Wisconsin Kills Double the Quota in a Rushed Wolf Hunt. A Reason to Restore Protective Status

[Beringia]

(Originally printed in the Chicago Tribune by the Editorial Board on 3/8/2021)





Daily Union of Jefferson County, WISCONSIN
https://www.dailyunion.com/a-wolf-hunt-a-reason-to-restore-protective-status/article_9f2752d9-380f-5ad1-8b69-fb8782e6776e.html

EXCERPTS


In its final days, the Trump administration removed gray wolves from the list of endangered species protected under federal law. It was a dubious decision, given they number just 6,000 in the lower 48 states and are still absent from the vast majority of their historic range. The delisting opened the door to travesties of the kind seen last month in Wisconsin.

Under an unusual state law, Wisconsin was required to allow a wolf hunting season once the animal was taken off the protected list. The Department of Natural Resources wanted to postpone the hunt until November to give it time to determine a sensible quota and confer with Native American tribes, which regard the wolves with reverence. But a lawsuit by an out-of-state group, Hunter Nation, prevailed in court to force the agency to allow the hunt in February — during the animals’ mating season, when they are particularly vulnerable.

The hunt unleashed a frenzy of killing with most hunters using dogs and some using snowmobiles. The state set a quota of 119 wolves for hunters obtaining permits and 81 for Native American tribes. The tribes chose not to use theirs — but the other hunters vastly exceeded their limit, liquidating at least 216 and prompting the DNR to stop the hunt in less than three days instead of the seven originally planned.

Adrian Treves, an environmental studies professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and founder of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab, estimates that another 115 were likely killed by poachers. That would mean a third of the state’s wolves were wiped out in under 60 hours. “There’s a very real risk that we are jeopardizing the stability of our wolf population across the state,” he said in an interview on Wisconsin Public Radio.

Those defending the hunt insist that wolves are a menace to livestock and therefore must be kept to a minimum. But there were only 86 instances of such wolf predation last year in Wisconsin — a minuscule number in a state with 3.45 million beef cattle, 75,000 sheep, 72,000 goats and 179,000 horses. The owners of livestock killed by wolves are entitled to compensation from the state, which last year paid out $1.8 million.

[Bayard]

1. Hope Sec. Haaland gets right on this

God DAMN trump! And goddamn wolf hunters!

[Beringia]

2. I hope so too. I read good things about her a while back.

[StClone]

4. Haaland may be great as Native Americans do not kill wolves

It is their spirit animal. And the overkill was purposeful. Since the Native American kill allowance was 90, and they don't ever take a one, the WI state fucks purposely allowed the overkill to take the Native quota. Sick!

[Beringia]

6. Native Americans may not kill wolves, but they do kill other "Game" animals

and it must just be for the killing sport for many, because they cannot eat them or use their fur.

https://data.glifwc.org/regulations/small.game.php


SPECIES SEASON DATES

Badger Closed
Bobcat October 1 March 31
Beaver Year Round
Coyote and Cottontail Year Round
Muskrat and Otter October 1 March 31 (hunting) April 30 (trapping)
Raccoon, Red Fox, Gray Fox, Red, Gray, Fox Squirrels Year Round
Unprotected Species Year Round

[StClone]

7. Wolves are not just another animal

They are dynamic apex hunters. Highly social and Native Americans know the difference between game and and such species. Who said Native Americans don't take game for the sport. Don't know who or what point is being made.

The OP here is the radical, out of control, blood fuck-nuttery that was the wolf hunt in Wisconsin. Never again.

[Beringia]

8. I think you should respect all wildlife, not just the apex, not a difficult point to understand

[StClone]

9. A noble point one which I concur

[LakeArenal]

10. The WI State Fucks also wanted to have hunting season

On Sandhill Cranes. They did get a hunting season on doves.

And for the record....

REPUBLICANS FIRED ALL THE SCIENTISTS FROM THE DEPT. OF NATURAL RESOURCES.

Yes, I still holler about that.

Also the loosened the restrictions keeping cattle poop out of the water table.

[StClone]

11. It is no way to run the state of Wisconsin

Wisconsin needs to get back to where we once were: A leader of Progressive and Ecological values. Well the dove hunt is stupid. Thank God the Mourning Dove can withstand the minor hunting pressure it receives in WI. And the Sandhill Crane hunt is way stupider and thankfully we averted it here.

Sixteen states offer crane hunting: Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Idaho, Minnesota, Arizona, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alaska, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota. Many seasons are limited and require a special permit. Can you spot the one state in the above that doesn't belong?

I hunted all my life. Now, I am ardently ANTI-HUNTING. This Wolf slaughter pushed me to never again raise a gun to any animal with the exception of some vermin which I will trap (mostly House Sparrow and E. Starling) to protect Eastern Bluebirds nest boxes.

[LakeArenal]

12. Same with Mr Lake.

We illegally fed deer forever.
Eventually you can’t bait them into your yard and then kill them for two weeks.

Also he realized, just seeing a great deer is as good. Deer stands are not just about hunting either. He loved just being out there at dawn. Drink coffee, sleep.
The sprinkles on the cup cake were seeing something cool.

[StClone]

13. Yeah, I hunted deer

Pheasant, squirrel and more. I am no longer a big meat eater, though I will say the best flavored is elk and Moose. I also have been a birder since the '60's. Which brings me to note I have spent some time looking for birds around Lake Arenal. Do you live there, if so wow, some very memorable days at Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park, Arenal Volcano, and farther afield in Quepos. Can't wait to return. My best!

[LakeArenal]

14. Yes we live on the opposite end of the lake from the volcano.

We live in Rio Piedras between Tilaran and Aguacate. The mountain above the Macadamia Cafe.

