Outdoor News Daily

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is proposing an inaugural gray wolf hunting and trapping season this fall that calls for a conservative harvest quota of 400 animals.

Wolf research indicates Minnesota’s wolf population could sustain a higher quota, but DNR officials say they are taking a measured approach to the state’s first season.

The proposal sets a quota of 6,000 licenses that will be allocated through a lottery system. Only one license will be allowed per hunter or trapper. Hunting would be allowed with firearms, archery equipment and muzzleloaders. Calls and bait would be allowed with restrictions.

The season is proposed for the end of November and would be closed once the quota is met. Hunters would be required to register animals on the same day they are harvested and data would be collected from carcasses. Other states with harvest seasons for wolves and other big game animals similarly monitor seasons and close them when quotas are met.
Read the rest of this entry »

Minnesota’s population of wolves will transition from federal protection to state management by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Jan. 27, bringing with that transition a number of law changes.

Minnesota’s Wolf Management Plan will protect wolves and monitor their population, but also give owners of livestock and domestic pets more protection from wolf depredation. The plans splits the state into two management zones, with more protective regulations in the northern third, considered the wolf’s core range.

“The DNR is well-prepared to manage gray wolves and ensure the long-term survival of the species,” said Ed Boggess, DNR Fish and Wildlife Division director. “The state’s Wolf Management Plan will allow Minnesotans more flexibility to address the real conflicts that occur between wolves and humans.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks reports that about 60 percent of the statewide wolf quota of 220 wolves has been met in Montana’s 2011-2012 wolf hunting season.

A total of 100 wolves were taken during the regular archery and rifle seasons Sept. 3.—Nov. 27. The FWP Commission then extended the wolf hunting season until Feb. 15, or until the statewide quota is met. This season extension resulted in the harvest of an additional 33 wolves as of Jan. 11.

The commission will consider an additional wolf hunting season extension in the Bitterroot at its Jan. 19 meeting.

The FWP Commission has removed the requirement for wolf hunters to wear hunter orange during the extended season.
Read the rest of this entry »

Some recently issued 2012 wolf hunting tags include an incorrect telephone number for the reporting hotline.

About 4,200 tags were issued to 3,780 individuals for 2012 were printed with the incorrect number.

The correct reporting hotline number is 1-855-648-5558.

Hunters may buy two wolf tags per calendar year. They are required to report killing a wolf within 72 hours, and they must present the skull and hide to an Idaho Fish and Game office within 10 days. They may call the hotline or a local Fish and Game office to report a kill.
Read the rest of this entry »