Wolves

I've never seen a wolf when canoeing or camping. I'm not eager to. In fact, I don't think I'd want to see a pack of wolves if I were all alone in the wilderness. Fear. I hope that doesn't make me a bad person.

Have you any wolf stories or opinions about them?

• Gray wolves were listed as an endangered species in 1974, but their numbers are growing. In the US gray wolves have been removed from the endangered list.
• The gray wolf occupies only 10% of its former habitat, mostly due to human housing development.
• Wolves help keep our ecosystems healthy. Their existence has a positive trickle-down effect on every part of the forest.

Click to expand...

So says the following article, which estimates the wolf population in each state and has other info about wolves. Little Red Riding Hood might not be visiting Alaska or Minnesota in the future.

Never seen one on a trip and only once or twice from the road while driving. I believe I once heard a howling pack very, very far in the distance one night in northern Minnesota.

Based on Sadie's reaction I believe we spooked one at a portage in northern Canada. There was a lot of wolf sign along the trail and Sadie didn't pay it any attention the first time we crossed it. A week later, when recrossing the portage, she about had a fit when we hit that trail. I'm assuming the scent was very fresh.

Personally I don't have any anxiety about wolf contact. The only slight anxiety I've ever had is when tripping with Sadie, for her sake.

The number of attacks is so low that I have a hard time concerning myself with it.

Alan

Not much of a story.......but managed to get a picture of this one, I've seen them before but only at a great distance

This pic is from one of those James Bay rivers I mentioned a few days ago.

If he(?) looks a little rough it's because he just stepped on shore after swimming across the river in front of my canoe. I had two pretty close encounters on that trip.

I also saw several on one of my George River (Quebec) trips, a pack of at least 3 running along the top of a long esker, no pic for that one.

A friend of mine was a wolf researcher in Alaska till he retired a couple years ago. Tagged the, tracked them with radio collars the works. He was always called upon to be an expert witness. Both sides for and against hunting would call on him. He just wanted to be left alone. He jokes that if he had to do it over again he would study Banana Slugs. He now builds black powder firearms in VT.
Not much help for the thread but a peak into the study of them a bit.
Jim

I first saw them one winters day in the back of a pickup truck, outside the St. Adolphe-de-Dudswell general store. I was on my way in to torture the villagers with my growing Franglais vocabulary. And to buy butter. I had quickly learned that morning, the necessary verbs and their tenses, with a few choice nouns thrown in, to facilitate the butter purchase. The noun I hadn't learned as yet, was the word for wolf. As I stood at the back of the truck both admiring and pitying the two creatures, the hunter taught me that word, and a few others as well. He was hoping for a good price for these furs. It seems the storekeeper was also the fur agent, so I had arrived just in time for this transaction. What first struck me was the size of these wolves. Everything seemed a larger canine size, head, paws, body, and yet they were so thin they were almost emaciated. I wondered how hard a winter they and their pack must've been enduring. The second thing that hit me was, I had never thought there were any wolves in the Eastern Townships. I'd always assumed they'd been extirpated from the region two centuries before. I left the two gentlemen outside wrestling the dead wolves onto a scale strung up from the front porch beam, while I entered, and stood in the aisle in front of the long gleaming counter, while Madame B plied and pried me with questions, trying to extract from me the reason of my shopping visit. I'll be danged if I could remember what I'd come all that way into town for, but I'll never forget those wolves. Les loups.

I heard what I think was a wolf in Smokey Mountain National Park. We were camped on an island in Fontana Lake, and heard a deep long howl as the sunset. It sounded deeper and different from the coyotes we normally hear in the Carolina's. It was pretty cool.

In the Carolinas the wolves and coyotes have hybridized. I've seen at least one coyote who was really large. But that wasn't while paddling.

Ive seen quite a few over the years while paddling on Northern trips. I think they like to hang out beside rivers so they can hunt the young and moulting geese.
I’ve camped fairly close to dens on a few occasions, they like the same spots that make good camp sites. One fond memory is when we camped on the other side of an esker from a den of pups while on the Elk River (Thelon tributary), and spent a good part of an afternoon watching them do wolf pup stuff. They were seriously cute.

Wolf howls used to be a regular tourist draw in Algonquin PP, and as much as I wanted our young family to get and feel close to nature, sitting parked on the shoulder of Hwy 60 at dusk hoping to hear the local pack just never appealed to me. We did however enjoy our own wolf howls in the backcountry on family canoe trips. Those trips were priceless.

