October 27, 2020byJacob Resneck, CoastAlaska

Last year’s record hunting and trapping season eliminated more than half of Prince of Wales Island’s wolf population. That’s according to the2019 population estimatereleased on Monday that proposes a 16-day trapping season next month.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s estimate of the wolf population last year is 316. But that number doesn’t factor in the 165 wolves reported taken last winter — more than half the island’s population estimate.

The agency says it considers a 30% harvest to be sustainable. But over half is not. Southeast Regional Wildlife Supervisor Tom Schumacher said as much to the Southeast Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Councilwhich met last week.

“There’s no reason that the population couldn’t stand the harvest…