https://www.courthousenews.com/wisconsin-tribes-sue-to-stop-fall-wolf-hunt/

MADISON, Wis. (CN) — Six Wisconsin Chippewa tribes sued state government officials on Tuesday in the latest attempt to put the brakes on a gray wolf hunting and trapping season planned for this fall that has been roiled in controversy.

The tribes’ complaint filed in Madison federal court says the wolf hunt planned to start on Nov. 6 and its inflated kill quota violate multiple long-standing tribal rights as held by treaties they signed with the federal government in 1837 and 1842. They want the court to declare that the fall hunt violates their treaty rights and scrap it completely.

Acting as plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the Red Cliff, Bad River, Lac Courte Oreilles and Lac du Flambeau bands of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, as well as the St. Croix and Sokaogon Chippewa tribes. The six federally recognized tribes’ reservation lands encompass more than 300,000 acres in Wisconsin’s northernmost region.

The tribes are represented in their lawsuit by attorneys with the Chicago and Washington offices of Earthjustice, a nonprofit dedicated to litigating environmental issues.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary Preston Cole is a defendant in the complaint, in addition to the seven members of the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board, or NRB, a body that sets policy for the DNR whose members are appointed by the governor and approved by the state Senate.

Wolf hunting in the Badger State has been under withering scrutiny since a hunt in February—rushed into being by legal action from conservatives and hunting advocates after the Trump administration removed the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list in late 2020—saw 218 wolves killed in less than three days, exceeding state hunters’ kill quota by 99 wolves and generating widespread bad press.

Amid the aftermath of the February hunt, the NRB in August approved an unprecedented second hunting and trapping season for the calendar year by a split vote after hours of tense deliberation and public testimony from both outraged wildlife advocates and those in support of hunters’ rights. The board ultimately set the fall hunt kill quota at 300 wolves, more than double the recommended 130-wolf quota proposed by the DNR.

At least one NRB member worried at that August meeting that lawsuits over the hunt and the quota were practically inevitable, and Tuesday’s filing is the second so far after animal rights groups sued in Dane County Circuit Court late last month to nix the hunt and void the 2011 Wisconsin law that mandates a gray wolf season if the species is not on the federal endangered species list.

The Chippewa, or Ojibwe, people had been living in the Upper Midwest, including what is now Wisconsin, for centuries by the time they entered their first treaty with the United States in the 1820s. Two additional treaties cited in Tuesday’s lawsuit—one from 1837, another from 1842—ceded tribal lands to the federal government, but the tribes retained their right to hunt, fish and gather on the ceded lands.

The tribes argue in their filing that the history surrounding the 1837 and 1842 treaties not only demonstrates the reserved right of tribes to hunt, fish and gather on the lands, but “that same history shows that the tribes also retained the right to conserve and protect the key species they relied upon for their livelihood, to maintain healthy populations of those species, and to ensure their continued existence.”

Among the rights protected by the treaties and violated by the DNR and NRB’s actions over the fall hunt, the tribes say, are a claim to a half-share of virtually all the natural resources in the ceded lands, including wolves, and the court-established right that those resources be managed according to sound biological principles aimed at conservation.

The tribes say their right to their share of the wolf quota was essentially nullified by some NRB members pushing for a higher kill quota for this fall’s hunt to get around the tribal take. They also claim the 300-wolf quota has no basis in sound biological principles and threatens conservatorship of the state wolf population, particularly because of the overkill of the February hunt.

Animal rights groups attest, with some support from the scientific community, that the February hunt, which occurred during the wolves’ breeding season, could have killed off as much as one-third of Wisconsin’s gray wolf population.

Wisconsin is the only state that allows hunters to use dogs in their pursuit of wolves, a tactic the tribes say accounted for 86% of the wolves killed in February. Wisconsin hunters can also use bait to attract wolves and can pursue them at night, but not with dogs. Trappers can use foot-hold traps or cable restraints to ensnare wolves.

A DNR spokesperson offered no comment on the tribes’ lawsuit on Tuesday. The spokesperson confirmed that the agency has received 27,388 total applications for the fall wolf season, including more than 16,000 for a harvest license. Planning for the fall hunt is ongoing, she said, and the drawing to determine which hunters get a wolf license has not yet been conducted.