I was paddling in the Boundary Waters with a couple of trip leaders from the BSA Northern Tier program. There was another gentleman with me from NYS and we'd been sent by our local Scout council to check on the tripping program. Our "job" was to go on a three day trip and then come back and report to the Executive Board whether we should be directing troops in their direction versus having everyone going to Philmont all the time.

It was early on day 3 and we'd just started our paddle back to the main camp. I looked off to my right and thought I saw a dog on an island off to our side. The "dog" jumped in the water and started swimming directly towards us. Imagine all our surprise when we realized it was a wolf! I was in the bow of my canoe and the animal swam less than 20' in front of me. We watched as it swam the rest of the way to shore, jumped onto the bank and then scrambled off over the rocks and into the woods. Totally amazing and something I'll remember to the end of my days.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

to be honest I've probably heard wolves on trips more often than not, and seen maybe 2 dozen or so, To me they're a welcome sign that I'm truly out in the wilds.
the only time there was an issue at all was at a logging camp near Kapuskasing- the cook used to throw the food scraps into the bush behind the kitchen trailer which brought all kinds of animals in, we had a new guy on the crew that brought his dogs and was promptly warned to keep them tied up numerous times, he didn't and of course the wolves lured him into the bush, all they left was the spine...

Kathleen and I regularly see a wolf or two while canoeing out on the Barren Grounds (a.k.a. tundra). This one followed us for about one km (0.5 miles) along the shore of Shethani Lake, part of the Seal River system in northern Manitoba. Samuel Hearne, of the Hudson Bay Company, in his diary, reported that the “Chipewyan Indians believed that the wolf did not eat its prey raw, but by a wonderful wiseness, peculiar to itself, has a method of cooking its food without the aid of fire.” Hearne didn't provide any details about the actual cooking method.

I've seen wolves in British Columbia (Spatsizi River) and in north-central Washington state (Chewuch River drainage).

The B.C. wolves (three of them) were on the right-hand shore as we paddled down river and they swam across about 75 meters ahead of us. We back-paddled so we didn't rush them. They got out on the other side, shook themselves off, took a long look at us and then headed into the forest. One of the more memorable moments of my outdoor life. We heard wolves that night but not sure if it was the same group.

The WA wolf was seen one morning at the edge of a 5-year old timber harvest unit while I was doing stocking surveys. I happened to look up as the wolf loped across the logging road and stopped at the edge of the unit. It took a quick look around and disappeared into the woods. I feel lucky to have seen it as wolves were fairly rare in Washington at the time.

I did share a lakeshore view one morn with some friends north of Superior. Robin spotted it first. A dog trotting along the waterline towards us, he'd just appeared from out if the brush. Hold on. Dog? It took a few heartbeats to realize what I was seeing. I didn't go get the camera. But somebody did. Pretty sure Mihun snapped some frames.

I first saw them in Alaska 40 years working in Southeast. Mostly we saw them from the air. I have seen plenty of wolves in Yellowstone. Every night in Hayden Valley there is a whole group of people with spotting scopes watching them do the sacred dance with the bison herds.

I have seen a wolf in the remote part of Nevada. They are not supposed to be there, but in broad daylight plain as day. A pack of wolves is intimidating. I know I guy that is a hunting guide that claims he was treed by a pack in the Santa Rosa Range of Nevada. .

In general wolves are not to feared by humans. That is easier to say than to believe when you are by yourself at night.

My grandfather hunted wolves for bounty in Montana around 1910 while working as a teamster on the Norther Pacific RR. Wolves were extirpated to a large extent in the Lower 48 because they are born killers. They do not do well around people and livestock. It is not because of housing developments or any habitat loss. We trapped and hunted them to extinction on purpose.

Then the US Fish and Wildlife Service imported Canadian timber wolves and released them in Yellowstone. Was it 1986? They did little environmental review before hand and would not even admit their actions until much later. The Endangered Species Act was never intended to protect species in perpetuity. The goal has always been to increase wildlife populations, so they could be managed.

I like the famous story about the USFWS biologists in Idaho in the Frank Church Wilderness area. There were in the field studying several different packs of wolves. They claimed that the wolves were becoming territorial and hanging around their camp at night, becoming aggressive. The biologists were helicoptered out for their own safety.

Did see one with a tracking collar on in the Porcupine Mt's in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Very brief - watched it for 8-10 seconds maybe.

