The Eastern Timber wolf has been removed from the federal threatened specie list. Minnesota may have a hunting season during late fall 2012. There status will not change on Rainy Lake.
Voyageurs National Park does not allow hunting on National Park Service land. Timberwolves will enjoy protected status on almost 1.3 million acres along the Ontario – Minnesota border. The BWCAW bans motorizes travel during winter months virtually on all lands inside the BWCAW. If hunting were allowed very little if any would occur there.
Timber wolves will not be threatened in their core range. We see them on a fairly regular basis on the highways, and sometimes even swimming in the water! This winter there seems to be more activity with the wolves. We have had a very mild winter with minimal snowfall and mild temperatures.
Last winter we had plenty of cold weather and well above average snowfall. The whitetail deer population was hit hard by adverse winter conditions and wolf predation. This winter the advantage belongs to the whitetail deer! Wolves have to travel more and that means more hours traveling which ends up making them more visible in daylight hours.
Timberwolves have a long history in the Rainy Lake country. Some of the old timers who are still alive talk about the days when there were bounties on timber wolves. Bounties were paid in both Ontario and Minnesota. The crafty old timers would turn in a hind foot to Ontario and the other foot to Minnesota and collect $50 for each foot. That was a lot of money back in the 1950’s.
Headlines were made when the timber wolf was put on the endangered species list. The International Falls Daily Journal had a front-page report when someone put a dead timber wolf on the steps of the Koochiching County Court House.
Timber wolves will always provide a lively debate, be surrounded in controversy, but they will always live and range free in the wild lands of Voyageurs National Park.
If you have a topic you would like addressed or a commment you can email me at billy@rainylakehouseboats.com
Rainy Lake Houseboats
2031 County Road 102
Inrernational Falls, MN 56649
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