2017 wolf survey
I wanted to post this in the general discussion but figured it would get derailed by the 5th post. The DNR can beat around the bush all they want but this is a huge increase.

D. N. R.

Do Nothing Right

What do you believe the DNR is doing wrong?

quote Armored: "D. N. R.


Do Nothing Right "

The MNDNR has supported a season for the last 10 years. They had zero to do with the closed season now. The courts had 100% to do with it. The U.S. Dept. of Interior Fish and Wildlife under President Obama supported a season. It was the courts period.

You even look at the seasons we had,over 60% of the wolves killed were pups(less than one year old) or 1.5 year old. Aproximately 50% of these would of died with a season or no season. Pups have a very high natural mortality rate. One of the biggest reasons why the wolves declined for a few years was mange was very heavy on wolves,coyotes and fox across much of central and Northern Minnesota. I witnessed it on all 3 species of which many lost much of their hair or fur. You could find dead wolves in the woods those years from mange.

Yes it is time to have a Managed season and one of them is to keep them from becoming too unafraid.

Yes the needed much protection in the early 70's when the Endangered Species Act came into effect,but now it is time for the last 10 years to come off the list.With a much controlled manage hunt.

Also 2012-13 and 2013-14 were very hard winters with deer starvation as far south as Little Falls. So many factors played into the decreased deer herd along with too many doe permits and multi deer permits in many areas.

I agree Pinetree.

The DNR gets a ton of blame for things that are completely out of their control. I'm not saying they get it right 100% of the time but I'm definitely willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. They went to school to specialize in certain areas of the outdoors only to have professional work undermined by a bunch of armchair biologist and their congressmen in St. Paul.

I also agree that the DNR has been working hard to regain control of wolf management but every time it gets close there is another frivolous lawsuit and a ruling by a judge from an east or west coast state that feels sympathy for them and strikes state management down.

While in Ely last weekend I chatted with a resort owner about the moose situation. He said someone at the DNR told him the wolf is the problem but going on the record with that would create a firestorm. So for now we'll just sit on that one while the anti's continue to dream up different ways a 3 day old moose can die of brain worm.

I've read multiple articles that quoted the DNR or someone from the DNR saying that wolves are certainly a factor in the declining moose population. Certainly not the only cause but it was cited as a major contributing factor.

Really the DNR has its hands tied when it comes to wolves. I believe they are sampling the wolf population in good faith. I think they'd like to see the numbers come back higher than they are because it helps their cause in restarting the managed wolf hunt. I can't comment on how accurate their survey methods are but I do know they use methods established within the biology community. I just run into so many guys up north that swear up and down that there must be 10,000 wolves in MN because they saw 5 on their 50 acre property once or they hear them howl a lot. Way to many back yard biologists thinking a random single sample from one location actually means something.

There is a lot less wolves than some of the people think and more than some others think.

Its basically a index estimate and has a lot of variability but over time(years) it is fairly accurate and yes many people think there is more wolves than their actually are because they do cover a lot of territory. Each pack as of now is covering on average like 54 sq. mile area and yes sometimes much more sometimes much less. Yes I think we have maxed out on the high end of wolf. Also the population estimate is made in like March,when the wolf population is at its lowest levels. Your highest wolf populations now are probably in north central Minnesota.

Yes if you talk to most DNR wildlife Managers they will say the wolf population does have a effect on the deer population when it gets below a certain level(like 13 deer/sq mile spring population) with a hunter harvest also being cumulative,but again it has much less effect than many think. Wolves are averaging killing like 1-3 deer/sq mile and yea that varies.

Taken September 27th. This picture is at the extreme southern edge of the wolf range south of Brainerd on my brothers land. There has been a pack or so there for a decade. They appear for a day or so than we won't see a track fpr like a month.

Pinetree - I've seen wolf track and scat and heard them at Pillsbury State Forest, a little north of where you're talking. I was hiking there about 5 years ago and ran into a conservation officer and we chatted a bit about them. He confirmed that there was a pack in the Pillsbury State Forest. He said there was a pack near Camp Ripley for years and that this pack was believed to have branched off from that pack.

quote mc2mens: "Pinetree - I've seen wolf track and scat and heard them at Pillsbury State Forest, a little north of where you're talking. I was hiking there about 5 years ago and ran into a conservation officer and we chatted a bit about them. He confirmed that there was a pack in the Pillsbury State Forest. He said there was a pack near Camp Ripley for years and that this pack was believed to have branched off from that pack."

There has been wolves in the Pillsbury forest probably for 20 years and maybe a little longer in Camp Ripley. Little Falls is probably the southern edge of the wolf range,except for wanders.
Their is well established wolf packs south of Mille lacs in the Mille Lacs Wildlife management area.

The area by Longville didn't have many wolves until about 1990,now probably has more than the BWCA area.

You cannot blame DNR for the wolf problems. Wildlife managers try to manage wolf populations through-out the US and are fought at every turn by the anti-hunting crowd and the shoot on site ranching community. I now live in MT and we need a wolf season just as MN does. It will happen here due to the fact that MT politics are very pro hunter and pro rancher. MN may never get back to a real season or allow trapping. We need to let the wildlife managers do their jobs and keep it out of courts.

MN will get its wolf season back as soon as the wolf is no longer under federal control. The MN DNR has been wanting a season for years and had a brief season when the wolf came off the federally protected list but it ended as soon as the wolf was put back on.

As it stands right now it doesn't matter if there are 100 wolves or 100,000 wolves in Minnesota, the MN DNR has no power to do anything.