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Wolf attacks

Akcabin

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Jul 11, 2021
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When I'm in the bush my biggest concern is the wolves. We have plenty of brown n black bears n moose around n they deserve respect. But wolves are smarter , more cunning n can work together for the greater good.
My beautiful wife n me got to listen to a moose get taken down one night while laying in bed 100 yards or so NW of our cabin. That was interesting. And she has had several conversations with them as she howels off the cabin deck.. I enjoy staying on my moose stand after it gets dark to try to observe them or just listen. Just no other critters out there that can think like they do. They always seem to know when we're at our cabin. And enjoy leaving me crappy gifts. As I suspect they know exactly who what I am after a few years.
The land here is moraines that are shaped like a cigar. They will make drives into the wind along the edges. 2 wolves, one on each side.
I have seen n heard them responding to my moose calls. And missed a pure white one a couple years back. I've yet to harvest one.
I realize that human wolf encounters are rare. And so are wolf population densities in our area. We have lots of wolves less prey. It's not far fetched in my mind that a crippled or teenage wolf wouldn't take a shot if it was available. If they are packed even more so.
I guess that for me I feel these wolves are dangerous in that they are sooooo cunning. And can work together smartly ! And their hungry.
 
A few years ago a a woman was killed and eaten by wolves on the AK Peninsula when she went for a jog.
Other than that I don't know of any other attacks but I'm sure there must be more.
Unintentionally sneaking upon a grizzly, and worse if she has cubs, is much more of a concern to me.

I've only been a visitor to AK but I've seen wolves on 2 occasions and have never seen a Brownie, only their fresh tracks.
 
I am afraid you will not get many positive replies to your thread, as the wolf is seen as a villain in most areas, and imho rightly so in the so called "reintroduction" areas. I sympathize with the livestock ranchers in those areas

However, Like you, we enjoy them, especially the Arctic wolves . They run in larger packs (10 to 20) and watching them move across the ice is always a pleasure . Watching them hunt and kill a muskoxen is also a group effort on their part. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes an Arctic wolf or two, will walk right up to you, as they have never seen a human. Keeping our dogs safe is another matter however. The grey wolf are a bit more elusive and run in smaller packs, but we see them. Like your wife I also enjoy hearing them.

A few years ago a a woman was killed and eaten by wolves on the AK Peninsula when she went for a jog.
Other than that I don't know of any other attacks but I'm sure there must be more.
Unintentionally sneaking upon a grizzly, and worse if she has cubs, is much more of a concern to me.

I've only been a visitor to AK but I've seen wolves on 2 occasions and have never seen a Brownie, only their fresh tracks.
we also are far more cautious of bears than wolves. We did have a grey wolf follow us for a few miles when we were on the river once. He just kept walking along the bank, but our guess was he thought it was a caribou and was waiting for it to reach shore.
 
I enjoy seeing them. But they need to be culled. Killed. Their taking out the moose. I heard reports of over a hundred moose being taken by wolves in the area west of me. I shot at the white one. 175 yards out. Wish he was on the wall. Wolves are killing every other animal they can catch so most everything.
The snow gets over 5' on the ground and when a wolf cuts a moose track they follow it until the moose is exhausted.
I support our aerial wolf culling.
I have been watching them too. And believe I know the vicinity of a den. So trying to learn as much as I can about trapping n hunting wolves as I can. Especially trapping as the first chance will be my best chance. Before I educate them. I'm a beginner at trapping.
 
A few years ago a a woman was killed and eaten by wolves on the AK Peninsula when she went for a jog.
Other than that I don't know of any other attacks but I'm sure there must be more.
Unintentionally sneaking upon a grizzly, and worse if she has cubs, is much more of a concern to me.

I've only been a visitor to AK but I've seen wolves on 2 occasions and have never seen a Brownie, only their fresh tracks.
A healthy 20something year old man was killed in Canada a few years back. here is the fatal only list
 
Yeah, surprising a bear could get bad fast. We have a lot of them around n they concern me too. They are also response for low moose survival rates. Our local biologists believe as low as 6% survival rates for newborn moose.
Wish there were more hunters n trappers to harvest them.
My point was that for me having a pack of wolves around you
on the hunt and working together as a team. Concerns me when by myself.
If I walk up on a surprised bear that's going to attack, its going to hurt. And it does concern me
 
In our area we find that man is more dangerous to the moose and caribou herds than wolves. Commercial logging, mining, oil, gas, roads have hurt both caribou and moose numbers.

The problem right now in regards to trapping is the inability to sell the pelts. The market was down even before Covid. Trim is still selling so wolves, and wolverines can still be sold. But the market for beaver, otter, mink, muskrat is non existent.

The only one making money from Beaver today is: Eau De Musc ;)
 
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I still remember when the wolf pack outside of Anchorage was having a tough winter. They ended up stealing dogs out of Eagle River and Chugiak. Can't remember how many, but I sort of remember them even stealing one right off the leash. Must have been 8 years ago or so. I never worried about them, but when they were getting desperate you throw a little more caution then you normally do.


Still haven't seen one truly out in the wild. I'm fine with it ha!
 
