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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Impact of wolves on wildlife

Posted 10/24/24

Wolves are predators and they are in other countries the world over. The DNR says they take only the weak and sick animals. Deer are not long-distance runners. If someone is running after you, …

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Impact of wolves on wildlife

Posted

Wolves are predators and they are in other countries the world over. The DNR says they take only the weak and sick animals. Deer are not long-distance runners. If someone is running after you, you’re going to be weak and tired after a distance. I am 86 years old. I grew up on a farm in Britt and spent a lot of time in the woods studying wildlife. Twice in my life I have seen deer taken down by wolves and it’s not good to see.
When I was 11 years old, there was a thick ice crust on the snow. The deer’s hooves would break through while the wolves could run on it. The deer did not have a chance to survive.
The second time at work at the Dunka Mine, near Babbitt, wolves chased a deer to the bottom edge of a surface dump and it was a repeat of what happened to the first one.
On a walking trail across the road from us, I was walking it six years ago when I saw a partridge with five chicks. I stopped to watch them when two wolves came out and got the chicks. They could not fly yet. A person on Lake Leander witnessed the same thing. We have not heard a partridge drum in the spring since then.
The DNR use to promote feeding the deer when we had harsh winters. They even charged extra on your hunting license.
Today, that money goes to study the wolves. The wolves, and coyotes, and ravens, and foxes, were put on this Earth to eat up the ones that died of natural causes. And take the beef farmers. How many gave it up because it was a losing battle?
This summer I have not seen one deer between Britt and Cook and between Britt and Virginia. It’s time for the hunters to hang up for a while. The DNR has earned the title: Do Nothing Right.
Harlan Pernu Sr.
Britt