Great Lakes region take 484 wolves

[minky]

As reported in FF&G, 484 wolves were taken in the Great Lakes region.

The Great Lakes region is made up of MN, Wisconsin and Michigan.

MN = 237 wolves

Wisconsin = 224 wolves

Michigan = 23 wolves

[Musky Buck]

I see the result as there will be roughly 9,000 more deer around to be hunted and or even more considering how many pregnant does will now make it, small amount but with the past 2 winters here in the Midwest doesn't hurt to have a few more deer around. Kinda crazy how it all worked out, wolf season in MN started the year of the first tough more spring then winter and followed by season 2 on the wolves which is climbing to the most below zero nights aiming for the top 5 all time and low deer numbers making browse competition even lower. The wolf hunt timing was impeccable.

[minky]

I think the wolf hunt is a good thing.

Anytime we get to hunt a new season and we are not damaging that game population that sounds good to me.

[JBMasterAngler]

I think the wolf quota should be higher, especially in the NE region. Any little bit that can help out the moose is a good thing.

[minky]

Good point!

Maybe next year the DNR will increase the number to be taken.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Yeah right! lol! That definitely will not be happening. Wolf numbers are down considerably since the hunt started. With the deer and moose populations so low, wolf numbers will continue declining and with the push back from the anti crowd, harvest numbers will decline much more before they ever allow an increase to the numbers of the first hunt.

[Musky Buck]

Brule down considerably ? Maybe in Virginia,MN, what about the packs now expanding into, forget that they've already expanded 5 years ago now, Ottertail,Wadena,Todd,Morrison, counties, they're just running out of moose and deer in the NE so they've done the smart thing go find food elsewhere. If you want we can live trap em and send em back up your way, the federal trapper took 24 of them in OT. county a few years ago and he told my best friend he barely really made a dent because as he was kinda wrapping things up he could still hear several packs howling in many directions and that county has some serious size to it. I think they're just spread out a lot more than they once were due to food sources. I'm not for wiping them out no, but like any other predator in the state thanks to humans, their numbers need to be held in check. I think we're helping them by hunting them and reducing competition for them amongst themselves.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Never said I was against lowering the harvest total, MB! There was mention of DNR maybe raising quotas, and I said HA! No way!

Wolf numbers are down considerably state wide. Maybe not in your neck of the woods, but they are, overall. It's a classic predator/prey relationship. Prey is down, predator follows.

[brittman]

Disease and starvation kill far more wolves than man does.

For the most part the deer population exploded after the really rough winters of the mid 90s. With that population growth came a large rise in the wolf population and the number of wolf packs. The new packs on the fringe find untapped deer populations and continue to thrive and push outward.

Dispersal works as long as the habitat that the animal (or plant for that matter) moves into is hospitable to that organisms traits.