By Jackie Johnson
Hunters will find out soon whether they can kill a wolf this fall.
A lottery has already taken place to determine who — among the thousands of applicants — will get a permit to hunt in Wisconsin’s inaugural wolf hunting season, so says Scott Loomans, wildlife regulation policy specialist with the state Department of Natural Resources. “Yes, we’ve done the electronic drawing already, so we have chosen 1,160 lucky permit winners out of around 20,000 applications.”
Hunters hoping for that golden ticket can use their customer ID number to access the info, which should be on the DNR website early next week. Or, Loomans says, they could just wait to get a package of information to come in their mailbox.
“The packet that permit winners get in the mail will have a sticker on there notifying them that it is not legal to hunt wolves with the aid of dogs this year and it is also not legal to train dogs to hunt wolves … at least for right now.”
The DNR received 20,272 applications — about the same as bobcat permit applications each year — and there are only 1,160 available non-tribal hunting and trapping permits. Wisconsin has an estimated wolf population of 800 animals, and only 200 can be killed in the five-month hunt beginning October 15th.