Breaking Point

We hunt in area 258, Becker County, Section 18 Savannah Township parcel numbers 27.0062.000 and 27.0062.001 120 acres South of Itasca State Park, included in the private land we hunt a total of 600 acres of adjacent Becker County, MN Forestry and White Earth State Forest. We also hunt throughout an additional 18,000 acres North and West of the private land.

I have been hunting these areas for 50 years and have experienced the ups and downs of the deer population along with the steady increase in the wolf population. Evidence of increased wolf activity has been notably much greater every year since the late 60’s and early 70’s till today. Our hunting party has declined due to the absence of game, they prefer to hunt where they can harvest a deer. Over the last ten years, we struggled to harvest one deer with 10 to 15 hunters afield.

We have 15 active cameras on the 120-acre particle, we see more wolf activity than deer. Now the wolves have moved further west after they wiped out our remaining deer herd. The DNR studies are missing that information, as the wolf packs move around, they drive out the deer or consume all. The sheer number of wolf packs speaks for itself, the wolf is the problem that can be managed,

I no longer accept the DNR’s science nor their interpretation of the effects of the wolf on deer populations. The wolf is the apex predator, killing everything in an area before moving on to their next meal. I do not accept the Federal government's control of keeping the wolf on the endangered species list in our area of Minnesota. Deer are part of our food source, and to have the government far removed from knowing what is happening in the woods is disgusting.

Hunters like me have reached a breaking point where we will no longer comply with the utmost stupidity of government control over our food source.