Wisconsin wildlife officials approved kill limits Wednesday for the state's second wolf hunt, allowing hunters and trappers to take nearly 300 animals.




The state's Chippewa tribes are entitled to claim up to half the quota for the ceded territory, a broad swath of northern Wisconsin the tribes handed over to the government in the 1800s. That means they could lay claim to up to 115 wolves, according to the DNR. But the tribes consider wolves spiritual brothers and are fiercely opposed to hunting them. Last year they were allotted 85 wolves and claimed the right to all of those animals but didn't kill a single one.


The DNR still ratcheted down its non-tribal quota to 116 animals and reduced its permits accordingly to 1,160 to offset the potential tribal take. The agency will have to decide whether to drop its non-tribal quota and licenses and by how much once the tribes make their claim this year.

Sue Erickson, a spokeswoman for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, which oversees the Chippewa's off-reservation rights, declined comment on the tribal declaration, saying the matter is still under discussion. The package the board approved mirrors a recommendation from the DNR's wolf advisory committee, a group of stakeholders that includes representatives from GLIFWC, the Conservation Congress, the state bear hunters and cattlemen associations and the Timber Wolf Alliance. Republican lawmakers passed a bill last year establishing a wolf hunt that would run annually from mid-October until the end of February or whenever hunters and trappers reached their kill limits.


