Our Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is schitzophrenic when it comes to animals. Our DNR has reintroduced species such as wolves and elk to the state, listed them as endangered, and then openly discussed allowing them to be hunted.
Jfortin is right about this coming out of defeated proposals to allow hunting of mourning doves and sandhill cranes. Issues like these have angered people who support hunting but do not think every animal should be killed once the population reaches some magic number, like 300 for wolves. On the other hand, you have some rabid folks out there who would like to kill every animal they encounter.
The other likely factor is the conversion of forest and farm land to urban development in the southern parts of the state, and its conversion to vacation properties in the north. This has reduced the acreage of land open to hunting in the state. There is a perception, perhaps real, that hunting is being excluded from more parts of the state.