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    February 2021 WI Wolf Hunt   

On 30 March 2016, Gov. Scott Walker signed 2015 assembly Bill 700 into law. The now- 2015 WI Act 285 states that when wolves are no longer listed as endangered: "The department SHALL establish a single annual open season for both hunting and trapping wolves that begins on the first Saturday in November of each year and ends on the last day of February of the following year."

     One of the last acts of the Trump administration was to delist wolves in January 2021. Citing the above law, hunting groups demanded that the DNR immediately allow the hunting of WI wolves. They got their way, resulting in a disastrous two-day frenzy that resulted in a total of 218 wolves reported killed, exceeding the 119 quota by 99 wolves, or 83%. How many additional animals were killed and not reported, and how much damage was done to wolf recovery efforts in Wisconsin, is still unknown.

     On September 24th, 2021, Senate Bill 580 was introduced into the WI State Senate, hoping to close the loophole by which the DNR was forced to hold the hurried February hunt by simply changing the "shall" in the original law to "may." The bill was Introduced by Senators Carpenter, Ringhand, Roys, L. Taylor, Agard, Johnson and Larson; and cosponsored by Representatives Emerson, Andraca, Brostoff, Cabrera, Conley, Considine, Neubauer, Shelton, Sinicki, Hebl, Hong, Moore Omokunde, Ohnstad, Snodgrass, Stubbs, Subeck and Vining. It was referred to the Senate Committee on Sporting Heritage, Small Business and Rural Issues. The bill never made it out of committee.

     On March 10. 2022, the Assembly version, AB 1162, was introduced. It was referred to the Assembly Committee Rules. On March 15, it "Failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1."

     This simple word change won't stop the hunting of wolves in Wisconsin, but it will leave it up to the discretion of the WI DNR whether an annual hunt will/should be held, instead of putting WI wildlife at the mercy of lawsuits by out-of-state hunting groups.

Bill Summary (by the Legislative Reference Bureau):

     "Under current law, if the wolf is not listed on the federal endangered list and is not listed on the state endangered list, the Department of Natural Resources must allow the hunting and trapping of wolves. This bill provides that DNR may allow the hunting and trapping of wolves but does not require it.” [Emphasis ours.]

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

     General guidelines for contacting your representatives: Try to keep your message brief, and be sure to give your name, complete mailing address, and phone number. Let your representative know that you are a constituent. Please, ALWAYS be polite and respectful. Name-calling, and rude or abusive letters or emails will hurt, rather than help, our cause.

• Please contact both your WI State Senator and State Representative and ask for their SUPPORT of SB 580, relating to eliminating the mandatory wolf hunt. You can find your representatives at: https://legis.wisconsin.gov/

  • If they have already signed on as co-sponsors (see Co-Sponsor list above), please THANK them and let them know you also support SB 580.

  • If they are not listed as co-sponsors, ask them to "Please support SB 580, relating to: relating to eliminating the mandatory wolf hunt.

  • Again, it is VERY important that you include your full name, street address, city, state and zip. Phone number and email address are also helpful.

• If you want to give reasons for your position, please see our Talking Points below!

• Also, please post your request/thanks on your Representative's Facebook page!

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Talking Points:

     If you aren't familiar with what we call the February 2021 wolf slaughter -- when despite the wishes of the WI DNR and the public, a rushed wolf hunt was forced on the state by a lawsuit brought by an out-of-state hunting group -- please see: February 2021 WI Wolf Hunt. Here, you can read about the short but bloody "hunt" that resulted in 218 reported wolves killed (the "harvestable quota was only 119) in two days, most of them "with the aid of trailing hounds."

February 2021 WI Wolf Hunt links of interest:

• Public input on wolf harvest season, May 2021 (pdf)
• WI DNR Wolf Hunting and Trapping page
• Feburary 2021 Wisconsin Wolf Season Report (pdf)
• Feburary 2021 Wolf Hunt (Licensing) Drawing Summary (pdf)
• WI Greenfilre February 2021 Wisconsin Wolf Hunt: A Preliminary Assessment May 2021 (pdf)
• WI DNR Wolf Management Plan Page
• WI DNR Wolf Management Survey: Analysis and Talking Points (pdf) and Follow-Up Statement (pdf)
• Hunters for Wolves
• HSUS Public Opinion Poll on Wolf Hunting in WI (pdf)
• HSUS analysis of Feb. 2021 WI Wolf Hunt: A call to endwolf trophy hunting in Wisconsin(pdf)