The 2014 late season wolf hunting and trapping season, scheduled to end on January 31, 2013, came to a close early across the state. At press time, the east-central zone had just closed, but it appears the harvest for the 2013 season reached 237 wolves taken. In the inaugural 2012 wolf hunting and trapping season, 413 wolves were harvested in the state.
Notice of the season closing in the northeastern region was posted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Tuesday evening, Dec. 17, when hunters and trappers had harvested 30 wolves. By Dec. 18, wolf harvest in the northeast had reached the target of 33. The final number of wolves killed in the northeast zone was 37.
In northwestern Minnesota, the season closed at the end of shooting hours on Friday, Dec. 27. The announcement was made by the DNR on Thursday evening, Dec. 26, when hunters and trappers had harvested 86 wolves, three wolves short of the northwest wolf zone’s harvest target. DNR officials called for the closure anticipating that the target harvest would be met by the end of Friday, Dec. 27. The final harvest was 103 wolves.
Another announcement of the closure of the east-central zone followed on Saturday, Dec. 28. The DNR announced that hunters were just one short of the harvest target of 10.
During the early hunting season, which concluded Nov. 25, hunters harvested 32 of 33 wolves in the northeast; 56 of 73 wolves in the northwest; and no wolves in the east-central zone.
Information about the Minnesota DNR’s wolf management is available online at www.mndnr.gov/wolves.
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