Sleeping with wolves

[red langford]

I was going to include this in the animal encounter thread but then decide maybe it's own thread was worthy.

Back at hunt camp, this week. I have a good spot where I sit and read and wait for momma moose to come by. Seems like a good spot albeit unsuccessful so far. Anyways at about 1pm as I am sitting there I see something about 500yd away coming down an old logging road. The binoculars confirms it is a wolf and he is coming towards me. He gets to within 175yd and then maybe it heard me or maybe saw me or more likely sensed me another way because I was well concealed and was indeed downwind. Maybe he heard my heart pounding. I had the rifle up and he was in my sights but I did not have a tag nor a use for a wolf and I'm just not into killing things for the sake of killing them. I am not sure if this was the right decision looking back, mind you I'm pretty sure I could not have hit the wolf from that far as I'm just not that good a shot.

Day carries on and after seeing the wolf figure the chances of a moose being around are pretty slim now so I go scope out some other areas for the rest of the day then come back to camp and carry on with my evening, cooking dinner, cleaning up, watching cave-man tv and sipping from my bottle of Sailor Jerry then head to bed. The night was cold, below freezing for sure and I was bundled up tight in the sleeping bag with all the draw strings pulled tight feeling quite restricted. Then the howling started. Close. Way closer than I have ever heard and way closer than I want. Maybe 100yd. I start counting the howls and they are so close I can hear the whimpering in-between the actual howls and hear 6 wolves for sure but maybe 8. Wholly crap, I take a quick stock of my situation. Shotgun is in the tent but only three shells, I got my small Mora knife, fire is long since died out and I am bundled up like a burrito. Too cold to sit at the ready unless I wanted to get completely dressed. It was now 2 am and the howling carried on for a full 20 minutes, then it stopped. The super hearing sense kicked in and I was straining to hear anything outside the tent and sure enough, there is a rustle of leaves, maybe it is a mouse looking for an errant crumb, I am sure I hear a sniff but can't be sure. I wait and wait and eventually decide to (or maybe just sat so still and quiet it just happened) go back to sleep.

The howling started again, how long after I'm not sure because this time I didn't bother to look at my watch. They had moved to about 100yd of the other side of the tent and this time what I was thinking is there goes tomorrows moose hunt. I woke in the morning and checked for track but as the ground was frozen I didn't spot any. I packed up and headed home.

By far the closest encounter I have ever had with any wolf of any kind. These are not the wolves of Algonquin Park, they are Grey Wolves and are 100+ pounds of moose destroying beast. Bears never concern me, not the black ones around these parts anyways, but wolves always spooked me out. They are stealthy and silent and hunt in packs that even the most aggressive defence would be useless against. Not sure if I was in any real danger, wolf attacks are to very rare. But they are not non-existent either.

What's the closest you have come to a these majestic animals?

 

[sweeper]

I've had the feeling all bundled up in a tent with a big cat outside doing a low growl. The only thing we had were a couple of knives, but I'm sure we couldn't have found one in time.

We had a wolf, that's all anyone saw, that lived in the woods behind us and a lot of neighbors saw it. The day I saw it, it was about 150 feet away, it saw me before I saw it and never having seen a wolf in the wild, I knew it wasn't a coyote or coy dog. It was very large and gray, we stared at each other and I slowly backed away. Thankfully, and I don't know why, it was a day I didn't have the dog with me.

 

[Iskweo]

LOL....yeah the howling is really cool the first time, and maybe the second a bit, but it gets old fast when you are trying to sleep. We have had them close by up on the Rice a few times and I have seen a few up north around Thompson. Wolves never really bother me and I dont bother them...it's a good arrangement. Having a bunch around though when you are alone would be a bit unnerving to say the least.

I have a healthy respect for cats. We have seen one in WCPP and I used to spend a lot of time cutting wood and camping in the mountains out west...lots of cats out there. Unlike wolves, you wont see them. But they will see you for sure. Creepy. Especially the noise they make....curls your hair.

Red, get some bangers and carry them in a little case on your belt. The next time you have a midnight serenade, pop one off to ruin their night too. Or a pack of loud firecrackers.

Christy

 

[Canotrouge]

I had the same happening to me a wile back on a canoe trip in the fall. the pack maybe 4( Yukon wolf pack are pretty small in general, but big pack also exist) were on the other side of the river, maybe 75 to 100 m we were with a group of student, grade 9, so I started to howl back at them and they responded a few time!! I'm never concern about wolf, but a bit more a bout bears. way more incident/accident happen with bears than with wolfs, way more!

I like the idea of the bangers. I need to get some!!

 

[red langford]

I would have felt more secure if there was more than just me, less of a target for the wolves. But I had to assume they were well aware I was there and alone. i had been set up in that spot for ten days.

 

[Rippy]

I think I might have fired a warning shot with the shotgun to see if that would make them move on. Maybe remind them of there fear of man if they have any.

 

[Gerald]

I had a encouter with wolves in LV with my dog Cassie. You will find it here. (for some reason the link does not show the extention) So go to "Dogs" and then "Cassie and the wolves".

 

[Marten]

Wow Red!! Of course we know that wolves don't attack humans very often but I could feel your anxiety as you lay bound up in that sleeping bag with not enough ammo to go around. Maybe a warning shot but then you are down to two shells.

I have posted these two links before but since this is a wolf thread I am including them for the record.
http://canoestories.com/kehoe/wolf1c.htm

https://youtu.be/DySFveCh1TY

 

[red langford]

Wholly crap Gerald, that is one scary story. I have a dog, a big wolf like dog and I am so very glad he was not with me on this trip.

Marten that is equally terrifying, when they started circling I would have been in pure panic mode.

 

[Canotrouge]

Maybe times are changing and we will see more anymore of these encounters, just like the few encounters with coyotes like the attacking a woman in NB, and the guy in Fernie BC last summer who got stalked by a cougar wile mountain biking(cougar will stalked humans, but usually kids or small woman/man....) The wild life is wanting to take over the world... Just be aware!!

 

[Guest]

here in WNY state we don't have wolves, but lots of invasive big eastern coyotes more correctly called"Coywolves". I have had them around me a lot day and night and they make you think on a dark night. They are pretty shy so far, but getting bolder. The biggest problem besides wildlife and livestock predation they cause is them taking and eating small domestic dogs. they will gang up on a bigger one occasionally. No human aggression here yet.
Turtle

 

[Alan Gage]

Those are some sobering scenarios you guys have had. I've only ever seen one live wolf, crossing a gravel road while I was driving. Saw another one dead in a river I was paddling. Have never heard them howling at night despite quite a few nights in wolf territory. Have seen plenty of scat and tracks on portage trails.

On my recent Bloodvein trip an encounter between my dog and wolves was about the only worry I had. Pretty sure she wouldn't go running off in the dark to pick a fight but I sleep in a hammock and she sleeps underneath me so she doesn't have any barriers between her and them. If they were to come into camp she'd raise the alarm and I'm sure it would seem like eternity before I could get that hammock unzipped.

Alan

 

[southcove]

About 25 years ago, I was in Chicken AK (good name, eh?!) camped outside of town w my brother and his buddy, waiting on a bush plane ride out to the 40 Mile Gold Country to do a lengthy river run... at some point during the chilly night, the guys got up and saw the aurora, called me and while we were standing out there admiring, heard nearby wolves, including the silhouette of one on a nearby (300-500') hummock... I was already shivering w the overnight cold and that did more and sent the skin all over to crawling. As we went back to the tents several minutes later we noticed another wolf at a similar distance who had presumably been watching us the whole time, and us in total ignorance. Further shivers!

Because I was with two older AK residents, my state of mind was more at ease when zipping back into the bag (little did I know that was full-on naiivete!*) and the rest of the trip also had wonderful wildlife of every sort, great Yukon River area travelling, wonderful weather and camraderie w the other members of the party who joined us the following day.

The bush plane ride in competes mentally with my first boots on the ground sightings of wolves, griz, moose and caribou. (both good and bad)

* worth it's own true life 'adentures' post right there!

I still crave that sort of little adventure, though lying on my back with black bears padding around the campsite gets old...maybe some noise bangers would be a good deal for us too.

 

[My Self Reliance]

About 20 years ago, a friend and I were moose hunting in northern Ontario in an area I spent a lot of time in. With custom longbows and homemade wooden arrows in hand, we would canoe to a spot along a lake or river before sunup and then separate and still hunt through a large area, meeting up several miles away late in the afternoon.
I was still hunting through a beaver meadow, occasionally cow or bull calling, decked out in head to toe camoflage and face paint, when I heard something running through the leaves ahead of me. Expecting a moose to step out, I was surprised to see a large wolf head poke out of the low pine saplings, staring at me with a confused look on it's face. Since he was upwind and could catch my scent, and certainly didn't recognize the stange looking figure in front of it, he slowly circled me to get downwind, stopping about 15 yards from me, perched on a log. The staring contest continued for several minutes before he turned back into the bush, but he continued to follow me for the next mile through the bush, finally losing interest once he realized I was neither a threat nor prey.

I ran into him three more times that week, including the most memorable mental image of the outdoors of my life - while slowly drifting down a narrow river at dawn, with mist rising off the water, he stood on the shoreline peacefully drinking from a beaver channel and alternately staring off across the river. When he saw us he slowly and quietly turned and melted into the forest.

Later that week, I killed a large bull several miles from this location. When we returned the follow day after spending the full day and half the previous night packing the meat out 6 miles pack to the cabin, the wolf pack had found the carcass and completely cleaned up to the point that it was nearly impossible to find a drop of blood or scrap of bone - including the skull, which they must have dragged off into the adjacent swamp. As we were approaching the stashed quarter that was hidden nearby (which was untouched), a lone wolf trotted past my buddy on a nearby ridge and stopped about 10 feet from me, again upwind, trying to figure out what competitor was encroaching on his feeding site. When he turned and saw me so close, he turned inside out and bolted up and over the ridge.
This wolf and his pack continued to be part of my life that week and for a few years afterwards, including several wolf howls I shared with them while I camped under my canoe at the edge of the river less than a mile from their meeting meadow.

I have many more stories. If, or when, I feel spiritual, my unusually high number of close, meaningful encounters with black bears and wolves makes me thing of them as my totems.

 

[Canotrouge]

My Self Reliance, that is what it is all about... even if when it happen( I have a few bear, grizzly bear, encounter that I will always remember) we, I don't feel reassure, especially when it happen before dark or just at dark!!

 

[snapper]

My only experience with a wolf in the wild was on a trip to the Boundary Waters. We were paddling across a lake when I noticed a "dog" jump off an island to my right and it began swimming. Not believing my eyes at first, I was pretty surprised to see this wolf swim right in front of me while I was paddling in the bow. The animal continued on to another point of land, shook itself off and disappeared into the bush. It was a short encounter but definitely a memorable one.

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

snapper