'Surprise! Hunters' hounds, tech & traps rapidly 'harvest' WI wolves

It's winter 'harvest' time in Wisconsin this week, but this particular season is also about what's flowing back into the snow and soil along with what's been torn from it.

For the record, the ground work for this 'harvest' had been championed and inserted in state law by former GOP State Rep. Joel Kleefisch who appeared to have been subconsciously salivating over the event:

Since being introduced back into the Wisconsin wildlife, wolves have thrived and grown to the point that their population must be managed,” said Rep. Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc)....“A hunting season will allow for reasonable control of the population, while marinating viable and sustainable pack numbers for this majestic animal.”

And though that Kleefisch (but not this Kleefisch) is gone from state politics, fresh allies were lined up.

Along with coordinated details like permissible, GPS-controlled dog packs, legal baiting (no more than ten gallons per dump) - and I suppose some field reconnaissance to ensure that nothing resembling a fair or true sporting chance was underway - so in a single day, Wisconsin has become America's go-to bloodsport state.

Wolf kill reaches 50% of statewide quota after first day of season; DNR to close three zones

But wait, there's more:

Even with the planned closures, it's likely wolf harvests in the zones will exceed the kill targets. 

Which is the way it has gone before.

Because Wisconsin treats this portion of its public wildlife trust as a special interest's propriety disposable - freshly enabled to do even more damage during the current wolf breeding season - 

- because there's been a routine wolf overkill even when the state-sanctioned and so-called managed 'harvest' was supposed to be shut down, as I'd noted in 2014:

Despite the obvious, WI DNR let hunters, hounders break wolf kill quota

One more thing shows how little value Wisconsin places on authentic conservation which understands that healthy woodlands need wolves:

Wisconsin only charges its home-state residents a $49 wolf-killing license fee. 

That fee had been $100, but then-Gov. Scott Walker cut it 51%, because, you know, red state politicians have their 'values' and unlike the wildlife, ballot-box constituencies have to be protected.