For the second year in a row, the state’s wolf hunting season will close, more than two months early, and the DNR is starting to prepare for the next one.
Wolf hunting ended in most of the state a month-and-a-half ago, but the final zone will close this afternoon. DNR wildlife management director Tom Hauge says the first year’s quota was 116 wolves, and that was bumped up to 251 this year.
The DNR estimated that there were about 851 wolves in the state, at the end of last winter. The goal is to eventually drop that number to 350. Hauge says officials are happy with the pace of this year’s hunt.