MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Officials say 50 wolves were killed by Minnesota hunter’s in the state’s first wolf hunting season, which started on Saturday.

That’s a quarter of the total amount hunters will be allowed to kill in the early season, which lasts two more weeks. Then a hunting and trapping season starts after Thanksgiving.

There are an estimated 3,000 wolves in Minnesota. Wolves came off the Endangered Species List earlier this year, and the start of the wolf hunt season didn’t come without controversy last Friday. Several protesters with the group Howling for Wolves protested at Minnesota Department of Natural Resources headquarters.

American Indian tribes consider wolves a sacred animal and kept a close eye on hunters over the weekend to make sure they weren’t on sacred land.