Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Gray Wolf shot in Nebraska

Another gray wolf shot in Nebraska, this time north of Fremont.

https://omaha.com/news/state-and-re...a6cabb0-9d2b-11eb-8250-474196299ba8.html

LINCOLN — Over the counter at the Uehling Gas N Go convenience store, owner Jeff Cornett said he’d heard talk about someone possibly shooting a rare-for-Nebraska gray wolf north of town a couple of months ago.

He passed it off as a tall tale, sort of like how fishermen exaggerate the size of a recent catch.

“I just thought it was a big coyote,” Cornett said Wednesday. “I hear a lot of fishing stories, too.”

But on Wednesday, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission confirmed that a large canine killed on Jan. 28 by coyote hunters near the village, about 21 miles north of Fremont, was indeed a gray wolf.

The female, according to genetic testing, was linked to packs of wolves found in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. It was only the third gray wolf confirmed found in Nebraska since 2002, and follows confirmation that an 81-pound male was shot by a rancher south of Bassett in November.

The growth in wolf populations in the Upper Great Lakes in recent years is making it more likely that a young wolf might stray into nearby states like Nebraska, a state wildlife biologist said.

“Wolves can disperse great distances from their nearest populations in the northern Rocky Mountains or Upper Great Lakes. While we don’t have any evidence of resident wolves or reproduction in Nebraska, we can expect young wolves in search of new territory to cover long distances and make it to Nebraska from time to time,” said Sam Wilson, Game and Parks furbearer and carnivore program manager.

In 2002, a wolf was confirmed shot near Spalding, in central Nebraska. It was also genetically linked to the Great Lake wolves. Prior to that, no wolves had been confirmed in the state since 1913.

The Uehling wolf was legally shot, according to the game commission.

In late October, the Trump administration announced that gray wolves were being delisted as a federal endangered species, effective Jan. 4, except for a small population of Mexican gray wolves in New Mexico and Arizona.

The January delisting of wolves means that it’s now legal to shoot wolves in Nebraska year-round. The delisting has been challenged by some wildlife groups.

It’s the latest salvo in long-running “wolf wars” over protection vs. control measures involving the large canines, which can weigh 70 to 115 pounds. Wolves are much larger than coyotes, which are common in Nebraska.

A handful of states have regulated wolf hunts, including Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Controversy was sparked earlier this year after Wisconsin allowed a hunt.

For more information about wolves, visit OutdoorNebraska.org/graywolf.

We have enough problems without wolves.

Wolves, moose, elk, black bears, mountain lions even wolverines show up as random travelers in places least expected.
There is a place in southwest Minnesota that in Indian means “place where the caribou was killed”.
Some critters, like people, just like to roam.

Sometimes they are pushed. Black bears from MN are pushing to ND as well as south to Iowa. Pushed by overpopulation, and not enough control. Wolves have been pushing in all directions since their numbers have exploded in Northern MN and they have decimated the ungulate food source here.
Wandering and killing are what they do for a living.
Osky

Bring back DDT

DRT is better

Interesting....I hadn’t heard about either the Uehling or Spalding woofs. I’ve done a lot of calling around Spalding and there is a lot of good habitat so it isn’t surprising that one would show up there. But, Uheling is pretty far east...

Thank you for posting this!

There have been two confirmed wolves killed in Missouri that I'm aware of. Both were traced by DNA to the wolf populations in the Upper Midwest.

There was a bear photographed with a game camera in Yellow River State park 2 years ago. There have numerous pictures of bears in northern Iowa. It's big timber in those areas of Iowa and very remote from working farms and people on the west side of the Mississippi. I think it would be hard to argue there are not reproducing bears in the State.

kwg

Here in MN bears have done very well in open farm country, particularly areas where corn is raised. Once corn, soy beans, sunflowers etc are high enough for cover they will move into that for the rest of the season. Bears are very happy living and denning along ditch lines and weedy areas. Timber is not a requirement for bruins.

Osky

I grew up less than 10 miles SSW of Uehling in Hooper, NE. Dad was born in Uehling. Still own part of a farm off of Hwy 77 near Winslow. Have seen lots of big coyotes over the years up there . . . never even imagined wolves, though.

Wisconsin farmer killed a 700 pounder in a cornfield with a combine.

https://chippewa.com/dunnconnect/ne...51393c1-e031-5f56-a528-a5b809d5861d.html

That's a big bear. Bet that was a thud and a half.

...

Osky
[/quote] Wisconsin farmer killed a 700 pounder in a cornfield with a combine.

https://chippewa.com/dunnconnect/ne...51393c1-e031-5f56-a528-a5b809d5861d.html
[/quote]

I remember when there was a rash of incidents where thieves would pull a combine into someone's field at night, make a couple of rounds, then steal off into the night. Now the damned bears are doing it!

Colorado is adding wolves to the state. Idiots.

They will rue the day.

Osky

Why doesn't California want them? I think California needs some grizz and wolves re-introduced.

I can hardly wait until there a packs of wolves roaming the back alleys of Boulder CO and the city parks of San Francisco.

California announced breeding pairs of wolves a few years ago .
Deep SW Idaho to NE California is just over 200miles - I saw wolf track around the remnants of a dead desert mule deer in 2007 or 2008 . Canine tracks as big as a softball , laid a 300winmag round w/a long seated 208amax bullet on the track - it took up a little over half of the wolfs track . Range cowboy told me there had always been wolves there - had seen them himself a few times .

It doesnt surprise me that they are moving into new areas. I was up in NW Wis. this weekend ( Price county) and was surprised by all the new wolf sign. There were tracks all over the place. However, I only got 1 wolf on the trail cam this winter with 3 trail cams . I also didnt find any wolf kills this spring and was surprised. I found wolf crap with grass in it and not much hair. It was such an easy winter that I am sure this year the wolves were the one that starved to death instead of the deer.