Scariest wolf related issue for my was while I was working on my 46 years ago. (For the new folks - The Adirondacks High Peaks area has 46 peaks with an elevation of 4000' or more so if you climb them all you are a "46'er). I hiked many of them solo, and for the ones that had a long level walk to get to the base of the mountain I would start at 2-3 am, get to the base, and then start the climb when it was lighter out.

On one climb I hiked the 5 miles in the dark and was taking a rest at a lean-to at the base, waiting for light. I walked to the edge of woods to answer the call of nature, and when I turned around to go back to the lean to there was a wolf sitting there looking at me. I can't exactly describe the initial feeling but it did scare the crap out of me. Heart racing FAST I am trying to figure out what to do. My pack is at the lean to and I want to retrieve my pack and throw it as an offering (I know, that's bear's stupid) and I recall thinking it might make a good shield. I took one slow step to get it and the wolf stood up. Crap scared out of me even further. I am scrambling to come up with a plan and I know I wanted the the wall of the lean to right behind me. I took another step and just then I hear a voice coming at me rapidly yelling "I'm sorry - it's a dog" over and over again. Wolf sits down.

I am now sitting on the edge of the lean to with my new found French Canadian friend, sipping water and getting my heart to slow. He explained it was a wolf-husky mix, and in one of the provinces in Canada you could have a 50/50 mix. He got his dog from this area. Other areas didn't allow for this blend, but this in what he wanted. He said people mistake it for a wolf quite frequently.

He and his wife had travelled to the ADK's for years in the spring, and enjoyed having the area to themselves. He said they rarely saw people over the years they had come here. As he apologized AGAIN, I explained to was all good - and that I just got a really good story. He then said, "since you are ok with this I want to tell you the funny story. My wife and I were having a cup of coffee around the fire, enjoying the peace and quiet of the mountains when we suddenly heard this loud booming voice saying "WHAT THE F**k!!". He said the both looked at each other and both said "the dog!!".

I don't recall saying that, but I am completely sure I did. I certainly remember thinking that.

If you have a dog that is wolf like, put a bright collar and a bandana on it so people will know it is not a wolf or coyote. I had a blue merle collie once that was grey and black with a big head and long legs. She scared people on the trail all the time, so I put red on her.

I saw my first wolf at Paxton Lake in Alaska just a couple weeks after arriving up here. It was early morning and I was awoken by the sound of something peeing on my tent. When I unzipped the door and peeked out I saw the wolf walking away.

I saw the wolf below from about 50 yards. I turned away for what seemed like a second, to see if my friend Bill saw it. Not seeing Bill I turned back to the wolf and it was gone and Bill was standing right where the wolf was there instead. I thought I was seeing things. It happened that he was sitting scanning the tundra and the wolf came right up to him, and he snapped this picture.

Although I live in wolf country and see them occasionally, I consider wolves to be one of the most difficult hunting trophies of North America to acquire.

Last fall while moose hunting from a barren ridge, I spotted a few wolves on an opposing ridge so three of us all howled in unison. They immediately respond with their chorus and more became visible. Being very territorial, they started toward our ridge to chase we intruding canines out. When they got within 300 yards the became very cautious and stopped where we could count them in the near dark conditions. There were 16 wolves, all in the dark/black phase. A pilot friend recently saw them in the same area as well as a pack of 37+ consuming a cow moose 20 miles from there.

If you are interested in a good read: Alaska's Wolf Man by Jim Reardon.

Wolves will not tolerate another canine in their area so keep your dogs close. In a hungry winter, wolves have come into Fairbanks and killed dogs and it happened here in my little town last winter.

I have a friend who did an internship in Washington a few years ago tracking the wolf packs. As I recall they would collar track one wolf from each pack to monitor the pack movements. If a rancher had losses due to wolves they could generally figure out which pack had done it. Each pack was given one free pass for killing livestock but if they became repeat offenders the entire pack would be killed. The tracked wolf was the last of the pack to be killed since it was their only means of easily locating the pack.

He said a good portion of the livestock killing seemed to be done by young wolves who were learning to hunt and were enjoying their newfound skills (similar to many young humans).

Packs with experienced elders rarely attacked livestock. He recounted one instance of a pack that had never bothered livestock but after the alpha female was legally shot by a hunter the pack began targeting livestock and was eliminated.

I have no idea how applicable this is to wolf packs in general and how much of this information is accurate but it's always interesting to talk to someone with more first hand experience than most.

Alan