Hunting Group Sues Wisconsin DNR To Force Wolf Hunt

ACROSS WISCONSIN — A Kansas-based hunting organization is suing the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for not allowing people to hunt wolves this winter.

Hunter Nation Inc. filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Jefferson County Circuit Court against Wisconsin DNR Secretary Preston Cole, the Wisconsin DNR and the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board.

"Wisconsin law requires the DNR to hold a hunting and trapping season if the gray wolf is not under federal protections. Despite this clear mandate, Gov. Evers, Secretary Cole and the Department of Natural Resources are playing politics and intentionally delaying the wolf harvest to give radical anti-hunting groups time to block the delisting and stop a hunt altogether,” Luke Hilgemann, President of Hunter Nation, said in a news release.

The Trump administration delisted the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act on January 4, 2021, triggering a 2011 state law the hunting organization said that requires Wisconsin’s DNR to schedule a grey wolf hunting season between November and February.

The DNR’s policy board voted 4-3 last month against opening the season by Feb. 10 amid concerns that the department had not consulted tribal nations as required by treaties and did not have time to set quotas, according to Wisconsin's State Journal.

Hunter Nation President and CEO, Luke Hilgemann, and Hunter Nation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting America's hunting heritage and the right to hunt, is represented by Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.

“The Wisconsin DNR does not have the discretion to determine whether to follow state law when it comes to scheduling a gray wolf hunt. WILL intends to hold Wisconsin’s administrative agencies accountable until this pattern of ignoring state law ends," WILL Deputy Counsel, Anthony LoCoco, said.

DNR spokeswoman Sarah Hoye told Wisconsin's State Journal that the agency “will be reviewing the complaint” and is taking steps to implement a wolf hunt in November 2021. In addition, the agency said it's working towards completing a 10-year wolf management plan that will guide future management decisions for wolves in Wisconsin.

WILL’s lawsuit, however, alleges DNR’s decision to forgo a gray wolf hunt until November 2021 violates state law and the Wisconsin state constitution’s guarantee of a right to hunt. Once the gray wolf was delisted on Jan. 4, the lawsuit claims Wisconsin DNR had an obligation to comply with state law that permits the trapping and hunting of gray wolves for a season between November and February.

Wisconsin last held a wolf hunt in 2014. The DNR estimates the state is currently home to nearly 1,100 wolves in 256 packs, a modern day high.