If they were counting 116 wolves to be culled, why did the state sell more than that of tags to the applicants?
I think they could have had a ‘tag lottery’, as some states do, where the state takes the applications and then draws out the number of animsls to be culled. That way the state decides the number to be culled, and it is upon the skills of the hunter that decides if the number desired is the number culled.
Because it is hunting, not slaughter.
Most hunters are not successful.
The State issues more tags to make sure they harvest the number they want.
They monitor the number harvested, when it appears they will reach the desired harvest, they stop the hunt.
There is a 24 hour lag to report, so the hunt is not precise.
But 216 is very close to the goal of 200.
Some members of the tribal council want headlines, and to "stick it to the man", so they refuse to issue the tags they are allocated to tribal members.
Wolves aren’t that easy to find. I suspect the state estimate of 1,000 wolves is very low. Also, they interbreed with Eastern coyotes and coywolves. I doubt the state did 216 dna tests, but had they’d probably have found a much lower number of pure wolves. And per one legal action I’m aware of some years ago, a hybrid aka coywolf isn’t a wolf for legal purposes. One case, don’t assume that’s always the position authorities would take. Still, half wolf, protected, half coyote, open season, what did you shoot. The coyote population in WI is estimated to be 40-50,000. Coywolves, who knows.
Because it is hunting, not slaughter.
Most hunters are not successful.
The State issues more tags to make sure they harvest the number they want.
They monitor the number harvested, when it appears they will reach the desired harvest, they stop the hunt.
There is a 24 hour lag to report, so the hunt is not precise.
But 216 is very close to the goal of 200.
Some members of the tribal council want headlines, and to "stick it to the man", so they refuse to issue the tags they are allocated to tribal members.
why did the state sell more
Isn’t the answer obvious?
If they killed that many that quickly they are too numerous and they should have killed 500