Michigan DNR Wolf Resources

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) has done a great deal of work on Michigan wolves and the wolf population including population size estimates, social carrying capacity, gathering public input and providing some excellent resources about our wolves.

The latest information and news through the MDNR on Michigan wolves can be found at www.michigan.gov/wolves. Here are some direct links to some of the information available:

• Wolf Biology and Identification
• Wolf – Dog Conflict
• A summary report of the MSU survey (PDF doc) conducted at the DNR’s public wolf meetings is now available.
• Click here for a summary (PDF doc) of questions asked at the DNR’s public wolf meetings, as well as a summary of the answers provided at the meetings.
• Rationale/Basis of NRC for Approval and Adoption of Wildlife Conservation Order Amendments 13 and 14 of 2013 (PDF doc)
• Wildlife Conservation Order Amendment No. 13 of 2013 (PDF doc)
• Wildlife Conservation Order Amendment No. 14 of 2013 (PDF doc)
• Michigan Wolf Management Plan (PDF doc)
• Report: Wolf Roundtable Final Report (PDF doc)
• Report: Science Relevant to Wolf Management in Michigan (PDF doc)
• Report: Measuring the social carrying capacity for Gray Wolves in Michigan (PDF doc)
• Report: Michigan Wolf Management 2009 Report (PDF doc)
• Michigan Wolf Management History (PDF) (PDF doc)

As of the latest update of this page on June 24, 2015 it is illegal to hunt wolves in Michigan because a Federal court order returns wolves to endangered species list. The anti-hunting groups found a single sympathetic judge who ruled that all the wolves had to be included under the same umbrella of endangered rather than going along with the US Fish and Wildlife Services and MDNR experts’ opinions that the Great Lakes region wolves have grown in numbers beyond their social carrying capacity, well beyond the goal of a couple hundred wolves for Michigan with over 600 wolves now.