A visitor passing through

[Will Henry]

Most days, I take the airdale pup, Polly, and we take a walk of about three miles; both of us need the exercise, you see. She, because she's young and I because I'm old!
This winter has been a good one for the walk; not too much snow, fairly warm (25-35 degrees), and quiet. Today, for the first time in several years, I saw a wolf track! One wolf, not too big, judging from the track. Track was from last night since it wasn't there yesterday. He caught a grouse which appeared to have taken flight and run right into the top wire of the fence. Just bad luck, for the grouse, good luck for the wolf.
This is only the second time, in the past thirty years, that I have had a wolf on the place. Generally, they have stayed to the west a couple of miles. I don't expect this one to hang around too long; there just isn't enough food. The larger predators can be concerning, especially for the pup, but I like seeing them around. Their presence just adds spice. WH

 

[Bill K]

Be prepared for them moving in if food is available and watch your pup. Wolves are nothing but killing machines and kill not just for food, look how game and domestic animals are being taken in areas they have been released into. Game numbers are falling, faster than people realize.

 

[bozo699]

Be prepared for them moving in if food is available and watch your pup. Wolves are nothing but killing machines and kill not just for food, look how game and domestic animals are being taken in areas they have been released into. Game numbers are falling, faster than people realize.

100% spot on!....They don’t last long around my place I like my animals to much!
Wayne

 

[J.d. Popkes]

Add spice? I think there was a reason they were hunted to near extinction. Unchecked destruction.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

Add spice? I think there was a reason they were hunted to near extinction. Unchecked destruction.

Perhaps unchecked competition?

Perhaps now our competition is unchecked?

 

[6fatrat]

I have seen first hand how little of a caribou a wolf will actually eat.
Steve Bair

 

[old_heli_logger]

Fluffy bunny huggy troll

 

[Will Henry]

Wolves were not introduced here; they have always been here; along with coyotes, cougars, lynx, black bears , and grizzlies. We have always had a fair share of large predators. For a few years, ir was common to find a dozen cougar kills within shouting distance of the house and I shot one which seemed to be planning the ambush of a new foal.
Several years back, a family of wolves moved in close by and for the next couple of years there were no cougar kills in the immediate area but there were some wolf kills. That group, a mating pair and three young, was there for a couple of years but after the pups were killed the pair moved out.
About the time these wolves left, F&W decided to open up a very liberal doe/fawn season on whitetails with the result being a sixty percent reduction in whitetails locally. This is why I was kind of surprised to see the tracks. There just isn't the food to attract one. I suspect it was, as I said, just a transient which appeared to be on it's own.
The reduction in prey animals has had the effect of making predators less common too. Twenty to thirty years ago, cougars were plentiful enough that they were frequently spotted and, believe me, they are not usually seen very often. During that period, the ungulates were also much more plentiful.
The wolves have, as I said, always been around but not that plentiful. No large packs; just smaller family groups. Up north, where the main prey animal was moose, packs were larger and traveled further. With the burgeoning human population in this area, we are unlikely to ever see a resurgence in the numbers of prey or predators; at least not in my remaining years. That's why I appreciate having any of them around.
As for the pup, she's a year and a half now and learning; if she stays out of trouble for another year, she should be OK. I am always armed on these walks and, over the years, have shot coyotes which were after my dog (Some of the dogs could take care of themselves but others needed help).
Oh, and regarding the fluffy bunny, the airdale hasn't caught it yet but keeps trying. This particular bunny is a bit smarter than this particular airdale! WH

 

[Bill K]

Some wolves were here, this is true. But not the species that was introduce back into the western states. It began mostly in Idaho and spread from there. Those areas in Idaho that had moose coming back and great herds of Elk are now depleted way down, especially the moose, which are all but gone and the few that remain are no longer hunted, in a attempt to get them to rebuild.
Now in other states deer herds are being reduced and a lot of domestic animals are being killed by the wolves that have either been introduced or roamed into them, by crossing over state lines, where they were released.
They are killing machines, and it is a known fact that they will kill and keep killing as in a frensy, and only eat some from a take down, but continue to take down and kill another animal, if given the chance.
They may be a interesting species to see in the wild, but not in the form that these F&W departments have brought into the western states.

 

[J.d. Popkes]

It will always amaze me, the people trying to pet the Buffalo and bears on a highway in Yellowstone. There’s a big disconnect with city people. They have money, move to a 40 acre “ranch”, and think they are stewards of the land, calling wolves majestic and dreamy. The chocolate milk comes from brown cows crowd. Wolves and agriculture don’t mix.

 

[Will Henry]

Of course, you don't know me but I've lived and worked in rural areas for most of my life. I've hiked and camped, solo, in places where it was four days to the nearest road. Today, at 71, I still can. So, I'm not just some dreamer and I've seen a lot of wildlife interaction and taken part in some. I like wildlife and I like wilderness. As time goes on, there is less of each. WH

 

[J.d. Popkes]

Of course, you don't know me but I've lived and worked in rural areas for most of my life. I've hiked and camped, solo, in places where it was four days to the nearest road. Today, at 71, I still can. So, I'm not just some dreamer and I've seen a lot of wildlife interaction and taken part in some. I like wildlife and I like wilderness. As time goes on, there is less of each. WH

Wasn’t calling you anything. Pump the brakes a little. If the shoe doesn’t fit don’t wear it.

