MINNEAPOLIS — In the first hunting and trapping season to take place since the Gray wolf was removed from the federal endangered species list this past January, Wisconsin hunters exceeded the quota of a 119 wolves set by the state's department of natural resources.
"Going into the season this late in February, was fairly unprecedented, we played out a lot of different scenarios, and ways it could have gone, and certainly this was one we considered," WI DNR's Large Carnivore Specialist Randy Johnson said in a media briefing on Thursday.
The season ended early on Wednesday with Wisconsinites hunting or trapping 216 wolves. WI DNR officials said there were a few factors that contributed to the bigger number.
"The use of dogs is a very efficient method of harvest, and it was allowed this whole season," Johnson said. "And certainly in my neck of the woods in Northern Wisconsin, we had fresh snow both Monday morning and Tuesday morning, which is ideal condition for tracking wolves."
They said with a 24 hour notice to close off the season, they were closely monitoring the registered hunts.
"At this point stage of the game to say yeah maybe we should have closed it sooner, but certainly we were monitoring that harvest constantly, and we had everyone working hard to stay on top of what's going on," Wisconsin's Wild Life Management program director Eric Lobner said in the same media briefing Thursday. "It was based on harvest rates as they were coming in and what people were reporting and ultimately we ended up going a hair over."
The midwinter wolf count from Wisconsin showed around a 1,040 wolves before the hunt.
In Minnesota, the wolf population is much higher at 2,700.
Minnesota DNR's large carnivore specialist Dan Stark said the wolf population has been hovering at that number for a long time.
"I think it's fortunate in MN we've got a really healthy wolf population," Stark said.
He added that Minnesota's wolves were well preserved, even during the time they were federally listed as endangered.
"From the time they were listed under the endangered species act, that population expanded into Wisconsin and Michigan, all the wolves that occur throughout the great lakes region now, the source population was Minnesota's wolves," Stark explained.
When it comes to whether Minnesota will have a wolf season, Stark said that decision can only follow the wolf population management update they've been working on since 2019.
"We expected it to be a 18-24 month process," Stark said. "[We're] working on drafting the wolf plan update and hope to have that available this spring for public comment, recognizing that there's a lot of different interests in wolf management. The wolf plan is more comprehensive than just identifying whether or not the DNR would have a wolf season."