ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Minnesota's first wolf hunt may have ended but the
controversy around it has not. In total 411 wolves were taken during
the hunting season, just a little over the DNR's target of 400.
Dan Stark with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said
they expected final numbers to fluctuate but overall the debut season
went well.
"The rate at which wolves were taken per day actually increased
throughout the season, whereas with deer, the majority of deer are taken
the very first weekend and then there's a decline throughout the
season," Stark said.
When it was proposed the hunt sparked several protests and continued to do so after it was approved.
"We can't really afford to kill our wolves," Maureen Hackett, founder of Howling for Wolves, which opposed the hunt, said.
She believes the number of wolves killed may actually be higher than
what the DNR reports because of poachers. She vows her group will
continue fighting.
"We are going to be working with the legislators to stop recreational
hunting of wolves and to give our livestock owners a fair allowance for
cost of doing business in wolf territory," Hackett said.
Stark won't say if another season could open next year but isn't ruling it out either.
"At this point we'll be evaluating the data that we've collected over
the season on where wolves were taken, success rates of hunters and
trappers," he said.
That data, as well as information that will be gathered from a winter
survey of wolves, will be used to set parameters for future hunting
seasons.
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