Hunters and trappers killed 257 wolves in Wisconsin's second regulated wolf harvest, according to a report from the Department of Natural Resources.
The season opened Oct. 15 and ended Monday as the harvest quota was exceeded. Before the season the department set a statewide harvest quota of 251 wolves for non-tribal hunters and trappers. "This has been a successful second season, and the harvest was well-distributed across the state," said Kurt Thiede, DNR land division administrator.
The DNR more than doubled the wolf kill this year as it works to reduce the population toward the 350-wolf goal expressed in the 1999 Wisconsin management plan. Wisconsin had an estimated 809 to 834 wolves in 214 packs in late winter 2013. The wolf population typically doubles each spring after pups are born and then begins to decline from various sources of mortality.
The state sold 1,862 resident and 11 non-resident wolf hunting and trapping licenses. The DNR authorized the sale of 2,510 licenses through a preseason lottery. Sixty-seven percent of the wolves were taken by trappers.
Most of the wolves killed in the last two weeks of the season were taken by hunters using dogs. The practice was allowed beginning Dec. 2. Since then, hunters using dogs killed 35 wolves. Wisconsin is the only state to authorize the use of dogs to hunt wolves. The method had been blocked last year by a lawsuit.
A Dane County judge vacated the injunction in January, clearing the use of dogs this year. An appeal of that decision has yet to be ruled on. The DNR has established six wolf management zones, each with a harvest quota. The quotas and wolf kills were:
Zone 1: wolf quota 76, wolf kill 77;
Zone 2: 28, 29;
Zone 3: 71, 75;
Zone 4: 12, 12;
Zone 5: 34, 33;
Zone 6: 30, 31.
The state's wolf management plan is being revised; an updated version is expected to be presented for public review in 2014.
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