Wolves in Northern Wisconsin ?

[dreaming bucks]

Hey guys, just wondering if anyone on this forum has first hand knowledge of the wolf problem up north ? I live in Sounthern Wisconsin and every once in awhile we hear of someone seeing a wolf down here, but I have heard the wolf problem is getting out of control up north... Just would like to hear from someone that lives up that way, and see if it's true or not... Like I said, we don't really have to worry about them yet down here, allthough we have coyotes everywhere and of course CWD, which I am right in the middle of the core area of that problem....aarrgghh
One other question, do you guys ever get any wolves on trail camera ? If they are that big of a problem up there, you would think people would be getting them on camera quite often...

[Hilts]

Are you talking in regards to the deer heard? If so, yes I think they are a problem. Are they our biggest problem... I don't know. The is an insane number of coyotes up here, not to mention the bear numbers, that I think is also having a huge impact on the deer numbers.

I am 85% sure that I seen 2 wolves chasing 3 deer right through my yard at daylight one morning last week. It was just breaking daylight and I was getting in my truck to head to work when I heard some brush cracking. Out comes 3 deer heading across my yard with 2 wolves just behind them. The reason I say 85% sure is I could only see outlines but they looked too big to be coyotes.

[WiBowhuntress]

I'm not from that area either, but have hunted up there and seen enough wolf sign to know of their presence. Plus I know the fellas that run dogs for bear season have had many run-ins with wolves. I'm sure you will get alot of feedback from those that live in the area.
Welcome to the forum, by the way!

[magicman54494]

They are definately up there. They take down their share of deer. I really don't see them as a huge problem. I believe the problem lies in the fact that the DNR doesn't account for preditor kill properly and adjust the herd numbers so there are enough deer for everyone.

[dan]

There are a lot of wolves in Northern Wisconsin and they are starting to need some sort of control. But, I do not fully believe that they are the problem with the deer herd... No..
I have hunted Northern Minnesota and seen very high numbers of both bear and wolf, and still seen a fair share of deer.

[dreaming bucks]

I do have a couple friends that live up in the Minoqua- Mercer area & they hunt slightly north of there, & they tell me the wolves have deer run right out of the area, & yes, they say the bear problem is really bad also.. they had several times last year bow hunting that they saw more bears than they did deer... I don't know but it doesn't sound good... Dan, it was nice to meet you @ the show yesterday, I hope to watch your dvd's tonight..

[blackwolf]

Wolves are definetely a problem in Bayfield Cty where I have hunted for last 33 years, but like Dan, I have hunted N. Minnesota with an even higher wolf pop yet there are way more deer. So, I see it as more of a total pop management problem.

[dreaming bucks]

ya, well, I don't think the DNR is going to be increasing the deer herd anytime soon.. I, like many others, had a horrible year last year as far as seeing any deer. I went out usually 3 times a week bow hunting and I was lucky if I saw one deer out of 3 times out... It was ugly, and I don't see a big change coming this year... I think the earn a buck is really hurting us down here, or atleast where I hunt anyway..

[Sam Ubl]

Well, let's see how many enemies I make. . . But first off, DreamingofBucks, Spring Green is just a beautiful area - too bad you have to worry about CWD!

Wolves. Anyone want to argue the science behind the biology of a wolf? Between 13 and 18 is the estimated average an adult wolf will take down a year, which mainly consists of weak, wounded and starving deer. The DNR estimates around 600 wolves in the state through radio tracking, snow track surveys by DNR and volunteer trackers, and collections of public reports on wolf observations. The DNR has conducted these counts of wolves every year since winter 1979-1980 when there were 25 wolves in the state.

The 2009 nine-day gun season yielded a preliminary tally of 195,647 for the nine-day November gun deer hunt. This includes a buck tally of 86,251 and an antlerless tally of 109,396. These numbers do not include harvest information from the archery, October antlerless gun deer hunt, muzzleloader, December antlerless deer gun hunt or late archery seasons.

Assume there are 600 wolves in the entire state. If they each kill the mean amount of deer animal experts suggest a wolf will take down in the year, which is 15 (the mean), then assume around 9,000 deer are killed annually by wolves.

28,374 whitetails were verified/reported to be killed by vehicles in Wisconsin in 2009 - check it out http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/wildlife/HUN ... KDFY09.pdf

How many deer did I find, myself, in the woods off roadways and railroads while shed hunting?? Maybe 20. I have to assume many were related to vehicles and probably not reported.

