Timber wolves may be on move
By Jim Lee
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
JUNCTION CITY – As Wisconsin’s timber wolf population expands, it appears
packs are ready to establish a growing presence in central Wisconsin where
conditions permit.
One of the latest reports of wolves taking up residency outside documented
regions of pack activity comes from Mead Wildlife Area, a 28,000-acre
state-owned property along the Marathon-Portage-Wood county lines between
Wausau, Stevens Point and Marshfield.
Terry Lane, a rural Mosinee resident, said he first spotted wolf tracks at
Mead in early December while hunting with his dog a day after his brother
reported hearing wolves howling in the vicinity.
Lane said he returned more than a week later and found wolf runways,
tracks and scat.
“I followed tracks for about 1½ hours,” he said. “I jumped both of the
wolves out of their beds. I didn’t see them. They winded me before I could
get close.”
Lane relayed his findings to officials at Mead. If verified, it could be
the first wolf pack to establish a territory in Marathon and Portage
counties.
“We’ve been aware that wolves might be present at Mead since last winter,”
said Bill Hirt, a DNR wildlife technician at Mead. “We’ve had reports from
a couple different people – credible sources – that they have seen a wolf
or signs of a wolf.
“We haven’t confirmed that wolves are present. We plan to do some howling
surveys this winter to see if we can get an answer.”
He added that department personnel also will search for tracks and other
evidence of wolf activity.
Mead is a popular public hunting area adjacent to farmland and rural
sprawl from nearby urban communities. It draws its largest crowds during
the waterfowl and gun deer seasons.
Lane said he found wolf sign concentrated around a large spruce swamp
“where the trees are so thick in some places you can’t fall down. It’s a
wild swamp full of all kinds of endangered plants. It’s a special place.
When you go in there, it’s like going into a different world.”
The bog-like swamp, which is more than a mile long and a half-mile wide,
is nearly impassible.
Hunters usually keep to the fringes, thus leaving the center as a natural
sanctuary.
A recent DNR report estimates the state contained a minimum of 339 wolves
during the winter period a year ago, a population that was expanding at a
rate of 25 percent.