The estimated number of wolves in Wisconsin has been around 1,200 for the last three years.
This is according to revised estimates that take into account winter track surveys, live trapping, and GPS collar monitoring.
DNR staff told the wolf advisory committee last week there’s high certainty that the current population is between1,087 and 1,379 wolves with an estimated 336 packs.
DNR Large Carnivore Specialist Randy Johnson says the numbers suggest the state has reached its capacity for the number of wolves it can support.
“It’s basically a combination of running out of space and some of these internal mechanisms of increased mortality, lower pup survival, things like that that helped it,” said Johnson. “We have to recognize too, there’s a social carrying capacity as well.”
The DNR estimates the wolf population dropped below 1,000 in 2022 following the February 2021 hunt that was forced after wolves were briefly federally delisted.
But the population quickly recovered the following year.
Johnson says the wolves that were harvested during that hunt were largely spread out across a lot of packs.
“We assume, we think, most of those packs stayed in place, did their thing and that’s why they can recover so quickly in that next year. The structure of the population is still there,” said Johnson. “That’s a pattern we’ve seen with the three previous wolf seasons as well; applying harvest and when that harvest stops the population is able to rebound quickly. That’s an observation.”
Part of the wolf advisory committee’s job is to develop harvest quotas when there is a hunt.
There is currently no wolf hunt as wolves are a federally protected species. There are ongoing efforts to de-list them.
Wisconsin is required by law to hold a wolf hunt when they are delisted.
