Mn Wolf Update

The 2014 wolf hunting and trapping season in northeastern Minnesota closes at the end of shooting hours on Wednesday, Dec. 18, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

Notice of the season closing was posted Tuesday evening, Dec. 17, when hunters and trappers had harvested 30 wolves. By Wednesday, wolf harvest in the northeast had reached the target of 33.

Wolf hunting and trapping continues in the northwest and east-central wolf zones to anyone with a valid license. The late season in those zones is scheduled to end on Friday, Jan. 31 or whenever the target harvest is expected to be met, whichever comes first.

As of Dec. 18, hunters and trappers had harvested 51 wolves in the northwest zone and two in the east-central zone during the late season.

During the early hunting season, which concluded Nov. 25, hunters harvested 32 of 33 wolves in the northeast; 56 of 73 wolves in the northwest and no wolves in the east-central zone.

Wow for such an elusive animal the guys sure are getting them both in Mn and Wi. Seems to me that our two states have an over abundance of wolves, and maybe should up their quotas. Otherwise our deer populations will end up like the elk populations in the western states. With wolf populations OUT OF CONTROL!!!!!!!!!!

The anti’s are crying for the end of the hunt with just one wolf shot because they think it is harming the social structure and hierarchy of the pack, no evidence of course to support their claim. I believe after another couple of years of controlled hunts the DNR will have enough data on population numbers to justify increasing the quota upwards. Due to the high visibility this issue gets they are probably correct in starting out these first few years with conservative quotas so the anti’s don’t have more ammunition to take it back to court. My belief is that the DNR still has an innaccurate estimate of the total population and is way off like they were on the WI Bear population estimate 3 years ago where it turns out we had more than twice as many bears as they thought.

Darrin I agree about the bear issue as well but why is it still taking a lot of preference points to get a kill tag. I shot my first bear in 09 and took me 8 pts to get it. Can’t say for sure how many pts it’s up to but I’ve heard it’s 6 or more.

Where are the picts of the wolfs that have been takin. I have only seen two. One in the outdoor news and one on a forum. Are guys not putting there picts out there or am I just missing them. I think they make awesome picts.

Wallster ><((((>

The antis prevent it for the most part. The stuff I’ve seen/read on Facebook would make a sailor blush.