Here are some suggested talking points for your public comments:
Wisconsin Conservation Voters generally approves the proposed Wolf Management Rule. The particular elements of the draft rule we strongly support are:
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Moving away from a specific population goal and towards outcomes-based/adaptive management. This move will allow the DNR flexibility to reach multiple goals and to address the needs of multiple stakeholders. The main goal is to move to an outcome-based management where there is a healthy wolf population, while minimizing depredations. This cannot be determined by a number alone.
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The DNR issuing wolf “harvest” tags (i.e. hunting and trapping licenses) specific to one or two zones within a six zone map – an improvement over the Department’s issuance of tags valid in any open zone statewide as has been allowed in previous hunting and trapping seasons. This change will prevent wolf kill exceedances, particularly on public lands in core wolf habitat, where wolves provide important eco-services vis-à-vis forest health and CWD containment.
- Reducing the time a hunter or trapper must register their kill to within eight hours, an improvement from the existing 24 hour reporting period, which enabled the drastic over-kill of wolves in February 2021.
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The improvements we would like to see added to the Proposed Rule Package are:
- Further restricting night hunting, especially over bait, as night hunting increases the risk of “losing” shot wolves. Night hunting was not allowed in the hunts of 2012, 2013, or 2014.
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Continued recognition of tribal sovereignty and the recognition of the need for continued collaborative leadership on wolf management, as well as the role of citizen involvement in wolf management in the form of a Wolf Advisory Committee. There should be inclusion of Wildlife/Conservation Science organizations (organizations whose mission includes protecting wildlife and habitat through science-based management and ensuring that this is done in a way that is responsive to the general ecological and economic health of Wisconsin’s communities).
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