By STEVE CARMODY
State wildlife officials continue to prepare for this fall’s controversial wolf hunt in the Upper Peninsula.
The hunt is set to begin in three zones in the U.P. in mid-November.
Hunters will try to kill 43 wolves during the hunt. There are fewer than 700 adult wolves in the Upper Peninsula.
Adam Bump is with the Department of Natural Resources. He says they are still working on the logistics for the hunt, including putting hunting licenses up for sale at the end of September.
“I’ve heard people think it will take a couple minutes. Others think it will take a week. I’ve heard other people say they don’t think they’ll sell out because the license fee is quite a bit higher than any other licenses that we have,” says Bump.
The wolf hunt license will cost $100 for Michigan residents and $500 for non-resident hunters.
By comparison, deer licenses sell for about $15.
Wolf hunt opponents are busy collecting signatures to challenge the law authorizing the hunt on the 2014 ballot.
Earlier this year, the hunt opponents succeeded in collecting a quarter million signatures to put the issue on the ballot.
But state lawmakers passed a new law sidestepping the ban question. The current petition drive is intended to challenge that new law.
Petition drive organizers doubt they will have enough signatures in hand in time to prevent this fall’s hunt from going forward.