 

[Bill K]

Of course, you don't know me but I've lived and worked in rural areas for most of my life. I've hiked and camped, solo, in places where it was four days to the nearest road. Today, at 71, I still can. So, I'm not just some dreamer and I've seen a lot of wildlife interaction and taken part in some. I like wildlife and I like wilderness. As time goes on, there is less of each. WH

I too also still hunt, hike, fish and get out into the mountains and sage solo, and I am 82 yrs old Will, but I also have seen and keep seeing the damage these wolves that have been brought back into the western states are doing to our big game animals and a lot of domestic stock. And even though there are programs for compensation to the ranchers and families that have lost domestic stock, it does not even come close to covering the loss.
As for our game animals, nothing is being done to keep them up and growing back like they were, prior to the wolf re-introduction. And nothing will be, as all these greenies want to keep them on the endangered species list, so no one can control them. And the F&W people, for the most part, will not either. In fact they seem to try there best to show that a animal found killed or dead was not killed by a wolf, but something else, even to the point of when someone has seen a wolf on the remains of the kill.
I like wildlife and wilderness also, have been at it since I was 8yrs old and have hunted in most all the western states, Alaska and Europe, in past years. And still hunt/fish/camp/roam a lot of areas, and especially in the western states, where wolves are now showing up, you see less and less of the big game animals, as we did prior to the introduction of them.

 

[Kittitas George]

I know we are seeing fewer deer and elk in a very familiar area. Most of us in the group have better than average observation skills. All of us are over 70 and don't cover as much ground, what ground is covered may be covered better. We have seen wolves and grizzlies in the area, one person spends the majority of the time mid-April to mid-November there and is out and about. The prey animals deer and elk have changed the timing and areas they inhabit in Yellowstone, I'm guessing that is what has happened in many places. We had a long discussion about this, I offered to call the game biologist for the area. I'll try to post his response.

 

[Bill K]

If yours is like ours, in the area, he will give you the song and dance speech he has been told to do and protect the wolves more than any of the other game animals, that were around in abundance, prior to the wolves being brought in and released or the one's that roamed in from a neighboring state, looking for more food to kill, eat and reduce in numbers.

 

[Bill K]

Nice photo's, Thanks for sharing those. We love photo's.

 

[Will Henry]

I think there is a huge difference in the activities of wolves in some areas of the western states and in areas like where we are and, especially, in the interior of BC to the north. One of the main differences may well be the number of prey animals. The deer and elk populations of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho far exceed those in BC. Historically, that may not have been so but it certainly is now.
In the interior, further up the trench, wolves are and always have been, a part of the landscape. Also part of the landscape were the early settlers and ranchers. We knew an old fellow who had ranched, trapped, and cowboyed in that area for over fifty years. This was in the early seventies. He told me that, in all this time, he had never lost a calf or cow to wolves. He lost one or two to bears quite often but never wolves. I knew this man well and believe what he told me. He generally trapped a couple each year so the wolves were there. He did have one yearling calf which he said was bitten by a wolf; high on the back leg. The calf survived and that wolf was probably one he trapped that winter.
On the other hand, ranchers in Montana and Wyoming say they lose all kinds and I have to assume they are telling the truth as well. This would seem to indicate that the wolves behave differently south of the border. It seems odd that the wolves target livestock in areas where wild game is more plentiful and leave livestock alone where it is not but there it is. It could well be because these wolves are not native nor are they truly wild.
Interestingly enough, we, in Southern BC, are seeing an invasion by wolves from Montana. Go figure.
I didn't mean for my post to stir up any controversy. My apology.
Regarding bunnies, sometime, I'll tell about the time I nearly pepper sprayed a bunny. WH

 

[ronsatspokane]

All this talk about wolves. I'm reminded of the forest service lady who was stocked by a pair of grey wolves a couple of years back. Good thing she had the ability to call for help. This is the article:

Helicopter rescues woman treed by wolves in Washington

Two gray wolves forced a seasonal U.S. Forest Service employee into a tree in the Washington Cascades last Thursday.The employee was doing a research survey in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service news relea

mailtribune.com

 

[Outrider27]

It will always amaze me, the people trying to pet the Buffalo and bears on a highway in Yellowstone. There’s a big disconnect with city people. They have money, move to a 40 acre “ranch”, and think they are stewards of the land, calling wolves majestic and dreamy. The chocolate milk comes from brown cows crowd. Wolves and agriculture don’t mix.

That reminds me of many years ago, when I was about 14, of my father driving us down a northern road in Yellowstone, that touched briefly into Montana, so that my brother and I could add Montana to our "list". As we approached a scenic pull-off, there was a huge grizzly bear sitting there in the middle of the parking area watching the world go by, and the family in the Mercury in front of us slowed down and pulled off as the wife rolled down the passenger side window and someone in the back seat passed her a box of cookies. We slowed to a crawl, but kept going, my father just shaking his head. We did not hear anything in the news the next day about a woman being hauled out of a car or mauled by a bear that felt it wasn't given enough cookies....

People who feed the bears like that deserve whatever happens to them, and they're lucky if the bears are satisfied with whatever the stupid ones hand them.

 

[J.d. Popkes]

All this talk about wolves. I'm reminded of the forest service lady who was stocked by a pair of grey wolfs a couple of years back. Good thing she had the ability to call for help. This is the article:

Helicopter rescues woman treed by wolves in Washington

Two gray wolves forced a seasonal U.S. Forest Service employee into a tree in the Washington Cascades last Thursday.The employee was doing a research survey in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service news relea

mailtribune.com

I’m sure that they just wanted a little petting or a treat. Just majestic little dreamy fur balls.

I’ve seen where they come in and lay waste to every calf/lamb standing and might take a bite or two out of a few but just wholesale kill just to kill like the alpha top of the food chain predator they are. It’s not really a problem for me personally but if I were a rancher or hunter I’d be pretty upset. Like the grizzly deal, they ain’t afraid of humans, because the humans who make laws that protect them. But it’s whatever.