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ESCANABA -- Wolves have long been a hot button issue in the U.P.  And soon, we may be seeing some changes in their status as an endangered species.

In just a matter of weeks, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to release a federal package proposing that wolves be delisted on the national endangered species list.

This is by no means a done deal.  In the last five years, there have been three federal packages proposing that wolves be delisted.  But D.N.R. officials say it's a big step in the right direction.

There are 600 wolves in the Upper Peninsula, according to preliminary D.N.R. projections.  And it's possible that soon the management of those wolves will be in the hands of the state of Michigan.

"We want management to come back to the state of Michigan.  When they're a federally endangered species, we cannot do some of the management that we would like to; it leaves us hanging," says Brian Roell of the D.N.R.

The anticipated federal package, which proposes to delist wolves from the endangered species list, is welcome news for the D.N.R.  They were concerned that last season's coyote hunt would lead to wolf poaching, which would hurt their chances of having the species delisted.  Roell says they only saw one wolf poaching last deer season.

"That was very refreshing, in my opinion, that there didn't appear to be a significant amount of poaching during deer season," Roell says.

And now for the question that's presumably on everyone's minds:  if wolves do get delisted, will there be a wolf hunt?

Roell predicts that a wolf hunt won't happen any time soon, but the delisting of wolves is a step towards that possibility.  And if there was a wolf season, would people want to hunt them?  Well, it depends on which hunter you talk to.

"I probably wouldn't.  I'm a dog lover, I've always admired the wolf," says David Hammar of Rock.

"I hunt deer and just about anything that moves, so why not hunt wolves if it's legal?" says Dan Samson of Escanaba.

After the federal package is released, there will likely be a 90-day comment period and then it will go to federal court.

D.N.R. officials say the soonest wolves could be delisted would be in early 2012.