get one at a time. I'm trying to think of ways that you can hunt larger numbers of them, but really can't come up with anything practical that wouldn't damage surrounding areas.
And in terms of being elitist. Yeah I guess it is in the way that you have to pay thousands. But I think its also to keep the demand for wolf hunting down. I'm not sure of the percentage, but I'm pretty sure most of the hunting is actually done not by private individuals who payed, but mostly by fish and game wardens. Also the fee to hunt a wolf is no higher than other 'important' animals, i.e. larger big game like moose, caribou, and bears. The first two of which wolves eat and the last another predator that preys on the former. So it's like some sort of degree of ecological importance and the impact that killing one of these animals would make. Makes it so, I believe, there are only enough permits issued to thin out an overgrown herd or pack, and yet protect the existing herd or pack at the same time.
Its…an odd issue. Nobody up here wants the packs to be elilminated, it would destroy the whole balance of things. But sometimes certain measures have to be taken to maintain that balance. An individuals particular eagerness to do so speaks of their own preferences, and doesn't really change the fact that it is something that needs to be done.

@mags

Seems to be very extreme, and how did you put it yourself, ELITIST measures, at the very least. (I thought the LIBERALS were the elitist. Silly me) Especially for a species that was MOST RECENTLY taken off of the endangered species list.
Good for the wolves to be so cunning in the face of such hypocritical (pro-life) humans. Carry on wolves. In the face of such hypocrisy.

i was just listening to her speak on the radio, and i find her to sound very naive. and, to be honest, her voice makes me want to cringe. it reminds me of that movie drop dead gorgeous, where they are from mt. rose, minnesota. so small town ignorance.

"Using high-powered rifles means that you can really only get one at a time."

why not just gas them?

i don't hunt, i love bacon, but it seems crazy to shoot wolves from a plane.

Our local national park has a deer-hunting thing, where they bring in the most skilled hunters - only bow-hunters, no guns - and try to keep the deer population down.

I don't know much else about it but it does seem like it's common to hold official hunting times for the upper eschelon of hunters (ohhh yes, i said there was an upper eschelon) for population control or something.

Lisa Tinkle, I loved the global warming commentation.

I'm with stm. I eat bacon. But pigs are farmed specially for food. Wolf bacon sounds, as the most eloquent deimos put it, gamey. Nobody hunts wolves for food. People (professional hunters) hunt deer in Maryland, because of over population. The deer meat is donated to homeless shelters. It is actually consumed. Who eats wolf?

I'm a little gamey. You know what you hags need? The perfect cheer.

@bedbugsandballyhoo

I do know that at least in the lower 48 wolves were endangered, pushed out of their regions by aggressive hunting, both of them and their prey, and destruction of their habitats.
However here in Alaska, where this aerial hunting of woods is at issue, i don't think the grey wolves have ever been near this point.

Oh and while wolves are not hunted for their food, when their packs get too large they deplete the supply of game animals that native alaskans, who by the way have hunted these animals in ecologically safe manners for centuries and upon whose food their very survival depends upon in areas hardly reachable by snowmachine in the middle of winter.

The bottom line is that the purpose of aerial huntings of wolves is not for sport.

They would be hunted otherwise by fish and game wardens. The solution to charge for wolf hunting permits is to tap into the money those gung-ho enough to want to do it. This has the effect of creating less of a monetary stress on constituents that the operation and managing the overall budget.

So, Mags. The US is 48 and 2 others? Endangered only applies to the lower 48. Got it. Go ahead and hunt from your Alaskan planes and burn unnecessary fuel, like the ELITISTS, you Alaskans apparently are, and I'll just pass the word along. Alaskans are completely justified in hunting a single wolf in a single plane until it drops from exhaustion. This helps curb the (over) population of wolves that is so threatening to ecosystem. Got it. I'll pass it along in the DC area. It will go over well. Trust.

this is not a democracy!

it's a deerocracy!

ok, now substitute "deer" for "wolf".

seacrest out

I understand the need for population control, especially in a place such as Alaska where bears practically outnumber people. However, there is a way to go about it without torturing the poor thing and making it run for it's like in fear until it collapses. If it's near you, shoot it. I get it, but don't make a sport out of watching it suffer.

I say Alaskans should just leave Alaska. The wolves were there first. Four legs good, two legs bad!!

For cereal though, I have read a lot about wolf reintroduction (in National Geographic) and part of the reason wolves have done so well is that there are more game animals than the landscape would usually support. It is good that wolves eat elk. It, allegedly (because I am not a scientist), helps the rest of the ecosystem - from the forest to the salmon. Ecology of fear, bitches!

Freakin deerocrats always screw things up.

Mags: that still doesn't meet my criteria since they don't poop in people's flour.

I see your point, but I think the whole Native American population in Alaska that's been there for thousands of years might disagree with you.

This is the laziest, dumbest, cruelest thing I've ever heard of. Who came up with this? I thought hunting was supposed to be a sport, implying some energy was expended. No, get on a plane (waste of fuel), find wolf, chase wolf until exhausted and then fly down and shoot the exhausted wolf. I bet she'd think it cruel to abort a fetal wolf too. Does she bathe in the tears of endangered animals too? Is that why she looks so refreshed in spite of an allegedly difficult job, popping out a kid 4 months ago at age 44, having a pregnant teen daughter, having an Iraq-bound son, caring for an infant with Down's and being a mother of 5?

GBW, hunting is hardly a sport. You sit in a tower or hide someplace and wait. You wait for hours until a deer comes by so you can blow it's head off. If they wanted to make it a real sport, the hunter wouldn't have a gun with a laser scope wearing camouflage and deer urine on thier boots (yes, they actually sell that shit at hunting stores) to attract the male deer.

If it were a sport, my 350 lb cousin wouldn't be so fond of it.