Wisconsin proposes a 300 quota on wolf tags

[ScottP]

I hear what you’re saying. What gives me a bit of pause is the way the 2020 season went down- 218 killed in just four days.

To me, that means one of two things are true: either Wisconson wolf hunters are incredibly efficient killers, or the WDNR 2020 population of just over 1000 was probably undershot by quite a bit.

As I said, I am NOT a “kill all the wolves!” guy at all- I’m happy they are here. Also happy we have a hunting season for them.

Look at how many permits were issued for the spring hunt, the success rate was pretty low. I heard conditions were ideal for hunting as well. So maybe just a factor of lots of hunter effort, good conditions, and wolves that hadn’t been shot at in a while… rather than gross underestimate of the population.

 

[Treeshark]

So maybe just a factor of lots of hunter effort, good conditions, and wolves that hadn’t been shot at in a while… rather than gross underestimate of the population.

Good points on the contributing conditions, they were ideal and there were a lot of hunters (although very little lead time was given). Still, to me it seems as if the overall population of wolves is likely quite a bit higher than 1000.

We will get another chance to prove it this fall I guess, barring any last-minute monkey business with the season.

 

[ScottP]

Good points on the contributing conditions, they were ideal and there were a lot of hunters (although very little lead time was given). Still, to me it seems as if the overall population of wolves is likely quite a bit higher than 1000.

We will get another chance to prove it this fall I guess, barring any last-minute monkey business with the season.

Agreed, most pop estimates on large carnivores are often conservative. Some states use a minimum known count for example. This is usually very different than abundance estimates for deer, elk, etc. that people are used to.

I haven’t kept up with how the WDNR does this, but I’m sure it’s available as a public document.

another thing wildlife agencies probably don’t want to do is try and hit a management objective with harvest that’s a large % of the overall population.