85 wolves killed in first six days of 2013 Wisconsin season Read more from Journal Sentinel: http:/

Hunters and trappers killed a sharply higher number of wolves than was expected during the first six days of the 2013 Wisconsin public wolf harvest, the Department of Natural Resources said Monday.

The agency reported 85 wolves were killed from Tuesday through Sunday.

"We did not anticipate this," said Kurt Thiede, lands division administrator for the DNR.

By comparison, 42 wolves were taken last year in the first 16 days of the hunt.

But because this is only the second year that Wisconsin has had a public wolf hunt, Thiede said, it's difficult to make assessments about the entire season, or the early hunt's impact on the state's burgeoning wolf population.

The DNR set a goal of 251 wolves for the season, which will run through the end of February, or until harvest quotas are met, whichever comes first.

This year, 56 of the 85 animals were taken by trappers, 28 by gun hunters and one by a bowhunter.

Hunters killed wolves in nearly two dozen counties. The largest number — 12 — were in Bayfield County. Two wolves were taken as far south as Columbia County.

Last year, in the first regulated wolf harvest in state history, 117 wolves were killed by hunters and trappers in two months. The 2012 harvest quota was 116 wolves.

In other words, hunters in the first six days of the 2013 season took 73% of all wolves killed last year.

So far 1,686 resident hunters and 10 nonresidents have purchased licenses to hunt wolves, according to the DNR.

As of Monday morning, another 814 hunters are eligible to purchase a license.


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