Gray wolves are held in high esteem as brothers to the Chippewa tribes, the tribes’ complaint explains, that “exemplify perseverance, guardianship, intelligence and wisdom” and not only play an integral role in the health of their ecosystems but share a special cultural partnership with the tribes.

Tell em to pound sand

Somebody should tell those wagon burners to shut the hell up or we'll dig up General Sherman and order him to finish them off.

So? These tribes do not favor the eating of ungulates?

The tribes could care less about wolves. They just want to be difficult.

Ya, right. " cultural partnership" what a crock of BS.

You're a mean man

Maybe they could each adopt 2 "brother wolves" and keep the at their homes?

This pretty much secures the demise of wolf hunting and trapping and also the continued demise of quality deer hunting in northern WI. Other states will now use this as a guideline and more suits will follow. Just another nail in the freedom coffin!

I guarantee this is 100% correct, they will want some millions then go away.

And, come back again, and, again.

Wolves figure prominently in the mythology of nearly every Native American tribe so it's understandable to want to preserve the wolf. And I can respect it.

That said, the above quote from the article does furrow my brow a bit. I know there are exceptions where conservation on tribal lands exists (generally in the name of commerce), but true conservation on the majority of lands is utter fiction.

WI needs a wolf hunt. And so does MN for that matter.

I am not a proponent of wiping the wolf from the landscape, but dang, common sense needs to prevail surrounding the wolf population.

Somebody on the Left promised them something.

It's called MONEY.

L.W.

"Gray wolves are held in high esteem as brothers to the Chippewa tribes, the tribes’ complaint explains, that “exemplify perseverance, guardianship, intelligence and wisdom” and not only play an integral role in the health of their ecosystems but share a special cultural partnership with the tribes."

The tribes have a kinship with wolves and protect them so they should be held responsible for their actions. Todate the state of Wisconsin has paid out approximately 3 million dollars for wolf depredation on livestock and domestic animals. The Chippewa tribes should be required to use some of the casino money to cover the costs.

Roundoak - that’s a logical solution. I can imagine how that’d be received. Particularly with the casinos taking a bath for the last 1.5 years.

They're welcome to worship any wolf on a rez. If the wolf leaves the rez, it's fair game.

Scott, I already ran it by John Johnson, Sr., President of Lac du Flambeau Band. I have not heard back from him.

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Fugk Indians on reservations. I don’t give a damn what they think or how they feel about a damn thing. Them that go out and make their way like everyone else I have as much respect for as I do any other American.

So does MI.

Who needs a season to shoot them anyway? Not that I would do anything of the kind.

When I was growing up, Wi had no wolves. White supremacists imported them.

Just go out for a walk and hang a few treble hooks every now and then.

I'am 1/3 American Indian everything that my parents and I have we earned and made it on our own no help from the Government....the War was lost by the Indians in North American.....
I buy Hunting and Trapping license like everyone else and go by the same Laws.....

American Indians lost the war but are being allowed to beat us in the 21 Century....

Law needed to be passed " ALL TREATIES ARE NULL AND VOID ".....everyone else can make it they should also....

Give em' some firewater and "new" blankets....

The right to manage wildlife belongs to the AMERICAN people. NOT Indians who live on "Sovereign" Indian land. They are legally foreign Citizens have NO legal right to set US game laws. Period.

It's no different than Canada or Mexico trying to dictate our game laws. Yes- we have International treaties with other countries like Canada and Mexico that govern the management of migratory birds. But by and large NOT regarding land based mammals.

If the American Indian "Nations" want to make ther lands into wolf preserves ,FINE.

They just need to STFU about game laws in the USA.

I have no idea how this all pans out in the WI justice system, but I ASSuME it will end up in the WI supreme court, which is now six females to one male. Guess that means we will see the wolf hunt/trap disappear!

This 100%

No, tell them fine, they have to pay for all management and any private animal killed by them the tribe can be openly sued.

F Em, on or off the Rez.

If we could boycott the casinos, bet they would change there minds in a hurry. I know it won't happen.

we didint fight the indian wars long enough

We need a bounty on Injuns.

Suspect I care about feather Indians and their spirit animals about as much as they care about me....fugg 'em. Keep your brother in your yard then.

