IRONWOOD, MICH. -- Here come the hunting hounds, howling, some 200 yards through woodland. Approaching echoes mean only one thing.

Something is intended to be cornered, or killed.

“I can hear the dogs coming, now. We're going to let them finish this thing off. It’s a beautiful, beautiful coyote. ... He might have a little fight left in him. His eyes are open,” a narrator exhales into the video. It was posted on YouTube, but since has been removed, as criminal charges are considered.

The hounds bound through deep snow, toward a mature coyote, already shot and wounded, lying nearly motionless on the thigh-high drifts. Its eyes blink.

The narrator wants the dogs to finish what the hunter did not.

"This is going to be some live action," the man says as he aims the video camera. "There he his. There he is. Get him, Doc. Get him. ... We're going to get

Cooter in here. He's a machine."

Radio-collared tracking hounds tear, and are torn at, by the wounded predator.

The video is in the hands of the Gogebic County prosecutor, after an investigation from a Michigan Department of Natural Resources law officer. The prosecutor did not return multiple requests for comment.

The Department of Natural Resources has requested Gogebic County authorities to determine if this hound attack on a wounded coyote was unlawful

In the words of the narrator, the coyote is “beautiful.” Red wounds smear untrodden snow against the wintry white powder.

The yelps and cries of the out-numbered coyote and the attacking dogs are high-pitched. They are harsh.

Hound-hunting is not illegal in Michigan. This might be just another local case for law enforcement to sort out, whether it crosses a boundary into animal fighting or abuse. But its implications are larger and about to become part of a national narrative in the debate about wolf hunting – one of Michigan’s hottest political issues.

Anti-hunt groups fear hounding could become a new method in Michigan's emerging wolf hunt, illegal now for wolves, but legal for some other game.

"It is very difficult to watch. It was just absolutely horrible," said Nicole Paquette, vice president of wildlife cruelty for the Humane Society of the United States, which is releasing an edited version of the video today.(Warning: graphic content.)

"This is just the most egregious practice that I have seen in a long time.” Paquette says.

A spokesman for the Department of Natural Resources says hound-hunting for wolves is not under consideration. Leading wolf-hunt supporters agree.

“This does not represent hound hunters in any way,” said Mike Thorman, legislative leader for the Michigan Hunting Dog Federation. “Many times hunters release the animal that has been tracked. This is not what we stand for.”

He stressed that hound-hunting organizations strongly opposed using dogs in the recent Michigan wolf hunt. He also said the hounds in the video would never have caught up with the coyote if it were not wounded; they are too wary. And he said virtually every wolf studied was captured in a humane leg-hold trap, collared, and released.

In 2012, wolves were delisted from Great Lakes protection. Michigan’s first hunt was in November and December. Last year’s 45-day hunt fell short of goals.

Twenty-two wolves were killed – 11 males and 11 females - ranging from less than a year old to more than seven years old. The oldest female was taken by a 14-year-old boy in Mackinac County. She was perhaps the alpha female of the pack, usually the only one to breed.

Forty-three wolves were targeted in three Upper Peninsula units where livestock and dog attacks have been recorded. An MLive investigation found most of the livestock attacks occurred on a single farm.

The owner was charged with poor animal husbandry after the MLive series. He had been reimbursed for his losses by the government, and was provided taxpayer-paid wolf deterrents. A local judge who had a permit to hunt wolves on the farm removed himself from the case. The court appointed the judge’s attorney son to represent the farmer, who pleaded no contest this spring.

But in Michigan, only weapons may be used to hunt wolves. Anti-hunters fear last year’s limited outcome could lead to pressure for more successful measures, like hounding and trapping.

Wisconsin does it this way. Hunters there killed more wolves last year than in Michigan. Wisconsiners want to reduce what some say is a past-peak population.

Wisconsin was estimated to have only about 150 more wolves than Michigan, about 800. But hunters there killed 257 last season, compared to Michigan’s 22.

The hunt there is longer and hounding and trapping is legal. Trapping is by far the most successful method, accounting for 70 percent of wolf kills in Wisconsin. Another 14 percent – or 35 wolves – were taken with the aid of dogs.

Opponents argue whether hounds and traps are fair sport or whether wolves should even be hunted.

Voters may not get to decide. Ballot questions in November would let voters weigh in. But a separate signature initiative, promoted by pro-hunt groups, could make that moot if lawmakers approve it this summer.

Ed Golder, spokesman for the DNR, said there are no internal discussions about wolf hunting, or additional hunting methods. All is on hold, pending the political outcomes, and hounding has not been a large consideration, he said.

He is also aware of the coyote video, calling it “reprehensible behavior and a serious violation of hunter ethics.”

The Humane Society of the United States is hoping the case will forestall any discussion about hounding and wolves in Michigan.

The graphic video is at the center of a case in which northern Michigan authorities are deciding whether to bring criminal charges again a huntsman – or huntsmen - who urged dogs to kill the injured coyote, already shot several times, the narrator says.

“The dogs are coming pretty hard.The coyote is wounded right here. We shot him three of four times, nice big coyote,” the narrator says.

Indeed, the coyote has fight left, but not enough.

The cameraman calls the dogs - bounding through snowy gaps in a maze of leafless trees – and tape rolling as they attack

The video, posted on YouTube in late February, has since been taken down. Authorities began their investigation in March.

The central question facing the prosecutor: Is this criminal animal abuse, or lawful hunting?

Leaders of traditional hunting groups are appalled by the video. A young boy - maybe not yet in his teens - was brought on camera to witness the event.

The video runs about six minutes, showing at least three hunting dogs attacking the animal, as the cameraman says, this “ ’yote is in deep trouble.”

"I want to see what happens when the dogs get to this thing. Here they come," the narrator says.



But these words, from the narrator on the YouTube video that is now evidence, bewilders opponents.

Jill Fritz is director of the anti-hunt group Keep Michigan Wolves Protected. She also is state director for the Humane Society of the United States, which heavily supports the anti-wolf hunt efforts, and is mostly funding the effort to end it.

“It’s horrible, and it is unimaginable too, considering what that coyote is going through. Michigan’s animal cruelty law specifically prohibits a person from knowingly killing, torturing, mutilating, maiming, or disfiguring an animal. What is in the video appears to be a violation of that law and not covered under the exemption for regulated hunting, trapping, or wildlife control practices.”

-- Email statewide projects coordinator John Barnes at jbarnes1@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.