UPDATE: With the Minnesota wolf harvest approaching the target of 400, Department of Natural Resources officials said announced today that they’ll close the season at the end of hunting and trapping on Thursday.
By: Sam Cook, Duluth News Tribune
With the Minnesota wolf harvest approaching the target harvest of 400, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials announced today that they’ll close the season at the end of hunting and trapping on Thursday.
The closure was posted on the wolf-hunting page of the DNR’s website today.
The only remaining season open through Thursday is in the Northwest Zone, where the harvest has reached 181 as of today, according to the website. The target harvest for that zone is 187.
The overall harvest for all zones and for both the early and late seasons is approaching the overall harvest target of 400 wolves this fall, said Dan Stark, DNR large carnivore specialist in Grand Rapids.
“We’ve been getting about six (wolf kills) a day,” Stark said. “Yesterday (Tuesday), there were 13.”
The late wolf hunting and trapping seasons remain closed in the Northeast and East-Central Zones, where the target harvests were reached in December.
In the Northeast, hunters and trappers took 58 wolves and the target harvest was 56. In the East-Central Zone, hunters and trappers took nine wolves, and the target harvest was 10.
The late hunting and trapping season began Nov. 24. It was scheduled to close Jan. 31 or whenever the target harvest is reached.
In the early season, held during the firearms deer season starting Nov. 3, hunters took 147 wolves.
Communication with hunters and trappers in the ongoing late season was compromised on Tuesday and Wednesday by a computer malfunction. The hotline that hunters and trappers must call before going afield said the season had closed in the Northwest Zone, when actually it had not. DNR officials suspect the erroneous recording was prompted by the change to the new year, said Jeff Lightfoot, DNR regional wildlife manager in Grand Rapids.