New wolf season draws nearly 5,000 applications so far

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MADISON - Applications keep rolling in for Wisconsin’s first wolf hunting season. As of late this morning, the state DNR said over 4,700 people applied for just over two-thousand available permits.

The quota for the inaugural hunt is 201 wolves, about a quarter of state’s total grey wolf population. Under treaty laws, the state’s Indian tribes can declare up to 50-percent of the available animals in their ceded territories -- and the rest of the quota will then be open to hunters-and-trappers.

The wolf season was created after the federal government took wolves from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan off the endangered species list. That gave those three states the right to manage their own wolf populations. Wisconsin has more than twice as many wolves than its original quota of 375. As a result, wolves have been attacking livestock and hunting dogs – and the new season is intended to ease that.

Hunting applications can be filed with the DNR through August 31st. A lottery will then choose the permit-holders. Those who don’t get permits will get preference next time.

Tags: outdoors