Paul A. Smith
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A new set of gray wolf hunting and trapping rules is scheduled to take effect Nov. 1 in Wisconsin.
The new rules include a faster reporting requirement for wolf kills, a zone-specific tag system, updated wolf management zones, protections for wolf dens and added restrictions in dog training on wolves, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
In general, the rules package is designed to give the DNR better controls over the number and location of wolf kills and help direct hunting and trapping efforts in future wolf seasons.
A gray wolf known to researchers as R2L has traveled in late 2022 from Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota to western Wisconsin. The wolf is a 1.5-year-old male, is shown in a trail cam photo taken in northern Minnesota.
The wolf has been protected by the Endangered Species Act since 2022 in Wisconsin and many other states, preventing hunting, trapping or other lethal take or management actions.
The new rules would cover wolves in potential future hunting and trapping seasons. A Wisconsin law passed in 2012 requires a wolf season if the species is under state management.
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The wolf rules package and an updated wolf management plan had been approved in October 2023 by the Natural Resources Board. The wolf management plan took effect immediately, since such plans don’t require Legislative approval.
However, administrative rules are subject to legislative review and the Republican-controlled Legislature held up the wolf rules package for two years.
But a recent Wisconsin Supreme Court decision, which made it clear Legislative committees could review but not indefinitely block administrative rules, helped advance the wolf package.
Sen. Rob Stafsholt, R-New Richmond, chairman of the Senate Sporting Heritage Committee, had asked the DNR for several modifications to the rules package, including more lenient wolf kill reporting times, allowing kill tags to be good statewide and for eliminating wolf management subzones.
In early September the DNR sent a letter to the Senate Sporting Heritage Committee indicating that the department would not be amending the wolf rule according to the committee’s suggestions, said Scott Karel, DNR wildlife policy specialist.
The notification restarted the committee’s review period, which was previously paused. That review period ended Sept. 18 without the committee taking any further action on the rule, Karel said.
Since the standing committee review period ended, the Legislative Reference Bureau agreed to publish the rule in the Administrative Register, the final step in the rule-making process.
The wolf package was scheduled to be published Oct. 27 and go into effect Nov. 1.
More: Wolves are under federal protection and can’t be hunted in Wisconsin. What do the new rules taking effect Nov. 1 in the state mean?
The DNR’s latest wolf management plan features six zones and four sub zones, including several boundary changes. Zones 1, 2 and 5 comprise the areas considered primary wolf range.
The DNR was keen to establish tighter controls over wolf hunting and trapping after the last season, held in February 2021, exposed inadequacies. State-licensed hunters and trappers were able to use their tags anywhere in the state and register their kills as late as 5 p.m. on the day after the kill. Compounding matters, the Natural Resources Board issued twice the number of kill tags recommended by DNR wildlife staff.
During the February 2021 Wisconsin wolf season, hunters and trappers registered 218 wolves, exceeding the state-licensed quota of 119 wolves by 83%.
Ojibwe tribes were also allocated a quota of 81 wolves but used their right to protect, not kill, the animals. The tribes did not transfer any of their quota to the state. Nor are state-licensed hunters or trappers free to use it.
The result triggered two lawsuits against the DNR and attracted international criticism for its failure to hold the kill closer to the state-licensed quota.
The new rules require hunters and trappers to register their wolf kills within 8 hours of time of kill. It also will designate tags good only in specific management zones.
In addition the rule prohibits hunters from using telemetry gear to locate or track wolves.
The final rules package that will be published is the same as was approved by the NRB in October of 2023, Karel said.
Wolf management issues remain controversial in the U.S. Bills have been introduced in Congress to remove the species in Wisconsin and most other states from protections of the federal Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is also appealing the 2022 ruling.
In 2024, the state paid $322,970 for wolf-caused losses to livestock producers, hunters using hounds and others in the state, according to DNR figures. The total was the second-highest in the 40-year history of the program.
Many wildlife advocates, however, maintain the species should retain protections to help it occupy more of its historical range in the U.S.
The population of wolves in Wisconsin was estimated at 1,226 animals in 336 packs in winter 2024-25, according to the DNR. The estimate represented a slight decline from the previous two years and suggests the state’s wolf population is reaching an equilibrium around its biological carrying capacity, said Lydia Margenau, DNR wildlife research scientist.
Wolf densities are highest in the northern and central forest regions of the state.
