The wolf was officially delisted from the federal Endangered Species Act on January 27, 2012 and since that time Minnesota game managers have debated a wolf hunting season.

Much opposition has been raised against wolf hunting from anti-hunters and some Native American groups. As soon as a preliminary wolf hunt season was announced, anti-hunters vowed to purchase tickets for the wolf lottery in hopes to win a ticket and let it remain unused. Some Native Americans opposed the wolf hunt on religious principles.

However, the hunt is set to go on and if you plan to take part, here are the highlights of what you need to know before you can put a wolf in your cross-hairs.

Highlights
• The hunt will open Saturday, November 3, 2012.
• The target harvest is 400 wolves. Bag limit is one wolf per license holder.
• Early wolf season will last up to nine days in the 200-series deer permit areas and up to 16 days in the 100-series deer permit areas.
• Late season, which allows for trapping with a license, will begin November 24 statewide. Target harvests are 265 in the northwest zone, 117 in the northeast zone and 18 in the east-central zone.
• The closing date for the late season will be January 31, instead of the originally proposed January 6, 2013.
• A total of 6,000 licenses will be offered – 3,600 in the early season and 2,400 in the late season.
• 600 licenses will be reserved for trappers in the late season only.
• Hunting and trapping licenses will cost $30 each for residents and $250 for non-residents.
• Non-residents will be limited to 5 percent of total hunting licenses and may not purchase a trapping license.
• Wolf harvest registration has been tightened to be able to quickly close a zone based on harvest results.
• The wolf range will be divided into three zones for the purposes of harvest target, registration and season closure. When harvest targets are reached in any zone (northeast zone, east-central zone and northwest zone), that zone will be closed to hunting, although hunting will be allowed in any other open zone.
• The northeast and east-central zones closely border 1854 and 1837 treaty-ceded Indian reservation territory. The state will allocate and manage wolf harvest in consultation with Indian bands that have court-affirmed off-reservation hunting rights.
• Only portions of Minnesota where rifles are legal for deer hunting will be open for hunting wolves.

Good for Minnesota!

Thanks for posting the info Tony.

Last year I hunted two weekends during deer season with a buddy in the northern part of the state (different area each weekend), although both had a lot of evidence of wolves.

He hunted over a deer trail one morning and had a wolf pretty brazenly pass less than 20 yards away from him in the early light. The previous weekend I spotted this less than 50 yards from the stand I hunted from (.270 shell for comparison):



Some clearings and trails seemed to have more wolf tracks than deer tracks. I saw only two deer from my stands over both weekends. Was it the wolves or my smelly hide? Can't say, but I am positive there are many wolves in the state and many will be shot during the season.

I may pick up a tag for when I'm deer hunting but am curious as to how this will go and what impact it makes. I'm not yet convinced that the wolves are to blame for less deer in areas and won't shoot one just for the sake of shooting one (coyote hunting is a different story).

Any Minnesotans here planning on doing some dedicated wolf hunts?

Evan:

Why would you regard / treat a wolf any differently than a coyote?

It's your ethical decision and I respect it but I am curious.

probably not a dedicated wolf hunt,as the season runs with the deer season,but I will get a tag,if I can.
I havent seen a wolf in some time where I hunt though,around the leech lake area.

Good question, and I suppose it's mainly because I'm just not as familiar with wolves as I am coyotes. Feel free to educate me otherwise.