From Northern News Now:
EFFIE, MN. (Northern News Now) – Where’d the deer go? That’s the question being asked by frustrated hunters across northeast Minnesota after years of falling populations, culminating in a near record low harvest this season.
The lack of success seems to have both hunters and deer agreeing on an ultimate enemy. Wolves.
Calls to remove them from protected status have never been louder, in hopes of returning the northern deer population to its glory days.
On a ranch in northern Itasca County, Cimarron Pitzen gives a tour of his 500 acre property.
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A new Minnesota deer hunters group wants to shake up the politics of wolf control
From Star Tribune:
In a revolt against what it says is an overabundance of wolves in the North Woods, a group of deer hunters concerned about the scarcity of whitetails has formed a new hunters rights group eager to rock the boat on the politics of wolf management.
Still in its infancy, Hunters For Hunters will rally next week to build its membership with open-invitation meetings in International Falls, Carlton, Aurora and Coleraine. Subsequent meetings are scheduled in Bagley and Detroit Lakes. The group’s recent “wolf control” meeting in Squaw Lake — announced only eight days in advance — drew a crowd estimated at more than 200 people, including three state senators.
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Special Report: Where’d the deer go? Hunter frustration grows in Minnesota Northwoods
From Northern News Now:
EFFIE, MN. (Northern News Now) – Where’d the deer go? That’s the question being asked by frustrated hunters across northeast Minnesota after years of falling populations, culminating in a near record low harvest this season.
The lack of success seems to have both hunters and deer agreeing on an ultimate enemy. Wolves.
Calls to remove them from protected status have never been louder, in hopes of returning the northern deer population to its glory days.
On a ranch in northern Itasca County, Cimarron Pitzen gives a tour of his 500 acre property.
Click here for the full story.
Climate change a factor in trimming of wolf season
From Hungry Horse News:
U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy Nov. 21 issued a preliminary junction that significantly shortens Montana’s wolf trapping season by several weeks. Climate change played a role in his decision.
The wolf trapping season under state law was set to begin as early as Monday (Nov. 27), but two environmental groups, the Flathead-Lolo-Bitterroot Task Force and Wildearth Guardians sued the state of Montana in federal court, claiming the regulations could result in grizzly bears being caught in wolf traps.
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Are there too many people in Colorado for gray wolves to thrive?
From NPR Kansas Public Radio:
Colorado’s urban population flipped the state from red to blue, allowing a referendum on a polarizing issue to pass. Wildlife officials are now preparing for the reintroduction of gray wolves.
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Idaho wolf-killing proposals prompt petition for feds to ban ‘barbaric’ aerial hunts
From Phys.org:
A group of environmental organizations has submitted a petition to the federal government to ban wolf killing by shooting from helicopters, calling the practice “barbaric.”
The Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project and International Wildlife Coexistence Network said they were prompted by Idaho’s Wolf Depredation Control Board’s October decision to approve the scope of proposed lethal wolf control plans at two Wood River Valley ranches. The proposals, which included plans for aerial gunning, were submitted by Trevor Walch, the owner of a predator control corporation, without the knowledge of the ranches involved.
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Idaho board allows shooting wolves by helicopter, conservationist raise concerns
From KTVB 7:
BOISE, Idaho — Three conservation groups signed a petition calling for the Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) to immediately ban shooting wildlife from an aircraft, such as a helicopter.
The groups – Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), International Wildlife Coexistence Network (IWCN), Western Watersheds – are seeking the protection of Idaho wolves. The state largely eradicated wolves in the early 20th century, according to IWCN Executive Director Suzanne Stone. The federal government reinstated the Idaho wolf population in 1995; the population was removed from the endangered species list in 2015 and returned the ability to manage the population back to the state.
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Wolf expert praises Yellowknife woman for handling of ‘not atypical’ encounter
From Yahoo News:
A wolf expert in B.C. is praising a Yellowknife woman for the way she handled an encounter with a pack of wolves near Yellowknife over the weekend.
Stephanie Yuill told Lawrence Nayally, the host of CBC’s Trails End, she was walking along the shore of Fox Lake on Saturday when she rounded a point and spotted what she initially thought was a group of sled dogs trotting toward her.
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FWP hosting public meetings to answer questions about updated wolf management plan
From Daily Montanan:
Montanans will have the ability to get questions answered by Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials starting next week on the agency’s first proposed update to its wolf management plan in 20 years.
FWP is holding six public meetings, including five in person across the state and one virtual meeting, on the 2023 Montana Gray Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and an accompanying environmental impact statement though the first half of December.
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Wolves aren’t to blame for a disappointing deer hunt, data show
From Minnesota Reformer:
Minnesota’s 2023 deer hunt is shaping up to be a bit of a disappointment, and some hunters and their allies in media and politics know precisely who to blame: wolves.
A hunting group recently erected a billboard near Eveleth, for instance, making the fantastical claim that “wolves devour over 54,000 fawns a year in Minnesota.”
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Border killings: How shooters lured historic Colorado wolves to their deaths in Wyoming
From WyoFile:
An electronic call drew the canine in.
The recorded sounds of a pronghorn in distress blared from a point some 600 yards north of the Colorado-Wyoming state line. It was a Saturday in May 2019, and the hunters at first thought they were looking at a coyote.
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