RE: Wolves in Illinois?
 

bwhunter501 i've been hunting Harlon & Steve Terry's place not too far from camden i believe it's off highway 101.i'd love to find a place up there and retire but everbody i owe wants me to keep working.anyway i spent 2 weeks up there this past year.plan to do same this year.

RE: Wolves in Illinois?
 

:D
Nawww, they're dropping them from black helecopters behind your deer stand ;) :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

RE: Wolves in Illinois?
 

the scary thing is i hunt close to an airport and see 5 helicopters fly over each time im out huntin

RE: Wolves in Illinois?
 

This is kinda funny. I thought I heard a wolf last night, actually yesterday afternoon. There are a couple of farms, locally, that breed hybrid wolves.

I was shed hunting last weekend and I saw what I first thought was a coyote. I walked right up on it. It jumped up and then just stared at me at about 40 yards. It was big. If it was a coyote, it was a coydog with something big mixed in with it.

RE: Wolves in Illinois?
 

Red Wolves are not native to IL so they would not be releasing them.

I believe it is illegal to raise wolf-hybrids in Illinois.

Correct me if I am wrong on either account.

RE: Wolves in Illinois?
 

There was a wolf killed in Henry Illinois in the winter of 2003-2004 and I am told one was killed in Henry county this year. The one in Henry was a transient male from Minni (DNA testing) and I haven't heard much about the one from Henry County (This was a tale told by someone at the archery shop saying that his uncle killed one this year. He said it was confirmed but I never heard anything about it except from him and being that I run in livestock circles every wolf/couger sighting gets the jaws flapping and the news spreads like wildfire).

You can get some big coydogs though if they are crossed with the right breed. And I mean big, I saw one out west that was a Malamute X coyote and he weighed 95 pounds or something like that. (It was a freakishly large Malamute female that was bred to the coyote). He was a real sweet dog but jeez, big and wooly.

RE: Wolves in Illinois?
 

So, would it be legal to kill one if I got the chance?

RE: Wolves in Illinois?
 

Yes, im pretty sure since it isnt native right? or how does that go i cant seem to remember but im pretty sure you can.

RE: Wolves in Illinois?
 

Wolves are federally protected. Here in idaho we are all chomping at the bit to shoot one but know we will be hung by the feds if we do. The darn things are eating us out of house and home. Just look at the west forums and see what is going on. I would refrain from shooting one. We are now having them responding to elk calls and have had several come in to within 15 yards. There was just a law passed in which Bush acted illegally when he relinquished some control over the wolves to the States. It dealt with native populations, successful introduction etc. Some of the animal lover groups claimed a big victory over that. The law that was passed was supposed to have overturned a court decision from 1978, however it was deemed to be illegal and the ruling was overturned. The law currently states that the wolves are protected in all areas until the wolf has been delisted. If you have wolves and they begin to populate kiss the hunting goodbye as you know it today.

RE: Wolves in Illinois?
 

Illegal but... Since they aren't official here all are often treated as escaped pets. The people who have killed them have all claimed to have thought they shot Coyotes so as far as I know haven't been punished or even fined for the accident. I would guess that this excuse won't fly in the near future as wolves continue to disperse into the area and these incidents become more common.

Eventually they will have to delist them as the population gets larger and larger and so something similar to the hunting seasons they have in Canada for them. I lived out in Montana from 96-2000 and the wolves were really getting going in Yellowstone during that period and the livestock kills were going up. Of course, the amount of sheep killed by wolves still pales compared to bears and coyotes killing them.. I can only imagine what it is like out there now.