The gray wolf’s tolerance for humans and road densities was a research topic presented at the Great Lakes Wolf Symposium at Northland College in October, with presenter Grace Lavan, of the Fond du Lac Reservation Resource Management Division in Minnesota, sharing results of her study on the subject, updating information found in older studies.
Researchers have found that humans account for 67% of wolf mortality, with poaching the dominant cause of wolf mortality despite the fact that wolves in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota have been mostly under some level of federal protection.
At this year’s Great Lakes Wolf Symposium at Northland College in Ashland, Wis., Alejandra Perez, a graduate student at Michigan State University’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, presented her work on how wolves in the Great Lakes Region are doing and how researchers evaluate changes in wolf survival and mortality over the years.
Study shows Great Lakes wolf survival not linked to federal listing status Read More »
Ashland, Wis. — Minnesota was the only state in the Upper Midwest where wolves were not completely extirpated back in the days of bounties before the species was first put on the federal endangered species list in 1974.
DNR says wolf population in state continues to be stable in Minnesota Read More »
Federal officials in Minnesota set a record in 2023 with 248 wolves trapped on or near farms, with the first wolf trapped in May. Wolf trapping was off to a quick start early in 2024, but tapered off after problem wolves were removed from farms.
That update came from Duane Sahr, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, as he spoke about the wolf/livestock conflict program in Minnesota during the Timber Wolf Alliance’s Great Lakes Wolf Symposium, Oct. 15-17, in Ashland, Wis.
Number of Minnesota wolves trapped by feds peaked in 2023 Read More »
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula doesn’t see nearly the livestock and pet losses to wolves as does Wisconsin and Minnesota, but that’s largely because there aren’t a lot of farms in the Upper Peninsula.
Brian Roell covered that topic and a review of Michigan’s wolf/livestock conflict program during the Timber Wolf Alliance’s Great Lakes Wolf Symposium Oct. 15-17 in Ashland, Wis. Roell is the large carnivore specialist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Wolf depredation in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula behind Wisconsin, Minnesota Read More »
Dead cattle, sheep, and horses that can easily be confirmed as wolf kills by federal agents are the most visible and “accountable” losses suffered by producers.
That information reaches the public. An “X” amount of money was paid out for “X” number of dead livestock for the year. What’s less talked about – and known – outside of livestock circles is the extensive impact on livestock that encounter wolves, but are not killed.
Predicting gun deer season success in Wisconsin this year may be much like nailing Jell-O to the wall. Last year saw a miserable season for hunters in the north. Some blamed predators, others the severe winter of 2022-23, and still others said loss of habitat had a hand in the mix. It is likely all three of those things were at play, especially in those northern regions.
Then comes along the almost non-winter of 2023-24.
Wisconsin’s gun deer season: How will late opener impact hunter success this year? Read More »
The Wisconsin Citizen Wolf Count Facebook group began logging trail camera photos of wolves by township and county in February 2023 after group leaders repeatedly asked the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to take up this type of effort.
When the DNR passed on his suggestion, group leader Corky Meyer, of Boltonville, decided he would take it upon himself to gather this information. Meyer has been a member of a number of conservation groups for decades and has closely followed the wolf conflict issue.
“In talking with the DNR, they said it would never work,” Meyer said. “In February of ’23, I said, ‘Aw, heck, I’ll do it myself.’”
Wolf conflicts with livestock and pets are running ahead of 2023 at this point of the year. Part of that could be increasing wolf populations, or wolves moving closer to inhabited areas as pack areas fill up in wilder parts of Wisconsin.
Part of this change also could be that wolves are simply hungrier this year than last after an open winter that might have made it more difficult for wolves to kill deer. Deep snowpack favors wolves over deer. With the past mild winter, deer were not as easy of a target as they were in the winter of 2022-23, one of the more severe winters in the northern tier of counties in recent memory.
Cost of wolf-killed livestock, pets up this year in Wisconsin Read More »
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