The birds are one of the reasons we are here.
[url=https://postimg.cc/sM6My1Y5][img][/img][/url]

[url=https://postimg.cc/6858DCv9][img][/img][/url]

[url=https://postimg.cc/SJGXTgjT][img][/img][/url]

[StClone]

15. Cool!

[StClone]

3. I wrote four letters to my Reps.

Why there is not a bigger outcry and fucking rage is beyond me. These are not hunters, they are exterminators. High tech gear, radio, thermo imaging, hunting dogs, atvs, snow mobiles, luxury RV's, some are hicks some are Trumps kin. All are blood nuts demented shit for brain killers. At best they are at inhuman.

[Beringia]

5. There are some outraged people, I saw many of them on the Wisconsin Public Radio Comments

https://www.wpr.org/consequences-winter-wolf-hunt



Clarence Darrow

This hunt totally disregarded the biology of the wolf. The breeding season involves the social structure of the pack. The late winter was for the most part disregarded by trappers as it is not a good time of the year to trap predators for their pelt as they are not in prime condition. If the objective was to kill as many wolves as possible, both legally and illegally, the hunt was a disgusting success. Wisconsin doesn't have wolves to feed the killing frenzy of wolfers from neghboring states who have extirpated their wolf populations.
Wolf biologist and wildlife managers know this isn't way to manage the wolf population. This hunt will go down in the annals of Wisconsin wildlife management along with market hunting and year round no limit hunts of the 20th century. One wonders what Aldo Leopold would have to say about the recent hunt.


Immer Treue to Clarence Darrow

Clarence,
You hit a lot of nails on the head. To further support your point of past prime coats, the fur industry would much prefer fur coming into prime fur rather than past prime.the last week of February when this “hunt”occurred, the fur would be worn and rubbed.

Wyatt_Earp to Immer Treue

"Wisconsin doesn't have wolves to feed the killing frenzy of wolfers from neighboring states who have extirpated their wolf populations." ..... what nail did he hit here Immer?

Immer Treue to Wyatt_Earp

Earp,
1.timing of the hunt disregarding social dynamic of wolf packs during breeding season.
2. As I’ve explained to you already, fur is/was past prime.
3. If the objective was to kill as many wolves legally and illegally the hunt was a disgusting success. Papers far and wide in the country have reported on the hunt, and I haven’t seen a favorable one yet.
4. The WDNR did not want this hunt, and the way it was forced to implement said hunt.
5. Despite Leopold’s killing days, I’m sure the comment in regard to Leopold would have comments on the hunt, not all good.

You take issue with one thing he said about neighboring states. Ask him, not me. I said he hit a lot of nails on the head.

Wyatt_Earp to Immer Treue

#1 The wolf population almost doubles in May when pups are born. Throughout the summer and fall and winter inter-pack strife is a leading cause of death among wolves. (and some's explanation as to why populations don't double each year) It is laughable that your trying to convince everyone that changing "social dynamics" aren't a normal part of wolf life EVERY SEASON! JAN and FEB are months were limited resources and pack aggression do lead to inter pack - strife! .... I'm willing to bet the age structure of the hunt MATCHES that of inter pack strife deaths of JAN & FEB! When a pack member is killed by a neighboring pack.....avoidance is the result of the losing pack.... same goes with human avoidance after hunting!

#2 You're trying to make everyone believe that their coats are like a late March April and May coats...... pathetic!

#3 Why do have an obsession with "killing"... you on behalf of the wolf do more of it than the hunters.... It is NORMAL for man to hunt wolves and to be part of the ecosystem here in North America..... If believing what is printed in left wing rags are your barometer of right and wrong.... you're a fool!

# 4 "WDNR did not want this hunt" We don't serve the DNR they serve us!

# 5 Leopold would agree that man is part of the equation! If he didn't his work would sit next to Farley Mowat on the fiction shelf. He would be utterly disgusted with the wasted litigation dollars involved with wolves and rich welfare environmental lawyers.

Wyatt_Earp

#2 I encourage readers to look at the condition of the coats this way..... In the spring of the year most people are watching deer... as we get into late March April and May they start to loose their winter coat and start to look shabby.. I have never seen deer look shabby in late Feb.... The polar vortex that came through mid February I'm sure assisted in keeping coats in respectable condition a week later!

I spend tons of hours afield each spring looking for sheds and know exactly when deer / predators start to loose their winter coat..... THAT JUST DON"T happen until April here in WI! Immer is using the fact that they are on the down side of curve condition mid to late Feb to make you think its off the grid! Its fake news!

Immer Treue to Wyatt_Earp

1. It’s all I needed
2. Your writings are a gift that continue to give. I’m somewhere between 150-175 miles north of you, plus, I live in the woods 24/7/365 and spend hours out on my trails, and surrounding forest daily. Deer are already beginning to blow their coats out. In addition, as you have been corrected in the past, wolf/deer winter coats are a matter of genetics, not just a two week blast of cold air.
3. Wolf coats are past prime, period. Sure they may still look nice, and I’ll add they look nicer while on a living wolf. Once more for your records, from the fur industry. The majority of the fur industry prefers pelts “coming into” prime as opposed to past prime. Thus it is important to focus efforts on front half of harvest window, with the prime season mid November through mid January. After that there is a slow but steady degradation in past prime fur. Late February (The last week) fur is past prime. Past prime in general, the flanks and shoulders become worn late in the season and guard hairs and underfur are lost from large areas of the pelt. Pelts in this condition are considered “rubbed”.

“fin”

[MustLoveBeagles]

16. +1