Wisconsin's Wolf Hunt: 5 Things To Know

WISCONSIN — Wildlife officials have increased the limit for how many wolves hunters can kill in the fall after biologists warned that the species could become endangered.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources voted Wednesday to raise the kill quota for gray wolves in Wisconsin to 300 after originally recommending 130.

Hunters passed their quota in February, killing 218 wolves instead of the department's capacity of 119.

In a report about the effects on the wolf population after being taken off the endangered species list, scientists at the University of Wisconsin - Madison warned that the animals could become endangered again without enough regulations.

"We recommend greater rigor and independent review of the science used by agencies to plan wolf hunting quotas and methods," UW Madison professor Adrian Treves wrote in the report.

The wolf fall harvest season opens on Nov. 6, the department said.

Here are five facts to take away before the harvest date:

• Wildlife officials had set a total wolf hunt quota of 200 for the February 2021 hunt. 119 wolves were reserved for licensed hunters and 81 were reserved for Native American tribes. Hunters killed 216 wolves within three days, overshooting their capacity by almost 82 percent, Huffpost reported.
• 695–751 gray wolves were expected to be alive in Wisconsin in April 2021, according to the UW Madison report. That's at least a 27 percent decline over 2020, the report said.
• Hunting during the wolves' breeding season makes the impact on their population uncertain, the department said. The department doesn't have wolf population data available after February's hunt.
• Gray wolves were taken off of the endangered species list in October of 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported. There are 6,000 wolves in the lower 48 states, according to the department.
• The Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, a conservation group made of hunters and trappers, applauded the decision in a statement to take gray wolves off of the endangered species list last year. Wolf populations posed a threat to livestock, farmers and ranchers, the federation said.