The February 2021 Wisconsin Wolf Hunt: A Preliminary Assessment

Wisconsin’s Green Fire (WGF) has released a preliminary assessment of the February 2021 Wisconsin wolf hunting and trapping season. Our report reviews impacts of the hunt on Wisconsin’s wolf population and provides recommendations to ensure that future wolf management is informed by science and best practice.

Key findings in our report include:

• During the February hunt wolves were removed primarily from core habitats on public lands where conflicts with pets, livestock or human safety are rare. Based on currently available information and our understanding of wolf populations and behavior, there is little evidence that the February 2021 wolf hunt will significantly reduce human – wolf conflicts.

• Based on loss of bred females and alpha males, it is reasonable to estimate that 60-100 of Wisconsin’s wolf packs may lose all pup production due to the February hunt. If this impact is realized it will represent 24-40% of the expected reproduction from 245 known wolf packs outside of Indian reservations in Wisconsin.

• The lack of consultation with Wisconsin Ojibwe Tribes over the February hunt failed to meet the state’s responsibilities for meaningful consultation to assure tribes maintain their longstanding rights to natural resources within Ceded Territories. The relations between the State and the Wisconsin Ojibwe Tribes have been damaged and will take time repair.

• Despite current law requiring annual wolf harvests, the WDNR retains authority to establish quotas and, within statutory limits, to regulate the form, timing, and methods of harvest. The WDNR should use its authority more fully to prevent the kind of unwanted outcomes experienced in February from being repeated.

Download the Conservation Bulletin on the February 2021 Wolf Hunt

Media Coverage of the Preliminary Assessment of February 2021 Wolf Hunt:

The Wisconsin State Journal’s April 29th, 2021 story: Report: Guided by politics, wolf hunt harmed packs, did little to resolve conflicts

WPR’s April 29th, 2021 story: Report Finds 100 Wolf Packs May Lose Pups From February Hunt That Did Little To Resolve Conflicts

WXPR’s May 3rd, 2021 story: Wisconsin’s Green Fire Releases Assessment of ‘Mishandled’ Wolf Hunt

Ashland Daily Press’s May 3rd, 2021 story: Report finds 100 wolf packs may lose pups from February hunt

WUWM 89.7’s May 11th, 2021 story: Wisconsin Wolf Management Faces Criticism As DNR Drafts Plan