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Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com

MI: Wolf hunt yields far short of harvest limit

JOHN PEPIN – Journal Staff Writer

MARQUETTE – Michigan’s first state-managed wolf hunt closed Tuesday, with hunters posting results falling far short of the harvest limit of 43 wolves.

The season opened Nov. 15. A total of 1,200 wolf hunting tags were sold at $100 each for state residents and $500 for non-residents. The hunting bag limit was one wolf per hunter for the season and no trapping was allowed.

As of midnight Tuesday, a total of 23 wolves had been killed from three Upper Peninsula wolf management zones. The hunt was designed to lessen wolf conflicts with animals and humans in three areas where non-lethal methods employed by the Michigan Departments of Natural Resources and Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to deter wolves had not been successful.

In Unit A, which is situated in the far western portion of the U.P. in Gogebic County, five wolves were killed during the season. The harvest quota there for the season was 16 wolves.

In the central U.P., hunters in Unit B came close to hitting the quota. A total of 14 wolves were killed there, with a harvest quota of 19 animals. That unit consists of portions of Gogebic, Ontonagon, Houghton and Baraga counties.

In the eastern part of the peninsula, hunters in Unit C – in parts of Mackinac and Luce counties – killed four wolves from a harvest quota of eight.

DNR wildlife biologists will gather data from the hunt, which will be analyzed and shared with the Michigan Natural Resources Commission and the public. Any additional hunts, and under what circumstances and regulations parameters, would be decided by the NRC next year. Voter referendums could also have an impact on future wolf hunting.

Wolf hunts have also been ongoing in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In Minnesota, wolf hunting was closed today in three zones. Minnesota has hunting and trapping allowed. The total 2013 harvest total for Minnesota was set at 220 wolves. As of today, 149 wolves had been killed in Minnesota. The state has early season hunting and late season hunting and trapping extending until Jan. 31, or until quotas are met.

In Wisconsin, a wolf hunt there closed with hunters and trappers reaching set quotas from six hunting zones. A total quota of 251 wolves was set and a total of 257 wolves were killed.

Michigan DNR biologists said recently bitterly cold temperatures had likely impacted hunter activity and wolf hunting success in the U.P. hunting zones. Many wolf hunters were also firearm deer hunters who returned to their homes downstate after the Nov. 30 deer season closed, leaving the bulk of hunting days for the wolf season remaining, DNR biologists said.

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