Photo Phriday 57

The season is rapidly approaching (or is already on in some places). Chasing wolves becomes an obsession. Sure wish you guys in the Great Lakes region could have a go at them. I will never understand that whole situation, other than to comment that it's purely politics; has nothing to do with biology.

This was a 108-lb male talking to me. North Idaho.


Couple of black pups from trapline in interior Alaska (88 and 90 lbs).


Idaho; Summer yearling female. 92 lbs.


Yearling male. Idaho. 87 lbs. A real talker...


Collaring an entire pack south of Fairbanks. Research work. Looks like a couple are starting to wake up.


Sometimes it's just too cold in the fur shed and my wife relents.

Very cool pictures. I'd love to have a go at wolves some day.

That's one heck of a stretcher!

X2

It’s a ironing board lol

That 108 lb male talking to you is as real as it gets

Always enjoy your wuff pics, Jack.

I bet you have had fun howling them in , too.

How are you sure that was the entire pack? Must have been ideal conditions to dart all 5. Were you shooting the dart gun?

Thank you for this thread.
Not to take from your experiences Gulo, as a trapper I have traveled rivers and snow machine trap lines in the interior since early 70’s and the one thing that has always been my deep seated desire is understanding the behavior of wolves. Stories can be told just in the tracks in the snow. Many times when the tracks spoke to me that they were near I would shut my machine off and just listen and there they are and receive an answer from my call.

Since I have passed my line off to the next generation the one thing that I think of a LOT when the subject of wolves comes up are the experiences I had on the line and that old feeling comes back of the excitement that they bring to a trapper. I often want to return but physically I can’t!

Thank you for this thread Jack!

The best looking wolf I had caught. Pack had just moved off and we lalked as they did!

Great sentiments Snap.

An obsession is about right Jack. I spend the entire off-season getting ready for the season. Not many folks understand driving 10-12K miles or more a year chasing wolves. It's certainly not out of malice, to save elk or for a "bounty". Can't really think of a better way to experience the backcountry though.

Here's a few from over the years.

The oldest (perhaps). Took a chance on a single prospecting set a ways off the rest of the line.


The biggest. 104lbs


The coolest. Checking at 4am-ish, dark and 17 degrees. Heard the chain jingle on the hike in just before he cut loose howling.


Most memorable, for a lot of reasons.


I get to look at the last one all day thanks to a very special T-man member.

Thanks Jack and others for posting wolf pics. Great pics and brings memories of wolves ive released. Im from Wisc so its a bugger getting permit when seasons open and seasons that close in two or three days.
Great depiction of Jumperzees' wolf Sharon !

The mellon head on the right had a collar. It was a Gordon Haber collar. I was able to learn a lot about that pack, their denning area which was many miles from my line. Over many years I took black wolves from that pack.

I have never trapped wolves, but years ago a friend invited me to run his wolf line with him. He on snow machine, me on a dog sled, late Feb or early March. He was hoping wolves would smell that my dog team travelled through their territory and run down his trails looking for intruders. As it happened, he snared a big gray wolf that died and froze in sort of a sitting snarling pose. He propped up that wolf alongside trail so I could run the team right by it. We both expected my team to balk when approaching the larger wolf. Well they didn't. They did ball up when my leader stopped to pee on the frozen wolf, then every other male dog had to as well. I felt bad that my guys had soaked his wolf, but he laughed and basically said "wolves roll in worse". Dean Wilson rode along on that trip too. He was a great guy to listen to. A wonderful human. Good times!

Caught one last year in a set for coyote. Nice male in a new ALPHA. Couldn't keep him but what an experience. Doing what I can to get a season on them so next time I can keep him.

This one came off the haul road. They skin a little different than a coyote, but stink as bad.

Many thanks to all for the great contributions to this Photo Phriday.

martentrapper - If I remember correctly, I don't think I was the shooter on that pack. Getting the entire pack is pretty easy under the right conditions. You never really know until you've got 6 or 8 radio-tracking flights on them to be pretty certain you've got 'em all. Even then, it's never 100%. Plus, the packs are dynamic and could add members any time.

Sharon - As always, your artwork takes the deserved spotlight. Many thanks!

Oh Snap - You're very welcome for the thread. Your contributions add a great deal to the thread, as usual. Those are certainly some nice-looking blacks!

Jumper - Superb photos! Thanks. On the old blue, why was it the "most memorable"? Please expound!

30/06 - Great story, sir. Thanks! I have nothing but the fondest memories of Dean and Ada Wilson. Thanks for the memory jog.

MJM - Mark! That image was from last year? You've not aged a bit.

Thanks all!

A standard unspectacular colored wolf from this area. And yes they stink as bad if not more so than coyotes.

Osky

Here's a couple pix from last year. A friend's harvest, not mine.


The Bait:



The results

Jack, I always enjoy your photo phriday post an pics. Thanks for posting.
An also enjoy the other photo contributors

Thanks for all those that have shared their lupus experiences

Question for you wolfers: what do they stink like? Do they roll in stinky intestinal contents of their prey, or decomposed remains of prey? As a sled dog guy, I wondered what wolves smell like. I've smelled 3 winter-trapped wolves, and they smelled faintly like a sled dog, but not bad. Nowhere near as bad as fox or coyote.

You can't fool me, there was some forethought in that 10 foot ceiling in the house.

Wet dog smell also.

How do you know what I smell like? Lol

If they didn't have lice or green belly I didn't notice them smelling bad. In winter there would be no decomposed remains to roll in. It would be frozen.

Amen to Dirt's reply, rolling in snow does cleanse them. As for lice or mange it must be the constant licking to cleanse the area that causes the odour.
besides the pink belly

White, was that large catch off one check, or several over a period of time? Someone spent a lot of time hanging snares/setting traps to get that many.
Were they all decently furred?
I see 4 cases of heet in the background. Somebody is putting on a lot of miles on their snogo..........or cub!

Gulo Great pictures of beautiful animals Trapping for them has to be a very rewarding experience . Sharon I am always impressed with how you bring an animal to life with your artwork .

I have had the pleasure of trapping a great many critters over a wide geographic area. No question, wolves are my favorite, as they are, hands-down, the smartest critter out there in my opinion. I have great respect for them.

How many are you allowed to catch per season in ID?

West side - we have unlimited tags. Which means you can go as long as hard as you can tolerate

Jack, the "most memorable" discussion is better at a campfire

So your wildlife and conservation people believe in managing the resource. And not catering to the people who only wanted x amount per area until the population way exceeded their original quota and than keep fighting for more and more and even more yet . Well it is good to know that some level of intelligence still exists in conservation management .

Ten-four Jumper. I'll plan on a special trip early next spring up there and we'll enjoy that campfire tremendously...

That was one check Mike. For the whole season over 60 were taken off that set and in the surrounding area. Amazingly enough, all of those if the picture were all good fur. Only four bad ones all season.

You know one of the trappers involved. MM. Yes Cubs were involved.

That would be one bunch of work. One I could see looked like it might be green belly already! Now that would stink.

Heck of a boost for the moose pop.

Yah 60 for the year is a huge boost to the moose population for sure! I have heard each wolf eats 35 moose a year(I don’t know how correct that is though) but the point is a huge help to the moose!

I think the statistic that is most commonly used is that each wolf consumes the biomass equivalent of 10-12 moose per year. That would be voles, beaver, hares, other wolves, caribou, fish, moose and just about anything else they can.