Wolf killed in Illinois
 

An animal shot in December in Marshall County, Illinois was proven to be a wolf by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through DNA testing. The man thought it was a coyote when he shot the Gray Wolf late last year.

Whats amazing to me is the fact that the wolf was shot 150 miles from the Wisconsin border..seems to me wolves would have been seen before reaching this far into Illinois.

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

There was one just recently discovered in southern Indiana as well. Believed to be hit by a car. This wolf was tagged and came from Wisconsin as well. Seems the species has a tendency to roam far to establish new territioies.

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

I have encountered 2 wolves and a mountain lion in southern Il, in the Shawnee National Forest. There was also a mountain lion hit by a train in southern IL a few years ago.

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

I remember reading about the train hitting one of those mountain lions. Where was that at more precisely? (if anyone knows)

Next question(s).........

I know you can shoot coyotes with an unfilled deer tag during deer season, but..........

Can you shoot a wolf with an unfilled deer tag? (During deer season)

Can you shoot a mountain lion with an unfilled deer tag? (During deer season)

Can you imagine the reaction to the guys at the check station when you " check in" your wolf or mountain lion?!?!?!?!



Uncle Matt (now hunting wolves and mountain lions in IL!)

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

Found this info on web, too.

AUGUST 2000 Mountain lion (puma concolor) found dead along RR by sherrifs deputies and turned over tyo IDNR. 110 #, approx. 2 yr old male. Found in Randlph county near the Ft, Kaskasia historic site outside Chester, IL.

Mountain lions were native to Illinois, but the last known record of one up to August 2000 was from Alexander county in 1862.

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

Uncle Matt-

Unfortunately, wolves are a federally protected species in the lower 48, so to answer your question, no, you can not shoot them at anytime. I know this to be fact, but the Mountain Lion question I would check on before shooting. Here in Wisconsin, although the existance of Mountain Lions is debated, they are a protected species and can not be shot...I can only assume it is the same in F.I.B. land.

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

Hmmmmmmmmm..........

I' d better look into these things a little more before I find myself in deep do do.

Thanks Yellowlabman for info.

Uncle Matt (back to just deer huntin in IL)

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

Good Idea, Matt. In Wisconsin, our law is set up such that during deer gun season, you can' t even shoot ' yotes north of Hwy 64. Hwy 64 runs east/west basically dividing the state into the southern 2/3 and northern 1/3. Since the majority of Wolves live in the northern 1/3 of the state, the state figures that it will cut down on accidental shootings. It has been said that some hunters would confuse a wolfe with a ' yote.

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

Uncle mat, to answer a few more of your questions.

Coyote season is open year round for anybody with a valid hunting licence with the exception of slug season. A person can only hunt coyote during slug season with an unused deer tag.

There is also no checking in of a coyote.

But via a friend that heard more about that story from somebody close to the action of this, I will share a little info. This is all second hand info, so don' t bet your life on it;)

As I said above, you don' t have to check these animals in, but this guy knew what he had wasn' t a coyote. So he called in the DOC. To which they told him that he had some kind of mix breed coy dog or something. He didn' t like that answer, s.
o he called another DOC guy and was told the same thing. This was not a good answer for him, basically cause he knew better. So within a few days of this he called a scientist or something at a zoo somewhere here in central Illinois and he agreed to meet him. When he met him he imediatlly told him that he had a wolf, which wasn' t to much of a surprise to the guy. So he returned home and in the next few days he recieved a call from the Feds and they asked him a whole bunch of questions and I believe they came and took the wolf for testing.

Now with that story we speculated that the state of Illinois knew something about the wolves in Illinois but didn' t want people to know that they were. The scientists or bioligists from the zoo must have called the feds and told them the story.

And now you know the rest of the story.

Like I said, I don' t know how true this information was....but the person I recieved it from don' t joke around to much about hunting in general.

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

yellowlabman

Having spent alot of time running hounds for bear in northern Wisconsin I can tell you with great certainty that there is no debate amongst hound runners of the existance of mountain lions in Wisconsin! There here!

Where are you from in east central Wisconsin?

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

Bowfanatic-

I live in Oshkosh...you?

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

Appleton!
Have you been to the new Scheels at the Fox River Mall yet? It' s awesome!

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

Yes I have...actually was thinking of going this evening. Traffic backed up due to EAA and I didn' t feel like waiting to get on the highway. Where do you hunt up north?

YLM

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

The Nicolet all the way from long lake in Forest county over to the Hiles and Crandon area.

Thanks to my father in law I do the majority of my whitetail hunting (bow) in Hortonville on his farm.

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

I know it is illegal to shoot wolves in the lower 48 but I think you could get away with it if it where attacking you or someone else. (which they do more often than people tell you.)

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

Never seen a wolf or mt lion, but i have saw a bobcat, I live in NW IL, it was about 6 years ago, i had just came out of a timber into a bean field along a road, and as i came out i saw something run toward the road. Upon further review (a loooong look) i knew it was a bobcat. Pretty exciting for me, havent seen one since.

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

25lieb - I hunt near Loran - which I' m sure you know is right outside of Pearl City. About 3-4 years ago I also saw a bobcat while deer hunting. Walked probably 50-60 yards from my stand. I had always heard rumors of people seeing them, but that was my first time seeing one in IL. Very cool.

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

Yeah, i bow hunt by loran as well, i saw this cat up by kent however. Good luck this year, don' t steal my deer!

RE: Wolf killed in Illinois
 

You could also get away with it on the basis of that area or state not being part of their home range. I read awhile back on another forum (www.huntamerica.com) that a guy had shot a Timber Wolf in Nebraska?? and was not prosecuted as they weren' t normally found there and he was hunting coyotes. Awhile back there was an article in one of the hunting rags about wolves and one game biologist said that if left unchecked there was nothing to keep them from spreading all the way to Mexico eventually.