It is not very often that legislators call me. I call them regularly, but total solar eclipses are more common than a legislator calling me.
About 20 years ago Sen. Jim Vickerman, a gentleman I really respected, called me about wolves, a subject that hardly ever comes up in the ag land zones of Minnesota.
Wolves have been listed, then delisted, then listed again about a half dozen times over the past 25 years. The court battles will continue. I am certain of it.
Wolves are back in the spotlight in our state as a result of them being removed from the endangered species list as of January.
So how do wolves impact us in areas of the state that don’t have any? There is no direct impact, but what happens to wolves should still matter to everyone who cares about the state’s natural resources.
Taking a hands-off approach leaves the future of wolves up to politicians in St. Paul, and for the exception of a few, many representatives know little about natural resource management.
They listen to their constituents and go with the majority opinion. As a result, depending on where the representative lives, you get a bill to outlaw wolf hunting and another bill to mandate wolf hunting, both of which failed in the last legislative session.
I think wolves are a very cool animal, and they belong on the landscape where proper habitat is available. Minnesota is estimated to have about 2,500 wolves currently. Only the state of Alaska has more wolves than Minnesota does.
When they went on the endangered species list the first time, it was determined that when wolves’ populations had rebounded to 1,600 in the state, they were considered recovered. As you can see, we are currently 60 percent above the recovered figure.
A few years back during a brief period when wolves were delisted, Minnesota had a wolf hunting and trapping season and a substantial number were harvested. I think the population at the time was about 3,200.
The anti-hunting crowd will say that no animal should ever be hunted, and that voice is pretty loud and constant.
I, as a hunter, on the other hand, think that populations of all critters need to be managed at a sustainable level determined by biologists and scientists — not by politicians or special interest groups that could be anti-hunting or pro-hunting.
The Minnesota DNR, which currently manages the wolf population, recently announced that decisions won’t be made about wolf hunting until their Minnesota wolf plan is updated around March of 2022.
It makes me wonder why they did not start on that effort a little earlier, as the delisting was expected more than a year ago. So, they are slow out of the starting gate. This doesn’t surprise me when you add in the term government agency,
When I think about wolf hunting, I think about the livestock producer that loses his or her livelihood one head of cattle or sheep at a time.
These losses are real, and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture offers funds to offset those losses.
My second thought is what has happened to the deer herd in Minnesota since wolf numbers have increased substantially.
I hear stories of northern Minnesota deer hunters seeing more wolves during deer season than they saw deer. Moose populations are also plummeting from only a few decades ago when there were very few wolves in the state.
In the end, deer, moose and livestock all need to be put into the proper formula, and the end result will be a sustainable population of wolves in the state balanced with all of the other competing issues.
How many that is I don’t have a clue, but hunting will likely have a place in that formula.
Scott Rall, Worthington, is a habitat conservationist, avid hunting and fishing enthusiast and is president of Nobles County Pheasants Forever. He can be reached at scottarall@gmail.com or on Twitter @habitat champion.
