Well you can not turn loose if you know wolves are in the area, and you can try and get to your dogs as soon as possible. But it doesn't always work. I have hunted around wolves (try to avoid them as much as possible) for a lot of years without losing any. But I lost two this winter, where I hadn't seen a wolf track all winter and very rarely in the past. One of them the wolves killed less than a hundred yards from me, with me hollering at dogs and walking in there. Not because I knew wolves were in the area, but because I had a young dog out front who turned around and took the back track, I thought she had treed the cat and left, but apparently she met the wolves and skedaddled before they got her, my old dog got to where she turned around and shut up, I thought because I was hollering, turned out because the wolves killed her without making a sound.

The other thing you can do (not legally in Wisconsin) is concentrate on killing any packs of dog killers. Once they start killing dogs they will continue to do so and will home in on dogs barking. I tracked the wolves over a mile to the other dog of mine they killed, from where I could see they heard them barking and turned and headed to them.

We run snowshoe hare in Northern MN with Beagles, and have been playing the "avoid them as much as possible game" for years. It was easier, when you occassionally saw a wolf track, to avoid those areas, but now it is unusual to find a decent hare spot without wolf tracks. I really don't know what they expect us to do other than quit running hounds.

Get bigger hounds and run different game.

I wonder that as well

This is what happened the last time WI had a season. Hound hunters fought the legal battle to ensure it happened this way.

Dog wolf conflict really fell the next year while farm conflicts stayed fairly high.

Given that wolves hone in on the bark of hounds, maybe a barking dog sound (call) would be effective for wolf hunters if we ever get a season again

Is anyone optimistic a new governor would signifigantly help our chances to wolf trap. I realize it's a federal issue, but currently we can't even seem to get our state to update the wolf management plan, so as a state we probably look unprepared for a potential harvest season.

For sure! Why would you think otherwise?

Tuesday will be interesting

Yes Michaels would make a big difference.

I've got no skin in the goings on up there. However one thing I notice is DNR's on purpose like, don't do their job when it comes to managing apex predators. Face value, many should see it and react, apparently though most don't.

For you guys that own private property that manage deer is to start cutting down trees to let the sun penetrate to the forest floor to grow more food for the deer, moose and other animals.

Also you guys need to let the wolves into Iowa, Sauk, Dane, Richland, Columbia, Grant, Rock, Lafayette, Green and Walworth counties. Iowa County should be priority #1, you guys will see that CWD evaporate....

Catch22, you're talking about bears right? Because the DNR has absolutely nothing to do with managing wolves right now, that's 100% USDA Wildlife Services. The only other apex predators in the state are the handful of mountain lions that move through every year.

Although I wouldn't consider a coyote an apex predator, about the only thing the DNR could do differently there is allow year round trapping on public land, otherwise it's already legal to hunt them 24/7 statewide year round and trap them year round on private land.

With the governor's in Wisconsin, Minnesota, & Michigan that won yesterday, it's hard to see optimism that these states will help do what they can to try to encourage the Feds to delist wolves

It’s just something you guys are gonna have to deal with , wolves belong in the woods. If you are gonna take your dog into the woods, it better be able to out run, avoid, or fight a wolf.


That’s all there is to it. The wolves have just as much if not more of a right to be in the woods than we do.

"The wolves have just as much if not more of a right to be in the woods than we do"..... No they dont

That the states "hands are tied on wolf management" is a fallacy that the State agencies want you to believe. Yes, they are currently listed, so state agencies cannot implement a season. However, state agencies could be doing far more to make the biological case for delisting wolves, but are perfectly content to hide behind Federal protection, and under the newly elected Governors will continue to do so.

Michigans DNR is great at hiding behind the feds as an excuse to do nothing.A couple of days ago I saw a interview with our head of the Wildlife Division saying their implementing a wolf management plan(another one) and were taking in all opinions from all concerned,including attitudes towards wolves(social science is now considered part of scientific wildlife management in this state).Nobody can seriously think a wolf season is coming in this state,and I believe other states are playing the same game.

I find it hard to believe that they actually believe the wolf population is currently only 970 as stated in the article.