The second half of wolf hunting/trapping season has begun with a total of 33 wolves expected to be harvested from the Tip of the Arrowhead region. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources set a quota of 220 wolves to be killed over both seasons statewide.
Minnesota’s second half of its wolf hunting season is well under way and so far (as of press time) 13 out of the target goal of 89 wolves have been harvested in the Northwest zone while 19 of the quota of 33 wolves have been taken from the Northeast zone.
During the early season a total of 106 wolves were killed, 33 in the Northeast zone and 73 in the Northwest zone.
So far no wolves have been killed in the East Central zone in either the first or second half of the hunting season. Only 10 wolves can be harvested in the East Central zone.
For the 2013 season the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) set a limit of 220 wolves that could be taken by gun or trap.
The fall of 2012, when wolf hunting was reintroduced to Minnesota, the DNR established a quota of 400 wolves.
Last winter the DNR put the wolf population at 2,211, a population decline of 24 percent from 2008 estimations. Based upon that reduction in numbers the DNR set a lower quota for this year.
Next year’s hunt—if one is held— will be based upon this winter’s findings of radio-collared wolves and from other data acquired by DNR workers and wildlife biologists. Should the population prove to be going down, the hunt/trapping will be reduced or even stopped to let the wolves recover.
This year the DNR sold 3,300 hunting/ trapping wolf licenses, half of what it sold last year.
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