Wolf season opens the end of February

Hunters and trappers interested in applying for a wolf harvest permit, or preference point, may do so, as of Feb. 16. Applications will now be taken after the Wisconsin DNR announced that a wolf harvest season will take place Feb. 22-28.

The application period closes Saturday, Feb. 20. Customers may apply through their Go Wild account or by visiting a participating license agent. The department will post application results to each applicant’s Go Wild account the morning of Monday, Feb. 22.

Customers may commence the harvest season once they secure their license and carcass/pelt tag.

Updated rules and regulations for the February 2021 wolf harvest season, will be posted on the wolf hunting and trapping webpage, no later than Friday, Feb. 19. Printed copies will not be available in time for the February wolf harvest season.

During a Natural Resources Board Special Meeting Feb. 15, the board unanimously voted for a harvest quota of 200 wolves outside reservation lands. The department’s approved quota considered 2020 wolf population data, population response to previous harvest seasons, scientific literature and population model projections.

The proposed quota objective is to allow for a sustainable harvest that neither increases nor decreases the state’s wolf population.

Before any licenses are issued, the department will take steps to honor the Ojibwe Tribes’ right to declare up to half of the harvestable surplus in the Ceded Territory, per the tribes’ treaty rights and court rulings.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed gray wolves from the federal endangered species list Jan. 4, 2021, returning management authority to the lower 48 states and tribes.

The DNR will continue to plan for a wolf harvest season to open Nov. 6, while simultaneously working toward completing a 10-year wolf management plan to guide management decisions, beginning in 2022.