By Paul A. Smith of the Journal Sentinel
The Natural Resources Board on Wednesday approved a harvest quota of 275 wolves for the 2013-’14 Wisconsin hunting and trapping season.
The quota represents a 37% increase from the level of 201 set last year in the state’s first regulated wolf harvest.
The Department of Natural Resources is working to decrease the state’s wolf population toward the established wolf population goal of 350 animals.
According to DNR estimates, Wisconsin had a minimum of 809 to 834 wolves in 214 packs in late winter 2013, compared with 815 to 880 in 213 packs in 2012. The estimates are conducted in winter when the animals are easiest to count and at the low point in their annual population cycle.
Wolf populations typically double each spring after pups are born then begin to decline due to various sources of mortality.
The quota of 275 was advanced to the board after being devised by the state’s wolf advisory committee and being supported by the Wisconsin Conservation Congress wolf committee, the state’s wildlife policy team and DNR executives.
The state’s wolf management plan continues to attract a wide range of support and opposition.
In verbal testimony Wednesday, Ralph Fritsch of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation said he supported the agency’s efforts to lower wolf numbers in the state but thought the quota should be higher.
Howard Goldman of the Humane Society of the United States said his organization as well as the majority of Wisconsin citizens oppose the hunt. He objected to the hunt and any increase in quota.
Though the board unanimously approved the quota of 275, significant uncertainty remains around the issue of tribal involvement.
In keeping with a federal court decision on off-reservation treaty rights, the quota of 275 includes 115 wolves reserved for Chippewa Indians in the state’s ceded territory (approximately the northern third of Wisconsin). The tribe’s portion represents half of the proposed wolf quota in the ceded territory.
If 275 wolves were killed during the season, a model developed by University of Wisconsin researchers estimates the state’s wolf population would decline by 13%.
However, during the state’s inaugural wolf hunting and trapping season last year, the tribes elected to not to kill any wolves.
As a result, the wolf population was stable or declined only slightly after last season, according to DNR estimates.
Non-tribal hunters and trappers killed 117 wolves in Wisconsin last year, filling their portion of the quota.
If the tribes again exercise their right to not kill a wolf during the season, the state’s wolf population would likely not be reduced.
Although several board members asked if the DNR would make the unfilled portion of the tribe’s wolf quota available to non-tribal hunters and trapper to help reach the harvest goal, DNR wildlife manager Bill Vander Zouwen said the agency would have to proceed very cautiously due to legal and treaty considerations.
The tribes provided no verbal testimony at Wednesday’s meeting and have yet to make a declaration or statement regarding the proposed 2013-’14 wolf quota.
Wildlife managers have divided Wisconsin into six wolf management zones. The 2013-’14 wolf harvest quota will be divided: 84 wolves in Zone 1; 31 in Zone 2; 79 in Zone 3; 13 in Zone 4, 35 in Zone 5; and 33 in Zone 6.
As it did last season, the DNR plans to issue 10 times as many kill permits as the quota. The season is scheduled to begin Oct. 15 and will continue until the quotas are met in each zone.
The price of the wolf license for Wisconsin residents has been reduced to $49 this year; it was $100 last year. In addition, night hunting of wolves will not be allowed.
The board’s vote on the 2013-’14 wolf quota came at its meeting in Wausau. We’ll have updates to the story later today and a story in the Thursday edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.