A bid to fully ban wolf hunting in Minnesota appears to have fallen short of reaching the desk of Gov. Tim Walz, who had indicated he likely would have signed it.

The development became clear Wednesday and Thursday, when state lawmakers from both parties presented a compromise agreement on natural resources and environmental policy that left out the ban, which had passed the Democratic-majority House by one votein a bit of a surprise victory for those pushing for the ban.

To be clear, nothing would have immediately changed for the state’s estimated 2,655 wolves. They’re currently protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, so they can’t be killed except to protect human life.

But the Trump administration has said it wants to strip those federal protections from the wolves…