Sixty-nine wolves now have been killed since Saturday in Minnesota's controversial inaugural wolf-hunting season.

Thirty-two wolves were killed Saturday, 18 on Sunday and 16 on Monday. Three more have been registered Tuesday.

The breakdown: Thirty-two wolves have been killed in the DNR's Northwest Zone, where the target is 133, 29 in the Northeast Zone, where the target is 58, and eight in the East Central Zone, where the target is nine. That zone was closed to wolf hunters at the end of the day Monday.

A total of 3,600 licenses were issued for the early wolf season. There is a 400-wolf quota -- 200 in the early season that runs concurrently with the firearms deer season and 200 in a second hunting-and-trapping season that will open Nov. 24.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin hunters have killed 61 wolves so far in the hunting-trapping season there.