Posted Monday, November 30, 2009 --- 4:40 p.m.

CRYSTAL FALLS, Mich. (AP) -- A Wisconsin man has admitted poaching a wolf in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Thirty-seven-year-old Stephen Popp Jr. of Green Bay pleaded guilty Monday in Iron County Trial Court to misdemeanor charges of killing an endangered species and hunting without a license.

Judge C. Joseph Schwedler scheduled sentencing for Dec. 28. Popp could get up to 90 days in jail or be fined up to $1,000.

Wolves are a federally protected species in Michigan and cannot be killed except in defense of human life.

Conservation officers with the state Department of Natural Resources found the wolf Nov. 17 at the edge of a field south of Iron River.

They said evidence at the scene led them to a nearby hunting camp, where a suspect was identified.

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