The Michigan Natural Resource Commission recently decided that it will not hold a wolf hunt this year, even if voters approve two referendums on the November 4 ballot permitting wolf hunting. The November 4 referendums ask voters to endorse or overturn laws permitting wolf hunting.

A new citizen-initiated law that takes effect in March or April of 2015 will allow wolf hunting to continue even if voters reject wolf hunting at the polls in November. The law allows the National Resource Commission to decide which animals can be hunted as game. The effect of this law is that wolf hunting will likely resume next year.

Last year's November 15- December 31 hunt was the first wolf hunt in Michigan in 40 years. Twenty-two wolves were killed in the Upper Peninsula, approximately half the number that the state had hoped for. Currently, there are an estimated 636 gray wolves in Michigan and there have been reports of wolf attacks on livestock, game animals, and pets. The state's wolf population is down from 687 in 2012, but up significantly from 20 in 1992.