After the gray wolf was removed from the endangered species list for the western great lakes region in January 2012, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources instituted a hunting season to manage the population. This new season ran from November 3, 2012 through the 18th, 2012 in some regions and continued November 24, 2012 and ran through January 31, 2013 or until the tag limit was reached. That limit was set at a target of 400 wolves across the state. The total number of wolves harvested in this inaugural season was 412 wolves. Twelve more wolves were harvested past the target number.