Possible legislation to allow hunting of gray wolves seems more than a little questionable.

This bill, one of several curious outdoor conservation or Department of Natural Resource-related items submitted by State Senator Tom Casperson (R-Escanaba) over the past couple of years, was approved by the State Senate on Thursday and will likely go to a vote in the State House soon. How quickly is this idea now moving? The state DNR is hosting a six-hour meeting in St. Ignace on Dec. 5 to gather opinions and discuss current wolf management activities, less than a month after Casperson publicly disclosed his bill to suddenly designate the gray wolf as a game species.

This is also less than a year after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had removed the gray wolf from the Endangered Species list.



      So how significant of a reason is there to hunt this predatory mammal with an approximate population of 700 in the state, the majority in the western half of the U.P.?

One key point is the threat to cattle and other farm animals. Certainly, if a farmer had a 100 head of cattle and lost two directly to a pack of wolves over a single year, the intelligence could be seen in trying to offset this problem. However, farmers can acquire permits allowing to shoot wolves on sight if attacking said livestock.

Proponents also state that Wisconsin and Minnesota had their first wolf hunting seasons in 2012, although nobody talks about the populations in Minnesota reported by the Fish and Wildlife Service at being approximately 3,000 — easily the bulk of the estimated 4,500 in eight Midwestern states — with a pre-hunt targeted harvest of 400. The Wisconsin DNR took the unusual step of allowing 1,160 licenses to hunt approximately 830 wolves, the bulk in far northern Wisconsin.

So based on that example, are farmers, hunters and legislators looking for 'culling of the herd' ... or extinction?

Although comparing a proposed wolf hunt to those involving deer or elk may be comparing apples to clams, it's worth noting that deer and elk herds are also threats to farms — just on the non-predatory end. Certainly a Google  search is going to find more headlines on wolf/cattle attacks in Michigan for 2012 than deer herds gobbling up a farmer's entire alfalfa crop, but either way there are not too many examples cropping up.

The wolf herds — just by being on top of the food chain — have the potential to be a problem, but is it a problem that requires a hunt within the next year?

The good news about this discussion is that it is just that — it's a discussion, despite the Senate's approval. There is going to be conversation involving the DNR with conservation interests — who may push for a statewide vote if the House votes its approval — and hunters alike.




A potential benefit for all sides is that Michigan DNR can look to examples set in Idaho and Montana, which has wrestled with this issue for much of the past 20 years — involving more livestock on much larger farmers and more significant wolf populations, as well as Minnesota and Wisconsin.

A key issue is few details are being shared about the parameters of such a hunt, implying caution as well as limiting public outcry.

That clearly needs to be resolved as it needs to be with any new hunt, we're not talking about Eurasian boars or an explosion in the black bear population in the region. The reasons for such a hunt should not ultimately decided in Lansing, one farm deep in the U.P. or a hunter wanting to add a wolf pelt to the trophy case.

This species was protected until very recently for a reason. To start a hunt now would be questionable.