Frederica Freyberg:

A federal judge in Madison today heard arguments on the state wolf hunt set to begin next Saturday. Six Chippewa tribes in Wisconsin sued the DNR and the natural resources board to stop the hunt after hunters blew through the harvest quota for the wolves in the February hunt.

John Johnson:

I think they took too many of them at one time during that winter — I guess the winter-spring hunt here. They took 218 animals. We had claimed half of them as the Ojibwa’s tribe’s, to try to preserve them because there’s other things in our ecosystem that need to be taken care of by that wolf and a lot of it has to do with chronic wasting disease in our areas. Especially the ones we hunt and take food from.

Frederica Freyberg:

In a separate court case, a Dane County judge a week ago issued a temporary injunction stopping next week’s wolf hunt saying the hunt cannot happen until the DNR enacts formal rulemaking for hunting wolves. As a result, the DNR reports it is not issuing any licenses for the hunt as it works on rules and a wolf management plan. Tonight, Luke Hilgemann, CEO of Hunter Nation, joins us. That group successfully sued to force the wolf hunt in February and now want the DNR to appeal the state court ruling. Thanks very much for being here.

Luke Hilgemann:

Thank you for having me on.

Frederica Freyberg:

It would appear that this year’s fall wolf hunt which was supposed to begin in a little more than a week is off. What’s your reaction to that?

Luke Hilgemann:

Well, we think there’s still an outward chance if the Evers administration and the Department of Justice comes back to the legal table and challenges this ridiculous ruling coming out of Dane County, that hunters’ rights and the constitutionally-protected right that we established in our court case that started the wolf hunt in February can still happen. We have November until the month of February to hunt wolves by statute. We believe that this activist ruling coming out of Dane County is a setback for sure, but definitely not one that if the governor and the Department of Justice challenge this ruling, we think that they can prevail at the appeal level.

Frederica Freyberg:

Given the DNR says it is now promulgating wolf hunt rules and not issuing any licenses, it would appear that the agency is not going to appeal that Dane County judge’s ruling.

Luke Hilgemann:

And we think that’s a terrible decision. We think that’s one that the Evers administration and definitely his Department of Natural Resources and Attorney General Josh Kaul are going to be held accountable for this coming fall. We believe there is an absolute need to appeal this activist ruling and we are pushing hard. We’re still looking at our potential opportunities to appeal this ruling as well.

Frederica Freyberg:

What kind of response have you gotten from your calls to the Evers administration and the attorney general to go ahead and appeal this?

Luke Hilgemann:

Too much silence, unfortunately, Frederica. Thousands, we know that thousands of hunters have picked up the phone and demanded that this ridiculous ruling be challenged. We believe it has no basis in law and hardly any basis in logic. The way that he got to this ruling jeopardizes regulations that have been held in place in the state of Wisconsin for generations. We believe that hunters have a strong constitutional right to hunt that is being infringed by this ridiculous ruling and we’re going to be there to fight it.

Frederica Freyberg:

How do you respond to tribal nations who oppose harvesting wolves but told us that if wolves are bothering farm animals that a more selective hunt could be considered, like issuing permits to affected farmers to let them kill nuisance animals. What do you think about that?

Luke Hilgemann:

We respect and appreciate the opinions of the Native Americans tribes in the state of Wisconsin. But we also respect and appreciate the reality that wolves aren’t just selected killers, right? We’ve had thousands of animals, pets, livestock that have been killed by wolves as they expand their territory in Wisconsin. Hunter Nation isn’t an organization that wants all of the wolves killed. We believe that the wolf is an important part of our ecosystem, plays a responsible role if it’s managed properly. Unfortunately what we’ve seen over the last several years as Wisconsin’s wolf hunt has been shelved since 2014 is the wolf has expanded its territory and millions of dollars in depredation payments have been a result. We respect the tribe’s opinion, but at the same time, we believe that the farmers, ranchers, pet owners and people that live in the wolves’ territory have an opportunity and a privilege to also feel safe and protected when they go outside.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. We leave it there. Luke Hilgemann, Hunter Nation, thanks very much.

Luke Hilgemann:

Thank you.