I have never really understood the fear of wolves. As a general rule they just don't attack people. I hear about it from hunters all the time here who won't go into the woods without a handgun because of the deadly wolves, but they won't think twice about stopping by the bar at the end of the day and slamming beers before driving back to their hunting camp half in the bag. Where I deer hunt there's an extremely dense population of them. I've more than once heard them panting around my tent at night. In the mornings, walking to my stand, I've heard them following me well off to the side. I've never really thought much about it. One time a pack surrounded myself and my hunting dog and I had to fire a few shots to scare them away, but I'm positive they were only interested in my brittany spaniel and not myself. They are a cool animal. I love seeing them.
 
The Norwegians, amongst others, have been studying wolf attacks on humans for decades and recently updated their research in a very readable report. https://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/fm-wwf/Publikationen-PDF/Deutschland/Report-Wolf-attacks-2002-2020.pdf I believe it was written to be read by land managers etc. They go into detail on most confirmed attacks in N America.

With increased wolf populations living in areas heavily populated by humans there are increasing conflicts. The following is from the end of the abstract.
. Considering that there are close to 60.000 wolves in North America and 15.000 in Europe, all sharing space with hundreds of millions of people it is apparent that the risks associated with a wolf attack are above zero, but far too low to calculate.
 
I’m definitely scared of wolves. I’ve had 4 coyotes run up on me within touching distance and then dance around me until I shot a few 45 rounds at them.. I couldn’t imagine a whole pack of wolves all by myself… I threw a bugle out last year in the bridgers right as sun was setting and a pack started snarling and howling right below me in the coulee maybe 100 yards thru timber.. I never went back to that spot and think about it regularly. I’ve seen them in 2 other mountain ranges since then.. And on the river in clarkston mt. wouldn’t be so bad with hiking buddies..
 
I’m definitely scared of wolves. I’ve had 4 coyotes run up on me within touching distance and then dance around me until I shot a few 45 rounds at them.. I couldn’t imagine a whole pack of wolves all by myself… I threw a bugle out last year in the bridgers right as sun was setting and a pack started snarling and howling right below me in the coulee maybe 100 yards thru timber.. I never went back to that spot and think about it regularly. I’ve seen them in 2 other mountain ranges since then.. And on the river in clarkston mt. wouldn’t be so bad with hiking buddies..
yikes, imagine being a bull elk.
 
I've had mixed incidents w/ woofs.

Once in the Bob fumbling around in pitch dark thirty trying to find my way back to camp.
Woofs were, imo, triangulating my position with quick woof barks from various directions. My headlamp fading and nil for a moon. Nothing happened, nor did I see a woof so they must have figured I was human and saw my .40 in hand w/ rifle slung. That was more mentally spooky.

Other, buddy and I archery elk calling and had woofs barking on either side of the small park of us.
I wanted to keep the decoys out and sling a woof or crack one w/ handgun. Partner was a bit spooked. We headed out on trail as sun began to drop... that raised my spookmeter a tad as the Ms September decoys head was predominant on back of pack covered in estrus wizz. Haha!
Lifted me out of my skin as grouse flushed out along trail. Again, never saw them though figured they were watching.

Another spring bear hunting a closed gated road. Windy...
Woof hopped on road some 7 yards from me. We starred @ eathother for what felt forever though likely only a few seconds. Never a sense of fear or concern. He turned, trotted down the road some 20 yards and cut up the high side of the road and proceeded to howl/alert bark @ me.
I had my handgun adjacent to my phone location. The the only thing I slowly went for was my phone to video/photo. Never felt concern.

So long story short prior incidents mental fear and obvious backup prepped. When confronted face to face. No fear.
However, a pack is a different story from a single woof.

People here may dismiss wolf attacks, w/ disregard for the wolf that clamped on the head of a sleeping camper through his tent, the death of a solo female school teacher by a pack in the Yukon, or the events of hunters harvesting ga.e surrounded by a pack...

HT is fickle and tribalism pack attack mentality in opposition such events factually occurring. Life of internet forums.




 
One evening during moose season I had made it back to the cabin after dark. As I enjoy watching what goes on after dark from my blind particularly on moonlit night. It can become a different place.
My beautiful wife had a nice hot meal ready for me when I got home. After eating we went upstairs to go to bed. When she asked what is that sound ? I asked what's it sound like, she said a goat bawling. Well there isn't many goats in our neck of the woods so I went to open the door. I instantly knew what was going down. The local wolves were taken down a moose a hundred yards in front of our cabin. While I felt blessed to hear hear life in the bush doing its thing. It did make me come to sense that what sounded like the younger wolves learning to hunt. They were sounding mostly out of control. Things settled down after n hour or so.
The next morning the party was on again. We also had to head home that morning. I normally would run her the 2 miles to the lake on the wheeler n get it back to the cabin n hopefully away from the bears thinking it's a chew toy as she has foot problems then walk back to the lake. There was no way she was going to let that happen so we left it at the lake. Only had the seat eaten n a tire bit through so not too bad.
I stay out after dark just to experience these things and it was exciting. It also made me think that a pack of wolves on a fresh kill with a pack of immature n teenage wolves learning to hunt at night or broad daylight could be a dangerous situation to find yourself in.
And when game population drops it could be more dangerous. I still have a passion for hanging out in the bush after dark. But my level of respect for these animals has grown.
I missed a pure white one a couple years ago, he was huge. I guesstimate over 125 pound dog. Suspect an old alfa that was now on his own.
 

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