The right to hunt and fish

ok , where does it say "manage game"? and as above, not even on Indian lands they can take their 50 per cent out of the ones left alive after the hunt or take 50 percent of the permits which means raising the quota in accordance

Over the years various folks on the 'Fire have posted examples of the injuns failed attempts at game management. Key word: FAIL

I dont know how the indians can stop this hunt. The northern third of Wisconsin is in the Ceded territory .Outside of that I just dont know how they have any say in the matter. Most of the reservation land is in the ceded territory , but it goes way outside the reservations.. If we can at least get a wolf hunt outside the territory , it would reduce the wolf numbers where there are the most deer and that is in the southern part of the state.. This would be a start . They aught to just have a hunt anyway. There is no doubt many are being shot . I have yet to see a wolf and have land in northern Wis. for 32 yrs. now. There are years where the wolves starve cause there are so few deer anyway. Last year was a mild year , easy on the deer and hard on the wolves. I didnt find a wolf kill this spring for the first time in about 10 yrs. Many wolves starved . They do kill coyotes however, every chance they get.

WI Indians get upset if us Palefaces shoot a few wolves. They however are free to spear as many spawning walleyes and muskies as they see fit in all the big & popular OFF RESERVATION LAKES in the entire northern third of the state. The state then reduces walleye bag limits lake by lake to one, two or three for regular sport fisherman. They can pound sand.

Wolves and Ungulates don't mix, historically, Indians have hunted them and the Wolves were their constant pain in the azz.

Since Plugs is flying many of these new illegals up to Fort McCoy maybe he can put em on the Reservations up there. I am sure they will repopulate a lot of the towns up there too. Surely all the Biden voters up there will welcome it & they deserve it. These illegals like to hunt & fish too but they could care less about private property/ trespass laws which is already proven by their actions, no licenses or regulations either. That ought to go over good with landowners & WI Warden Gestapo Army.

Large Treble hook on a very strong steel leader attached to a steel cable about 4 feet high between 2 trees. Put a piece of meat on the treble hook. When the coyote or wolf jumps to get it they also end up getting it, so i have heard as told to me by an old logger.

Yes I’ve heard about treble hooks, also the idea of just putting the hooks by themselves in a beaver carcass. I can’t really support those methods, has the potential to bring attention like those that have set out poisoned carcass piles. They are very indiscriminate.

There are much more subtle ways.

Yes, just about all Indian tribes have aligned themselves with the left for politics. It’s a ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ relationship. Just like when they invent a ‘sacred place’ to oppose a mining project, like the Eagle Mine, Marquette, Co, MI.

Of course they can do what they want, like shooting one of the few moose in WI a handful of years back, at night.

Some say, well whatever, we took their land back in the day. The welfare merry go round seems like it won’t end until we collapse.

North WI indians are Timber Nigers.

I've lived on and hunted Northern WI for 40 years. Absolutely big, beautiful country. Plenty of room to roam and get away from other hunters. For most of those years we've enjoyed decent to good hunting. We've killed some really good bucks through the years, all on public land.

But, for the last decade or so, our deer hunting has been tough. We just don't see much for deer. Don't see large bucks at all. They're logging as much or more than ever in our area, so I don't buy that habitat is getting too old, which is the DNR's standard excuse as to why there just isn't many deer.

But, we do see wolf sign and wolves regularly. Our joke for years has been that, based on the amount of sign and animals we see, if there's only 1500 wolves in the state, there must only be 3000 deer. So I have to laugh at these estimates that 1/3 or even 1/2 the amount of the total population was killed off due to the wolf season overrun last year. Let me assure everyone that we don't even notice a difference; there's still plenty of wolves in WI.

Look at it this way, if they could kill so many, many more than the quota in a matter of hours, isn't it more likely that the population estimate was way low than it is that they somehow managed to kill off a third or half of an entire population within a few hours? Northern WI is heavily forested. Parts of it are big country. The season only ran a few days. It's just preposterous to me that claims that the population was devastated after last year are taken seriously by any sort of objective arbiter.

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This.

We've got some awfully good hunters in the state but not so good to tumble that many wolves in such a short period of time.
If I manage a tag this year, I'd love to be able to call them at night but I'll probably enlist some acquaintances with dogs.

