Posted on 02/12/2021 11:47:06 AM PST by SJackson
AWisconsin judge has ordered the state Department of Natural Resources to schedule a wolf hunting season this month rather than waiting until fall.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service removed gray wolves from the endangered species list on Jan. 4, returning management authority to the lower 48 states and tribes. A 2012 state law requires the DNR to allow wolf trapping and hunting from November through February if wolves are not listed as endangered.
The DNR’s policy board voted 4-3 last month against opening the season in February amid concerns that the department had not consulted tribal nations as required by treaties and did not have time to set quotas.
The leader of a Kansas-based hunting rights organization sued the DNR, saying the law is unambiguous and that the agency violated hunters’ constitutional rights by denying them the opportunity to kill wolves right away.
Online court records show Jefferson County Circuit Judge Bennett Brantmeier ordered the DNR to “implement and follow their duty to hold the Gray Wolf hunting season in February 2021” during a hearing Thursday.
Brantmeier denied the DNR’s request for a stay pending appeal, citing a low likelihood of success.
DNR spokeswoman Sarah Hoye said the Department of Justice is reviewing the decision and the agency will be taking steps to implement the court’s order.
Luke Hilgemann, president of Hunter Nation Inc., called the ruling “a historic victory for the Wisconsin hunter.”
“Today’s ruling solidifies the rule of law and finally provides clear direction to the Evers administration to move full speed ahead with our statutorily required wolf hunt,” Hilgemann said. “Any attempts by the Evers administration to overturn this ruling are a direct assault to the constitutional rights of Wisconsin hunters.”
The wolf hunt has been a contentious issue for years. Those who favor hunting say the animals kill livestock and pets and terrorize rural residents, while wildlife supporters say the creatures are too beautiful to kill, and Native American tribes consider them sacred.
Dozens of people testified on both sides at the Natural Resources Board’s meeting, and the board received more than 1,400 written comments on the proposed hunt.
Wisconsin last held a wolf hunt in 2014, but the law allows people to shoot wolves if there is an immediate threat to human safety or if wolves are attacking domestic animals on private land.
The DNR estimates Wisconsin is home to at least 1,034 wolves in 256 packs, primarily across the northern third of the state and the Central Forest region, up from 815 in 2012.
The agency reported 152 animals — including livestock and hunting dogs — were killed or injured last year by wolves and has paid out $1.8 million over the past decade in wolf depredation payments.
Silly judge, making a ruling based on the law.
So their figures indicate that the average wolf pack size is 4 wolves. I am surprised that they are not larger. That low number suggests that a person with a handgun stands a chance of survival.
I’m not a country boy, so what would I know?
DNA; Dept. of Natural Resources does NOT =
the other DNA; Do Not Resuscitate.
I got a letter from a university telling me that it was pursuant to some law that they needed to get my “opinion” about the impending release of wolves in the “wild” in my area. The enclosed survey was not a survey of my opinion at all. Each question was about how to react if I was suddenly faced with a wolf. I could, A run, B yell at it...etc. The answers to the “survey” were given. There was a place to write my comment. It was large enough for a sentence of two. I wrote a full, single spaced letter.
There is no “wild” in my area. There is lots of forest on the maps, but it is broken up with subdivisions, farms and roads. Almost all the forest was close enough that there was essentially no area where wolves would not encounter people. I pointed out that eventually, I would not be confronted by “a” wolf, as they are pack animals. What happens when a pack drags off a small child waiting for the school bus? And if the program was successful, that would surely happen eventually.
I pointed out that my neighbor was a farmer raising free range animals, most of which would be potential prey. Our ancestors did not kill the wolves because our ancestors were horrible people with no respect for nature. They killed them because wolves prey on people and the farm animals those ancestors needed to survive. Only academics in their ivory towers could think that setting carnivores loose near subdivisions was a good idea.
The “survey” reminded me of a Farside cartoon. A bunch of cave men were running in terror from a charging saber-toothed lion. Another cave man stood in raptured delight saying, “My word, what a magnificent animal!” The caption read, “Liberals, the early years.”
I don't think this is what the Democrats had in mind when they promised "A Wolf In Every Home".
I have been stalked by them. Foresters have been chased up trees by them. They have gone after loggers in the woods.
The things need to be thinned out.
BTW, beef farmers have found a way to do away with the problem they had with wolves killing off young stock up in the UP of MI. They come down here to AZ and adopt burros and turn them out with the livestock. Burros will kill wolves.
I saw a video a local farmer took of one that had killed a wolf and was stomping the thing.
BTW. Ask the biologists if any of those things are pure wolf.
They aint.
Hey, you just killed a sheep!
Well, I thought it was a wolf in disguise.
I hope to God we never have the technology to revive velociraptors. Because if we do, some liberal will get funding from the government to reintroduce them to the wild.
Coyotes, too. One of my coffee buddies raises burros to sell to cow and horse ranchers here in North Louisiana.
kinda surprised pennsylvania didn’t do this...
I don't care for any judge getting involved in any wildlife laws but I will make an exception in this case.
I base my opinion on a Federal judge who ruled that the Michigan DNR could no longer control the cormorant population in the Great Lakes region due to lawsuits brought against them by environmental groups........
They didn't? Gee, I wonder why...
Agree, though in this case he seems to be upholding the law.
Good point.........Thanks for the threads you post, I enjoy them.....
Better make sure your handgun is a semi-auto with at least 2-3 mags of 45 ammo.
In GA coyotes and hogs are kill on sight.
WOLVES...Smoke em if ya got em...Smoke a pack a day!
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