ODANAH, Wis. — Chippewa tribal officials took exception to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for a “hurriedly planned” wolf hunting season in February. To Chippewa, the wolf – or ma’iingan in the tribal language — is sacred. The lead article in the latest tribal mouthpiece Mazina’igan said: “After the DNR’s failure to maintain kill quotas and the poor application of scientific decision-making in wolf management, tribes remain deeply concerned about ma’iingan’s future.” Wisconsin hunters killed 216 wolves in four days, nearly double the quota of 119 animals. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources scheduled the brief season under political pressure from powerful Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate. The politics were less relevant to the Chippewa objection than the outcome. John D. Johnson, chair of the intertribal wildlife task force, said in the article that the tribes were never consulted even though hunting and fishing rights are in treaties ceding Chippewa territory to the U.S. government in the 1800s. Johnson noted too that the hunt was in a season when female wolves were pregnant, putting an end to “entire future generations” of wolves. He regretted too that hunters were allowed to use dogs. The hunt, he said, was about killing not hunting.
Ceded treaty lands. The years that the U.S. government signed treaties with Chippewa. Reservations in red.