The Minnesota annual wolf hunt will continue this October despite those seeking to ban the activity.

The wolf hunt began last fall after the federal government took the gray wolf off of the Federal Endangered Species Act protection list, reported TwinCities.com.

The end to the four-decade ban on hunting and trapping threatened the protection of roughly 4,000 wolves in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and adjacent states.

"We are looking at the legal side and the biology," said Minnesota Human Society director Howard Goldman following the de-listing.

"We don't believe the wolf has recovered nationally. It only occupies 5 percent of its historic range."

Despite heavy opposition, the 2012 wolf hunt allowed a quota of 400 wolves to be killed as a season limit, which was met in January and the season was subsequently closed.

Since then, groups such as Howling for Wolves and the Center for Biological Diversity have challenged the Department of Natural Resources for allowing wolf hunting, but were dismissed by the Minnesota Court Appeals.

According to the judge, the groups actually should oppose the state lawmakers for de-listing the gray wolf rather than the DNR's decision to move forward with the wolf hunt.

"It is apparent that petitioners' disagreement is with the Legislature's policy decision to permit wolf hunting," wrote Judge Louise Dovre Bjorkman.

"In sum, petitioners do not assert that the wolf rules cause unique harm to their aesthetic interest in wolves."

Previously, the Minnesota Supreme Court declined to hear from any opponents of the wolf hunt before it began.

"I don't know where you can go if you can't go to the judiciary and you can't go to the Legislature," lamented Maureen Hackett, founder of Howling for Wolves.

The DNR is expected to set the schedule and quota for the 2013-2014 hunting and trapping season in about a month.

"It's not the same as what happened in the 1800's or the early 1900's," defended director of fish and wildlife for the DNR, Ed Boggess.

"We did not design the season to try to suppress the wolf population. It's just to provide for a sustainable opportunity to take wolves by those who desire to do so."

Check out a segment on the 2012 wolf hunt below: