Whistling Away Wolves

Warmer temperatures brought a nice 2” snowfall last evening. Boges and I went for a hike to see what the critters were doing at night, hoping to see some wolf prints. No wolves, but it was a peaceful, relaxing trip.

I carried a small pistol. My chest holster is really too small to go over a thick coat or anorak. The gun is just a noise maker, to keep my dog from becoming wolf bait. I got to wondering what an emergency whistle would do. How would wolves likely react to a whistle? Would it be alarming, or a call to dinner. My dogs are attracted to the whistle, not afraid at all. I’m thinking it may actually sound like hurt prey to a wolf. Any thoughts?

You have top try it and see. A whistle would probably make them curious. I have used an air horn to scare off coyotes and bears. They come in all sizes and are easy to carry.

Bear Bangers are small, light, make a lot of noise, and easy to use. I have scared off bears and coyotes. Have never used one on a wolf, but I expect it would work.

I've scared off wolves, intent on getting to my dog, with bear bangers.

G.

How quickly can you get a bear banger deployed from a pocket?

Black_Fly said:

How quickly can you get a bear banger deployed from a pocket?

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It’s the size of a stout pen. If you prefer, wear it on a string around your neck, tucked into your outer layer.

I looked into dog whistles as a potential wolf deterrent at one time. Found no actual study or evidence but the consensus seemed that it would peak the animals curiosity and have the opposite of the intended effect.

Firearms can serve the same function as a bear banger, but offer a definitive contingency option if plan A fails. Remember an episode of Alone where a participant had a bear walking towards him. He launched a few bear bangers at it and the bear didn’t flinch. Deaf bear? It eventually turned and ran but might have been because it smelled the guy.

Prohibition of fireworks in wilderness areas and how the definition of a firework is worded is something to note. Sometimes bear bangers will fit the legal definition of a firework per letter of the law. Doubtful you’ll ever get pinched on that but hate when laws leave too much gray area.

How about a little air horn?

This is what I carry. https://www.mec.ca/en/product/4007-146/tru-flare-pen-launcher-kit
I leave the flares at home during fire bans and only pack the bangers. Both are easy to use. I never preload the pen, just in case, but do carry them in an outside pocket.

Blukanu said:

Firearms can serve the same function as a bear banger, but offer a definitive contingency option if plan A fails.

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Better than nothing, but not definitive. Best to file down the front sight in case it ends up not being definitive.

Firearms are useful for warning shots making a lot of noise. They can reach out and make noise near an animal. They can stop bluff charges.

Odyssey said:

I never preload the pen, just in case, but do carry them in an outside pocket.

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Kathleen and I always preloaded the pen, in its position ready to activate. Just in case we needed to use it immediately. We were never charged, though, so didn’t need it to be preloaded. We had plenty of time on those two instances when black bears wandered into camp. And, we also had bear spray and my .308 at the ready.

I did, initially, worry a bit about the preloaded pen going off in my pocket. Never happened, though.

ppine said:

Firearms are useful for warning shots making a lot of noise. They can reach out and make noise near an animal. They can stop bluff charges.

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In our early lives together, Kathleen and I were backpackers. Every spring, on the May 24 holiday weekend, we packed into British Columbia’s Southern Chilcotin Mountains, soon after the snow had melted. Alpine hillsides were covered in wildflowers. Black and grizzly bears were common, just emerging from hibernation.

People who knew the area eventually told us that they would never go there in the spring without a gun. That’s when I bought my .308 Browning lever action rifle in 1980. I spent some time practicing on targets, but had yet to face real live action until our next hike that spring.

On our first morning camp, halfway up to the alpine, I was cooking breakfast when a black bear wandered into the meadow about 75 metres (yards) away. Kathleen climbed a tree and I grabbed my new .308, with one cartridge in the chamber and four in the magazine. The bear sauntered out the other end of the meadow, and Kathleen slid down the tree. I resumed cooking breakfast

This happened a second time. Kathleen up the tree. Me with my rifle. Black bear wandered out the other side of the meadow. I’m not making this up, but it happened a fourth time. Lot of bears in the Southern Chilcotin Mountains in spring. But this time a grizzly joined the black bear and me in the meadow.

“Kathleen. Now there’s a black bear and a grizzly in the meadow, and they’re not moving off.” From her tree Kathleen said, “Why don’t you fire a warning shot.”

To myself I said that if they didn’t run off I would have only four bullets left to deal with two bears. I didn’t like my chances. I fired a warning shot anyway, and the black bear bolted out of the meadow. The grizzly stood up on its hind legs and sniffed in my direction. The look in its eyes said, “I’m planning to go out the back of this meadow, but you do that one more time, and I’m going to come over there and beat the crap out of you.”

A couple of years later I read Herrero’s book on bear attacks in North America, in which he advised to never threaten a grizzly bear. If it feels it has no escape, “One of you is going to die.”

Perhaps I had been very lucky.

As a long time predator hunter and K9 team member, I will not be adding high-pitched medium-duration noises to my deterrence efforts.

Bear bangers are "explosive pest control devices" in the U.S., and hence require a special license. Read this two-post thread:


I have no idea how wolves respond to whistles. Get one or more of these (and a bigger canoe):

I have trained my dog (a vizsla) to come when I whistle, using a whistle like those pictured. She gets to run off leash at the 40 acre dog park and gets pretty far away. When I whistle for her other dogs of various breeds often also come. I infer from this that wolves might also be curious and attracted by a whistle rather than repelled.

I don’t know anything about using a whistle to scare away wolves.
If interested about my interaction with grizzlies & an Acme Dog Whistle look up my post from August 9, 2019 #13.

Boreal Birch said:

I don’t know anything about using a whistle to scare away wolves.
If interested about my interaction with grizzlies & an Acme Dog Whistle look up my post from August 9, 2019 #13.

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For those who may wrestle with some of the search features:

Thanks for the helping hand Tryin’. Being low tech and stubbornly stuck in the fifties & sixties, I do need and appreciate assistance from the IT people.
……B Birchy

Boreal Birch said:

Thanks for the helping hand Tryin’. Being low tech and stubbornly stuck in the fifties & sixties, I do need and appreciate assistance from the IT people.
……B Birchy

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It's easy, BB. You found the earlier thread and your exact post, which was #13. That #13 is a clickable link. Just click it, which will put the exact internet URL of your post in your address bar. Copy that address. Then just paste the address, as a new paragraph, in the reply box in the present thread. When you post your reply, the pasted URL will unfurl.

How to implement the most common technical features is explained here: