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Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com
Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com

DNR sets preliminary wolf harvest quota at 142 to 233 animals

By Paul A. Smith of the Journal Sentinel

The Department of Natural Resources has set a preliminary harvest quota of 142 to 233 wolves for the hunting and trapping season planned to begin in October.

The agency made the figures public Wednesday in advance of four meetings planned to collect input on the state’s first regulated wolf harvest.

“We’re trying to be somewhat conservative this first year,” said Bill Vander Zouwen, DNR wildlife manager. “The plan is to have higher harvests in areas where there have been more human and wolf conflicts as well as in areas outside of the core wolf range.”

The state had an estimated population of 800 wolves in late winter, according to the DNR. The recovery goal for the state was 350 wolves outside of American Indian reservations.

The Ojibwe tribes have the right to declare 50% of the harvest quota in the ceded territory of Wisconsin.

The wolf was removed from protections of the Endangered Species Act and returned to state management in January.

Lawmakers established many aspects of the public wolf harvest, including a season to run from Oct. 15 to the end of February.

They also legalized the use of dogs, electronic calls, bait and night hunting to pursue wolves.

Hunters and trappers will pay a $10 application fee. Licenses will cost $100 for residents and $500 for non-residents.

The wolf hunting and trapping legislation has been supported by many hunting and conservation groups, including the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association.

But it also has drawn criticism from American Indian tribes, former DNR wildlife managers Dick Thiel and Randy Jurewicz and University of Wisconsin wolf researcher Adrian Treves. All have stated the season is too long and are against the use of dogs to hunt wolves.

Wisconsin is the only state to allow the use of dogs to hunt wolves.

The DNR was directed to implement the wolf hunting and trapping season.

The state is entering new territory – the species had been the subject of unregulated hunting and poisoning for most of the last two centuries.

As part of the information released Wednesday, the department established seven wolf harvest zones.

Each zone will have a harvest quota. Hunters and trappers will be required to register wolves by telephone or Internet within 24 hours of the kill.

The department will be able to issue an emergency closure in a harvest zone if the quota is reached.

Meetings to collect public input on the proposed quotas and other aspects of the wolf management plan will be held Wednesday in Spooner, Friday in Black River Falls, June 14 in Fond du Lac and June 15 in Rhinelander.

The map below shows the Wisconsin wolf harvest zones and proposed quotas.

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