By Karl BremerWho’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Evidently, the MinnesotaDeer Hunters Association and a majority of the Minnesota Legislature—theparties responsible for ramming a wolf hunting season through the Capitol fiveyears ahead of schedule.
When the federal government removed gray wolves from theendangered and threatened species lists in Minnesota,Wisconsin and Michiganin January, the wolf haters ramped up their bloodthirsty lobbying efforts for a 2012season to start shooting them legally for the first time in Minnesotasince the 1970s.
The
DNR states that “Minnesotans clearly value wolves.Public opinion surveys and attitudes demonstrated during development of thestate's wolf management plan show people view the animal as ecologicallyimportant, scientifically fascinating, aesthetically attractive, recreationallyappealing and significant for future generations. Only a small minority fearand dislike wolves or believe
Minnesotawould be a more desirable place without this apex predator.”
Yet it was that “small minority” that drove the legislatureto start killing wolves this year rather than wait five years to see how thepopulation stabilized after federal delisting, as the original plan called for.That same "small minority" has been shooting wolves illegally for decades and is now just looking for cover for their cowardly deeds. It's one of the few federal crimes that I hear people--including one state lawmaker--openly admit to committing.
'PENT-UP ENTHUSIASM'DNR Fish & Wildlife Director Ed Boggess told alegislative panel earlier this year: “There’s been a
pent-up enthusiasm, apent-up demand to hunt wolves.” It’s not likely that “enthusiasm” is driven bya sudden popularity of wolf fur among hunters.
And it’s certainly not for their meat.
The wolf season has little to do with protecting farmersfrom wolf depredation of livestock, either; they already are
compensated for those losses. It has equally little to do with population management of wolves.According to the DNR,
Minnesota’swolf population—the largest in the lower 48 states—has remained “relativelystable” at around 3,000 for the past decade without a hunting season.
A total of 6,000
wolf licenses will be made available vialottery (5,400 hunting and 600 trapping/snaring); 95 percent will be sold toresidents and 5 percent to nonresidents. A quota of 400 wolves will be allowedto be killed during the season.
So the legal killing of wolves has been signed, sealed anddelivered by the State of Minnesota,and the season is set. Nothing more that can be done about it, right?
Well, perhaps.
$34 TO SAVE A WOLF?If you’re willing to invest $34, you can buy a chance onsaving one wolf’s life. Simply enter the lottery for one of the 6,000licenses—a $30 wolf license must be purchased to enter the lottery, which costsanother $4—and if you win the right to kill a wolf, don’t exercise it.
There’s nothing that requires you to use a wolf license justbecause you buy one. Since there’s a cap on the number of licenses sold, everylicense that is won in the lottery but not used reduces the chances that the wolfkill quota set by the DNR will be reached.
Ordinarily, this might be seen as unwise meddling in a scientifically-basedhunting season. But there is nothing scientific about this wolf hunting season.It’s a purely political response to satisfy the bloodlust of a vocal minority of wolf haters. Aseason on wolves is not necessary to maintain a desirable wolf population. Infact, the DNR hasn’t even determined what Minnesota’smaximum wolf population should be, only that it shouldn’t fall below a winterpopulation of 1,600.
So if you think a season on wolves is one of the mostidiotic things to come down the pike since a mourning dove season, step rightup and invest $34 on a chance to buy a wolf a reprieve from the executioner. Itmay not stop the jackpine savages from shooting wolves altogether, but at leastyou’ll get the satisfaction of making them work a little harder to "get their wolf."
As a deer hunter who knows the value that wolves provide in culling deer herds of their unhealthy numbers, among other benefits for the soul, I plan to do just that.