Also agree on the deer numbers in the northwoods. It's downright pathetic - so much so that I sold my cabin/land 5 years ago.

Yes, here’s a picture from da U.P., bear pile. More wolves than bear.

In my view.......the reason for the increase in Wolves is the working together of the Indians and environmental groups to take control of game issue's. A Wolf will replace the need for Man to control wildlife pops.
I have seen that when Wolves kill everything then the game managers step in and the first ones who are limited is the hunter population, leaving the Indians with everything.

A good example of this was the resettlement of Hmong from Vietnam into parts of Wisconsin. Big violators. I had a run in with them on my property near the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway. County Sheriff was called and cited them for trespassing which they ignored and did not show up in court. Warrants were issued for their arrest (7 or 8 of them) but nothing happened. Wisconsin DNR was alerted to their activity in the area and pinched 4 of them for hunting small game w/o a license and shooting song birds. They did not pay fine or show up in court. The local DA had enough of their nonsense and contacted the DA in Dane County where they lived and warrants were served and arrests were made. A liberal group of lawyers came to their defense and some how charges were dismissed..

Yup. A lot of Hmong’s think they can hunt fish anywhere anytime no license no laws. A number of years ago near Meteor, WI a Hmong trespasser was caught by a landowner hunting a deer stand. During the confrontation the Hmong trespasser shot and killed the landowner. I would not be surprised to see many, many more trespassing & confrontations all over the country by Illegals because of the current situation. Anyone know what happened to that Hmong murderer? He is probably free by now.

Holy Smokes !!! I googled the POS murderer and he shot and killed 6 people & wounded 2 more!!! My memory must be fading.

There is no question the wolf population is increasing and has an impact on not only deer but the elk. Another predator should be brought into the equation as well, the Black bear. In 1989 there was an estimated 9,000 bears and the most recent estimate is 24,000. A couple years ago a friend and I were floating the Flambeau River for bass and we heard a bleating sound ahead of us and when we came around a bend there was a Black bear on the shore with its front paws on a fawn. It saw us, grabbed the fawn and high-tailed into the brush. A relative farms near Stevens Point and while he was mowing 1st crop hay a big Black bear jumped up ahead of the haybine. He slowed thinking maybe there were cubs still in the hay, but he came up on the remains of a fawn.

A number of years ago a black bear chased and caught a small fawn running down Main Street in Boulder Junction for all the tourists to see

My Dad and his brothers sold their cabin and land near Gordon, WI for the same reason. The youngest brother bought a cabin and land east of Black River Falls and guess what? He and the gang are seeing wolves there.

That area east of Black River Falls, Clark County / Jackson County area is some pretty wild country

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My Dad and his brothers sold their cabin and land near Gordon, WI for the same reason. The youngest brother bought a cabin and land east of Black River Falls and guess what? He and the gang are seeing wolves there.
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I remember as a kid in the 1960’s my mom & dad & the good folks in the Eau Claire area referring to that area between Fairchild & Neillsville as “ Little Korea”.

No one who as actually been in the northwoods and hunted there could possibly believe you could kill 1/3 of the wolf population in 3 days. There are so many millions of empty acres that is a ludicrous claim.

The reality is that WI DNR has been underestimating the true population for years.

The other reality is that a lot of deer hunters and farmers are going to shoot wolves on sight just like they always have, and the law be damned. I have very thankfully not crossed paths with a wolf while hunting my bird dogs so no hard decisions have had to be made on my end. I do know that a good majority of local sportsmen and farmers up north hate wolves with a passion. Seems like a bunch of big city lawyers and enviro whackos think they should have more say than the people that live with wolves every day.

I remember that. One time I was talking to one of our guys in La Crosse and he said one of those guys that was killed was a friend. He was really pissed off and didn't have anything nice to say about the Hmong.

WI DNR also a number of years ago vastly underestimated the bear population. DNR is much too restrictive in their issuance of bear permits. They should open up a general bear season for everyone for a few weeks or so. The state of GA has done that in the N. GA mountains and it is still overrun with increasing bear numbers.

