Wolf killed by duck hunter on opening day

Saturday morning of the Northern Zone duck season brought a terrifying incident to a group of young hunters in Vilas County. The incident took place as a 19-year-old hunter and two of his cousins, ages 13 and 14, were in their duck blind. While hunting that morning, the young hunters saw wolves close by. The 19-year-old hunter in the trio, Chase Melton, said he saw a wolf just behind the blind that moved close enough that he may have been able to reach out and grab it. Another lunged toward the blind from the front and was approximately 10 feet away when he pulled his gun up and shot the wolf.

Melton called the Department of Natural Resources and warden Tim Price came out to investigate the shooting. According to warden supervisor Chris Bartelt, it was determined Melton acted in self-defense and in defense of the two minor teens who were in the blind with him. The matter will now be sent to federal marshals to complete their investigation. 

DNR large carnivore biologist Randy Johnson said there was little on which he could comment, as it is an open investigation. He said the best he could offer at the time was that the incident happened on Saturday, the DNR was called, and it was confirmed to be self-defense.

Another hunter, Jim Lund, was hunting nearby with his grown sons. He said one of his sons had scouted out a place for them to hunt the day before the season opened. Upon getting to that spot, they realized other hunters were already there. They moved approximately 300 yards away and set up their blind and decoys.

He recounted that morning, saying they heard what they thought to be a deer behind them at six o’clock. About shooting time, 6:15 a.m., a single wolf snuck up behind his blind and wandered out onto the exposed riverbed.

“About the time we saw the wolf on the riverbed, the group of young hunters was surrounded by wolves 300 yards east of us,” Lund said. “Five wolves surrounded the 19-year-old and the young hunters he brought out to experience the thrill of duck hunting. One wolf was 10 feet behind their blind and the other was 15 feet down the shoreline. The pack was barking and growling at the young hunters despite the older hunter yelling at them. When the wolf on the shoreline lunged at them, Melton shot it in the face. The wolf jumped around for a while and plunged into the water. When it died, the other wolf grabbed it by the neck and tried to drag it away. Melton immediately contacted the DNR to report the incident.” He said Melton was still visibly shaken three hours later when he was recounting the story to Lund and his sons. Lund said he felt the wolves’ behavior was brought on by difficult winter conditions last year.

The mild winter last year made it difficult for wolves to take down deer. Mild winters are good for the deer herd, but they do not favor predators. When deer can move around freely and run from predators without deep snow hindering their movements, conditions are much more difficult for species such as wolves.

This means turning to alternative food sources. Laurie Groskopf of Tomahawk has spent well over 10,000 hours studying wolves, attending conferences and speaking with leading experts on these top-level predators. She said young wolves often see flocks of waterfowl such as ducks or geese and believe they will make an easy meal. While they may sneak up on some, they often find this was not an easy meal and not worth the energy they had to expend to get that meal. Eventually young wolves realize there are better food sources out there, she said. 

“There are an unprecedented number of livestock and dog depredations this year and this has to be a contributing factor,” Lund said of the mild winter. “I am pretty sure there are four overlapping packs in this area.” 

Lund said he knew the wolves near him smelled his hunting party, and that the wolves near the other hunters had smelled them as well. He felt the wolves were assessing the situation to determine if the hunters were a threat or prey.

In response to a comment on Facebook, Melton said situations like this were not OK and that something needs to be done. 

He said he did what he had to do in order to protect himself and the two younger teens with him.

“Too many wolfs (sic) and no one should encounter that especially myself who is 19 and the fellow kids I took out with me,” Melton wrote. “Just want to make it clear, I didn’t pull the trigger just because I wanted too but I did because the two fellow kids and myself were harmed and had wolfs (sic) charging us.”

The Lakeland Times plans to publish a full story on the incident after the federal investigation is complete.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].