BY MATT MARKEY
BLADE OUTDOORS EDITOR
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is asking for the public’s help as it investigates two separate cases of poaching that involve wolves, and one involving a bull moose.
The wolf poaching incidents occurred in Mackinac and Schoolcraft counties in the Upper Peninsula. Evidence in both cases came to light in late November. The initial case took place near the Mackinac-Luce county line and close to State Route 117, southwest of the community of Newberry, in the eastern U.P.
The dead wolf was on a county road in Lakefield Township and, following a forensic exam, wildlife officials determined the wolf had been shot and killed at a different location, and then moved to the site where it was found. In the additional poaching case, which was in Schoolcraft County near Gulliver, which is east of Manistique and near the Lake Superior shoreline, a wolf wearing a tracking collar was killed. The dead animal was part of an on-going wildlife study.
MDNR officials said the tracking collar had been removed and disposed of. There is a reward being offered for any information on the wolf poaching cases that leads to the arrest of the perpetrator or perpetrators. Anyone with information on these cases is urged to call the poaching hotline at 800-292-7800. The line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and persons providing information can remain anonymous and still be eligible for a reward.
The maximum penalty for poaching a wolf in Michigan is 90 days in jail or a fine of up to $1,000, or both, with an additional reimbursement of $1,500 to the state for the animal. Most convictions for poaching include the suspension of hunting privileges for four years.
Wolves have been the subject of intense and contentious debate in Michigan, where battling ballot issues and legislative moves have not tempered the argument. Although no longer deemed endangered, wolves are a protected species in Michigan and cannot legally be killed except in the defense of life.
Wolves are believed to have disappeared from Michigan’s Lower Peninsula around 1910, and by 1970, only a few dozen were believed to be living in the U.P. Wolves have made a steady comeback in Michigan since then and now number around 700, located in the rugged, semi-wilderness of the Upper Peninsula.
After the wolf population rebounded and wolves were recently removed from the endangered list, Michigan held a very limited hunting season for wolves last year. The allotment of 1,200 wolf hunting licenses sold out quickly — at $100 for Michigan residents and $500 for non-residents — and the wolf hunting season took place in a six-week period in November and December.
Only 23 wolves were taken during the season, against a pre-established maximum harvest of 43, meaning fewer than two percent of the licensed hunters took a wolf.
There is no wolf hunting season in Michigan this year as the topic of wolf management continues to be hashed out in the courts, the legislature, the ballot box, and the volatile court of public opinion, but wolf hunting could return. The Michigan DNR’s Wolf Management Plan is under review and the MDNR hopes to have an updated version ready in the spring.
The MDNR is also investigating a moose poaching case in Baraga County in the northern Upper Peninsula. Wildlife officials say a bull moose was killed there in late November. Michigan has no moose hunting season, and moose are a protected species under state law.
The MDNR report indicates a moose carcass was located on Saturday, but evidence points to the moose being killed a couple of weeks earlier. The poaching is believed to have taken place along Heart Lake Road, near the Three Lakes area. Officials said logging is taking place in the region and there have been reports of road hunting violations.
There is a cash reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for poaching this bull moose. Anyone with information on this or any other wildlife-related violation is urged to call the MDNR’s Report All Poaching hotline at 800-292-7800 or the MDNR’s Law Enforcement Division in Marquette at 906-228-6561. Information can also be reported online at the michigan.gov/conservationofficers.
The penalty for poaching a moose is up to 90 days in jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000, restitution of $1,500, and a mandatory loss of all hunting privileges for four years.