WOLF TAGS COMING SOON

FOR THOSE OF US WITH THEM IN OUR BACKYARDS, THIS DRAWING PLAN BETTER COME TRUE.

The DNR doesnt care about controlling wolves just more money.

this is a great point, french - with the current season structure, there is almost no chance of any meaningful harvest happening. first, the DNR will almost certainly undercut all their population estimates to be on the safe side (this has actually already happened). then they will overestimate the success rate, again to be on the safe side. killing 200 wolves wont begin to cover the annual population increase, let alone reduce the population (which is whats needed). even giving a 50% success rate (deer hunting is only around 30%), that means the dnr would have to give out 400 tags! i would guess the success rate may be closer to 15%. that would need 1300 tags! do you see the dnr doing that? no way. i often wonder if anyone working on this bill has thought these things through...

at 100.00 bucks for a tag and then you need preference points and I'm going to buy a tag.......NOT. If they went with what meestalubba said they would make a ton of money. And they would actually meet their quota kill. Guaranteed this plan fails and a new one in place next year that will work and make money.

thats exactly the system i wish they would have gone with, like they did out west. the hunting with dogs scenario becomes much easier if everyone buys a permit and has a chance to fill their tag instead of just the one guy. but bobcat hunters get it done all the time so it wont be impossible. i think the DNR missed out on a goldmine here - i mean who wouldn't buy a wolf permit if it was just an extra 10 bucks when they buy their deer license? whats 10 bucks on the offchance you see one? then if you actually get a wolf, the 100 bucks doesn't hurt at all. what's going to hurt is the guy that draws a tag, spends 100 bucks for it, takes 2 weeks of vacation and every weekend for 4 months, probably pays an outfitter tons of money, and doesnt even see a wolf. THAT is going to suck.

I agree with meet, trying to get a person with a tag in position to kill the wolf will be very difficult. I think this will discourage alot of people from buying a tag. That is why I think they should sell anyone that wants a tag one for a price of $24 and then set a quota of say 100. If you are lucky enough to shoot one, you then have to buy a kill permit that may cost say $50 and when the quota is met, they season ends. Simple enough? I think this will keep a lot more people intersted and sell more licenses which means more money for the DNR. I know I would buy the license just in case one is spotted while I am deer hunting, but if it is preference points, I doubt I will ever send in for one since I don't have dogs and don't trap.

I would bet this is based on money. Makes sense to me.

if you can be relatively certain that a wolf is alone (areas where there isnt a large established pack, like farm country farther south), running it with dogs would not be a problem. a wolf by itself is a coward. hardest part would be getting the one guy with a tag in front of the chase and keep him in good spots to shoot. but basically the same as chasing coyotes or a bear that won't tree.

"This is also BS: Carcass tags will be issued in two ways – by preference drawing and by random draw. Half of the tags will go either way. The legislation allows for that. Thiede said that was decided because anyone who did not apply with preference the first year would never be able to catch up to those who did apply for preference right out of the gate. " I would bet this is based on money. I can see the DNR thinking that if 10,000 people apply the first year, people will stop paying the permit application to have a chance to draw one. Why pay the permit application fee if there is no chance to draw one. Money maker.....

"I think this is BS: Thiede said the DNR will make half of all tags available to the state’s six Chippewa tribes, although he acknowledged that the DNR still has to look at the Voigt court ruling to see if wolves are even listed as a species that is subject to shared harvest in the ceded territory." Completely agree.

I think this is BS: Thiede said the DNR will make half of all tags available to the state’s six Chippewa tribes, although he acknowledged that the DNR still has to look at the Voigt court ruling to see if wolves are even listed as a species that is subject to shared harvest in the ceded territory. This is also BS: Carcass tags will be issued in two ways – by preference drawing and by random draw. Half of the tags will go either way. The legislation allows for that. Thiede said that was decided because anyone who did not apply with preference the first year would never be able to catch up to those who did apply for preference right out of the gate. So if you forget to apply you still have a chance at a tag while a guy who is applying every year may still not get one. I read this as they plan to give out very few tags. They don't do this for bear or anything else.

the DNR seems to be on the ball with this - looks like we should be applying for a wolf tag sometime after June 1! http://www.outdoornews.com/April-2012/Wolf-hunt-details-being-ironed-out-in-Wisconsin/ what i don't like is that the vast majority of the DNR's volunteer trackers do not want a wolf hunt. so it is in their best interests to fudge the data. that being the case, it's no surprise they seem to have come up with a zero population increase from last year. the dnr is going to have to come up with a better system of counting wolves. they can't make good decisions with bad data.

Icerat, I am sure the wolves had a hard time this winter. Low deer numbers, little snow, and too many wolves to boot. Lots of them died this winter. On the other hand I have land in Shawano co. 1 mi. south of Red River. They are growing in numbers there.

I haven't heard any of the wolves howling at my land in the U.P. yet this spring and there isn't sign from them like years past. On the other hand the family farm in Shawano Co has more wolves showing up on the trail cameras than in past years. Looking forward to Wisconsin residents taking hunting advantage of the wolf population in this state.