So, if vehicles, hard Northwoods winters and hunter harvest counts equal more than 225K, why is it that wolves are to blame for low deer numbers in the Northern half of the state? Let's put the numbers next to eachother:

225,000 - Vehicle and Hunter Kills
Avg 9,000 - Wolf Kills



Assume the wolf population was decimated. Why is it that deer numbers rank so high in farmland areas of the state, yet herd counts in the Northwoods is so low? Food sources... Look at a State map (all hard feelings towards DNR herd counts aside) and notice the trend. I'm not suggesting the nomads of the Northwoods followed their noses to anywhere south of HWY 110 to farmland, I'm suggesting that great food sources and less severe winters allow for a higher reproductive rate than the northwoods. Ignore the banter of a bear eating a fawn - most deer have 2-4 fawns...How many fawns can a bear eat in a year?

I hunt Onieda Co. in Rhinelander during the gun season. Last year I took 3 deer, and this year I took 2. I could have shot many more. I saw NO deer on Saturday, but over a dozen before 8am on Sunday both years. I saw NO wolves. I heard NO wolves.

Sure, I have friends that saw/heard a wolf not far away, but how can anyone blame the wolves for their lack of success this season? Drive down HWY 70 in Forest or Vilas Co on a warm summer night. A dead roadkilled deer by a semi is there one hour and gone the next. Fox, coyotes and wolves all take part in the free meal.

I'm no treehugger, don't kid yourself, but bar-room banter and ancient beliefs from the old man in the flannel hat preaching why "there are no deer around here anymore - it's the wolves I tell you, it's the wolves" goes in one ear and out the other.

Use your own common sense of judgment, all things considered, and be the judge of the OVERALL impact of the wolves "decimation" of our deer herd. To me, it's an excuse for many, while it's an adopted frame of mind from one person to the next.

That said, I understand it's difficult to not have control over entities other than human's killing "our" deer, but they were here first...

BTW, since I like to talk numbers. . . Anyone want to take a stab at guessing how many wounded deer lost by hunters died this year? Here's my guess - at least 25,000, if not twice that many! That's more than twice the average annual prediction of wolf predation on whitetails based on population estimates.

[dreaming bucks]

I open up the Madison Wisconsin State Journal this morning and look what's in there...... They must have seen me post on this website huh ? ha,ha,ha

[dreaming bucks]

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/ ... 002e0.html

[Hilts]

That's good to hear. The thing is, I am not as worried about the deer population as I am my kids that play in our yard. The yard I have seen wolves in. I know attacks on humans are rare, but with numbers continuing to increase more interaction between wolves and humans is bound to occur.

[DropTyne]

I also hunt Onieda County and have been hunting there for years. Sorry to inform you Sam but the "600" wolves in Wisconsin is actually a much larger number. I'm not saying they are the problem, I think the DNR is the much larger problem. I have heard the bar stool banter that you are talking about and generally I avoid those conversations.

Now for my reasoning behind saying there are many more wolves than the DNR estimates. First and foremost they are a canine and have litters of 6 or so pups a year (these would not have a collar), I saw two this year on sunday in an area that according to the DNR map on the DNR website does not contain wolves. Lastly I have a friend who has a pack of 13 on trail cam coming past his treestand in Siren (Burnett County) meaning he got with that single photo 2.5% of the population on film. I've seen it myself. I just don't think it adds up....

[chadhaucke]

I also agree with droptyne the DNR number of 600 is absolutely wrong and also Sam, the numbers that an adult wolf kills each year with what u say, im guessing you got that number from the DNR study doesnt sit real well with me either. I hunt northern bayfield county and have many friends that hunt ashland and bayfield counties. Between these people and the people I hunt with we prolly have close to a hundred trail cams out at any time and the wolf sightings are astranomical. I spent fri,sat, and sun up there the last two weekends scouting and have never in all my years of hunting up there saw so many wolf tracks. Every forest road and atv trail had wolf tracks on them and I mean every one. With it being so sandy up there its very easy to see the tracks of different animals. Im also not saying here that our problem up there is just the skyrocketing wolf population its definately a combination of factors. One thing I say to all these ignorant people is that in years (not talking about EAB years) of tzones is that no one is forcing you to shoot all these anterless animals just because there is an abundance of tags. I also think the banning of bait would help the population recover up there for the simple reason so many people would not even have the first clue on what to do to kill a deer if they were not sitting over there pile of corn. Just my 2cents now that im all fired up.

[Gardner Swamp]

HERE'S #601