DFL Sen. Chris Eaton introduced a bill to ban the hunt Thursday.

A bill introduced to the Legislature this week would put a five-year moratorium on wolf hunting in Minnesota.

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-Minnesota wolf hunters on track to finish just over target

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Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.

More kills could still come in through tomorrow.

The final leg of Minnesota's controversial wolf hunting season will come to a close tonight, and hunters have already hit their target.

As of publication, the Department of Natural Resources has tallied 403 kills between the two seasons, meaning hunters have hit three wolves above target. DNR wolf specialist Dan Stark emphasizes that the target is not a quota, and they fully expected the possibility of going over.

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Minnesota wolf hunt: Welcome to round two
Wolf hunt closes Sunday; 129 killed so far

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The remainder from the first-season target carried over to the second.

The second leg of Minnesota's controversial wolf hunting season is underway, and after opening weekend, 18 kills have been registered -- far fewer than the 50 claimed on the early season opener, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

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Wolf hunt closes Sunday; 129 killed so far
Gray wolf advocates to protest DNR over hunting season

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Submitted image via Pioneer Press

Jessica Saenger shot this deer, but wolves reaped the benefits. Finders keepers.

Jessica Saenger, 17, was in a deer stand near Floodwood last Saturday when a doe pranced into her field of vision. She took aim, shot what she felt was a kill shot, and watched as the deer, presumably injured, hightailed it for the woods.

After waiting in hopes the deer had indeed been shot and was bleeding out, Jessica got down from the stand. But she was in for a surprise soon after she began following the blood trail.

SEE ALSO: Wolf hunt closes Sunday; 129 killed so far

"I picked up the [deer's] blood trail and all of a sudden, a wolf ran by," Saenger told the Pioneer Press. "It wasn't even 40 yards away. It scared the crap out of me."

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Image: DNR.

Hunting in two of the three zones has reached quota.

As the first leg of a controversial, two-season wolf hunt comes to a close, Minnesota hunters have claimed 129 kills as of publication, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

Though that's only about 65 percent of the quota, the success rate has already exceeded expectations based on similar hunts in other states, says Dan Stark, wolf specialist for the DNR, though he wasn't certain as to why.

SEE ALSO:
Minnesota's wolf hunting season claims 50 on opening weekend
Gray wolf advocates to protest DNR over hunting season

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Courtesy Minnesota DNR.

Minnesota's controversial wolf hunting season is officially underway, and after the opening weekend, the DNR has tallied 50 kills.

That amounts to one-quarter of the quota for the early 16-day wolf hunting season. Another quota of 200 will be set for a later season, running from November 24 to January 31.

SEE ALSO:
Gray wolf advocates to protest DNR over hunting season
Minnesota's wolf hunting season begins November 3

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When he's not under attack from his fellow Republicans, Kriesel enjoys hunting.

Retiring Rep. John Kriesel, R-Cottage Grove, had both his legs blown off while on duty in Iraq in 2006, but he doesn't let that stop him from enjoying an active lifestyle, including deer hunting trips to South Dakota.

SEE ALSO:
-- Bob Koss, MNGOP Senate staffer, calls John Kriesel a "piece of shit" -- and gets fired
-- John Kriesel, pro-gay marriage MNGOP Rep., won't seek reelection [VIDEO]

Over the weekend, Kriesel shared a cool picture with his Facebook friends showing how he gets around while he's trying to bag the big one.

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Photo: Howling for Wolves.

One graphic billboard paid for by opponents of the hunting season.

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Howling for Wolves putting up anti-wolf hunt billboards

Wolf hunting season opposed by 80 percent of DNR survey respondents

Minnesota's wolf hunting season begins November

Opponents of the Legislature-mandated hunting season for Minnesota's formerly endangered gray wolf plan to protest outside the Department of Natural Resources' headquarters in St. Paul today.

The wolf advocacy group, Howling for Wolves, is also responsible for those hard-to-look-at "Stop DNR torture" billboards popping up around town, like the one above.

At today's rally, the group will file a petition to ban the hunting season, set to begin this fall.

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Howling for Wolves is paying to put up billboards of this sort throughout the Twin Cities.

SEE ALSO:
-- Wolf hunting season opposed by 80 percent of DNR survey respondents
-- Minnesota's wolf hunting season begins November 3

A nonprofit called Howling for Wolves is putting up billboards around the Twin Cities in a last-ditch effort to persuade state officials to reconsider this fall's first-ever regulated wolf hunting season.

The billboards feature graphic photos of wolves ensnared in traps and read: "Stop DNR torture. Now or never."

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St. Louis County Department of Lands and Mines photo

A 20-by-18-foot deer stand in St. Louis County forestland

For some hunters, it seems the fall Minnesota mornings spent shivering in a tiny, rickety deer stand are a thing of the past.

St. Louis County officials are having trouble with the concept of hunting "mansions," or deer stands with shingled roofs, insulation, carpeting, lounge chairs, and the occasional generator, the Duluth News Tribune reported.

"We're getting overbuilt," St. Louis County Land Commissioner Bob Krepps said. "We're seeing mansions out there - basically hunting shacks on stilts."

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