I live just down the road from the Coulee experimental forest of 3500 acres. Beautiful piece of land. I have seen very few deer compared to the surrounding area of farms, there are no songbirds , woodpeckers etc. and I can count the number of squirrels I have seen in 15 years on one hand! Hmong hunt it heavily as do some others. I told this to a Warden who was questioning me at a trailhead and he would not buy any of it! The shape of things to come disgusts me!

Two practical and one political reasons they don't. Bears are very hard to count accurately. The only way to do it is with a DNA hair-snag capture/recapture program, taking 3 or more years and bookoo bucks. Without "sound science" they face lawsuits from the crazies. And even then, with the science behind them. Defending against lawsuits is not a good use of limited departmental funds, especially if you lose.

We faced the same thing here on the Kenai, Pen. and elsewhere in Alaska. Everyone knew there were far more moose-calf-killing brown bears on the Kenai than the Department "estimates" (using a MT model!) on which they based a very limited number of permits. The biologists admitted it, but knew if they upped the permits or season, they would be sued. When they did get the funds for the DNA sampling, there were about twice as many bears as the official estimate. An increase in permits /season followed.

Same thing happened in the Anchorage Bowl with brown bear estimates. About 3X IIRC. Danged things were running all over town, with few people knowing it.

In Interior, during moose calving season in a low pop. area that could support many more moose, F&G instituted a program to non-lethally remove as many black bears as they could for a period of weeks. Sows with cubs were left. They moved more than 3 times as many bears as they first estimated they would. The moose population did rebound. One bear moved 60 miles away was recaptured several days later in the original capture area - he knew a good thing when he saw it, and where!

Wolves are easier, since one or two radio-collared animals can pin-point the entire pack. The fact, as mentioned, is that so many wolves were killed in so short a time indicates a far larger population than officially acknowledged. The kill was replaced, and likely more, by the spring puppies. The wolf population was reduced for only a few months. To be maximally effective, a hunt should be held during the gestation period, and boy howdy, won't that raise a howl!

It is a biological fact that when population mortality is increased, so is the effort to reproduce if possible. Alaska has shown that to give a boost to depleted ungulate pops. strongly impacted by wolves, the wolf population in the area must be reduced by at least 80% for 3 to 5 consecutive years.before the culling can be relaxed. Several years later, the wolf population will be at or above the previous level.

As a former AK Governor, Wally Hickle, once said, "We can't just let Nature run wild!"

Skane, you did the right thing by selling. I have a cabin about 3 miles from Skane. It is through the woods however. It is loaded with wolves. This spring there were wolf tracks all over the place. I'm likely putting mine up for sale too. It is not even worth the taxes to have land up there , not to mention the work and the money sitting there if I do sell. Also, those guys with the 300 acres down the road sold just last week.

That is messed up you folks are selling your land and cabins up there! It pains me to hear about it as I know how peaceful and enjoyable an option that real estate can be! FUBAR!

I have not see a buck during the gun season , including several muzzleloading seasons since 2009, and my son has not seen one since 2012. We hunt it all weekend and many times the next week and even muzzleloader season sometimes. It really is that bad in NW WIsconsin for deer hunting.

Governor Evers has recently amended many of the gaming compacts, I would not doubt if this is another ploy by the tribes to increase their power. Unfortunately When the tribes started spearing again that led to a lot of Real Estate up North being sold and bought up by guess who ...

The bear population by Stevens Point is sky-rocketing! Almost every property by us has bear sign and we have a bunch of them on camera yet nobody is hunting them by us.
I have nine years of points already for zone B by Eagle River and there is a pile of them up there. When I ran with the dog hunters they would tree three bears before a kill was made many times because of all the small bears.

We are not seeing Wolf sign by us fortunately but a ton of Coyotes this year and deer numbers are way up. I had 12 in the field by me last night and more in the corn.

Yep. It's gotten pretty bad. Such a shame. All that beautiful country to roam and there's just not much for game out there anymore. Our deer hunting group and most others in our area are dwindling. The tradition is slowly dying. Kills me that I'm looking to hunt the southern part of WI or a different state with my kids. Gun season used to be my favorite week of the year. Hunted 4-5 days a week from early November through December ML season for years. This year I might not take time away from work to hunt much more than the opener and a few days ML. Going on more and more western hunts, which, don't get me wrong, is fun, but I absolutely loved hunting big woods whitetails and the tradition and culture that was interrelated with it in WI.