Prince Of Wales Island Hunters Object To One-Month Wolf Trapping Season

The vibe about wolf predation hunting on Southeast Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island has been contentious, to say the least. So now that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced a 31-day wolf trapping season on the island this winter, the reaction has been one of anger. Here’s more from Alaska Public Media:

The department wants to keep the island’s wolf population somewhere between 150 and 200 animals. Based on data from last fall, Fish and Game thinks there’s more than 230 on the island. That’s lower than the 2020 estimate of 386, and the 2019 estimate of 316.

Trapper Daniel Peters was tuned into the meeting. He said 31 days is just too short to keep the population under control. 

“This season being 31 days would be a travesty to say the least,” he said. “We’re at a point right now that we could actually fix this, if we just keep on — but we need a little bit more time. We have to have at least two months, I think, to really get after it.”

Peters pointed to the department’s population estimate for the island. He said that should translate to a longer season.