Wolves are rad.

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Originally Posted by John_B

I was out cougar hunting today using an electronic caller and called in a wolf that spent about 15 minutes circling around me to get my wind then hung out a couple hundred yards away howling at me. It was a cool experience and was pretty fun to "talk" with the wolf using some of the wolf howls that were preloaded on the e caller.

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John, thanks for not shooting at my avatar. Why hunt cougar, they taste good? Hunting for the sake of killing makes me super sad unless you want to go to the Everglades and clean out pythons. Those fuckers need to die out, but good luck finding half of them.

Actually I have heard mountain lion meat is surprisingly good.

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Originally Posted by liv2ski

John, thanks for not shooting at my avatar. Why hunt cougar, they taste good? Hunting for the sake of killing makes me super sad unless you want to go to the Everglades and clean out pythons. Those fuckers need to die out, but good luck finding half of them.

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Maybe I should have put this in the hunting thread to avoid steering this one away from it's focus.

I have heard that cougar tastes quite good and have been interested in trying it out. Our ski season has been marginal at times this year and I've enjoyed the chance to be outside in a different manner through winter.

Washington uses a quota system for various Game Management Units and any cougars that are killed have to be shown to a game warden within 3 days. I think that this tight quota system allows the continues harvest of cougars without negatively affecting the population. Plus the locally set quotas are rarely reached in my area.

And no worries about me shooting at your avatar. I work with fish that are ESA listed so it'd be pretty damn foolish for me to be taking potshots at an endangered wolf. Let alone my personal ethical issues with shooting things that I'm not interested in eating.

Fellow wolf lovers, check out my buddy Neil Simmons if you are on instagram.
He and his GF have captured some amazing wolf images recently
https://www.instagram.com/neilsimmon...NlZDc0MzIxNw==
https://www.instagram.com/wildly.tri...NlZDc0MzIxNw==

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Originally Posted by John_B

I was out cougar hunting today using an electronic caller and called in a wolf that spent about 15 minutes circling around me to get my wind then hung out a couple hundred yards away howling at me. It was a cool experience and was pretty fun to "talk" with the wolf using some of the wolf howls that were preloaded on the e caller.

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That's rad. What call were you using a the time that drew the wolf in?

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Originally Posted by John_B

I was out cougar hunting today using an electronic caller and called in a wolf that spent about 15 minutes circling around me to get my wind then hung out a couple hundred yards away howling at me. It was a cool experience and was pretty fun to "talk" with the wolf using some of the wolf howls that were preloaded on the e caller.

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Originally Posted by The Reverend Floater

That's rad. What call were you using a the time that drew the wolf in?

Incredibly rad. Would love to hear more.


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Originally Posted by babybear

Fellow wolf lovers, check out my buddy Neil Simmons if you are on instagram.
He and his GF have captured some amazing wolf images recently
https://www.instagram.com/neilsimmon...NlZDc0MzIxNw==
https://www.instagram.com/wildly.tri...NlZDc0MzIxNw==

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Gorgeous, thanks for sharing

Attachment 485602

Dead wolf my dog and I found in the woods above Smithers B.C. several yers ago. For reference, my dog is 72 pounds.

My girls and I ran into a wold about 2 months ago. About 15 meters away from us. Huge. Every time I see a wolf, I'm always amazed at how big they are. Amazing creatures

Wow that is one big wolf!

Curious about your experience so close to one at 15m.

Yeah. Same! I might freak out seeing a single wolf that close. Like, where’s the rest of them?

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Originally Posted by Supermoon

Yeah. Same! I might freak out seeing a single wolf that close. Like, where’s the rest of them?

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Every wolf I've seen in person has been alone. I say that with some confidence as one was in the high desert (sage and rocks--I could see for miles) and the others on expansive hillsides where I could see their surroundings in every direction. I had binoculars and I got to watch them for at least 10 minutes. That's not to say there weren't more in the larger area but they don't *always* travel in packs.

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Originally Posted by BmillsSkier

Wow that is one big wolf!

Curious about your experience so close to one at 15m.

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OK, I've reread my little story about 3 times and I think it makes sense but here;s how it went down.

My kids, and I were going to check out an old abandoned bus at this mine site from the 50’s. The trail to the mine site runs along a river. We start along the trail to the site, the river is on our right and a forested slope is on our left. 100 meters in I hear a bunch of yipping and barking up ahead, roughly in the direction we are heading, reminds me of my dog mushing days. At first, I’m thinking dogs but since there isn’t a house or private property anywhere near the site, and the parking area was empty, my thoughts quickly switch to wolves. WTF would a dozen dogs be doing out here? I tell my kids (8 & 12) to make lots of noise as we don’t want to surprise whatever it is that is up ahead. I bust out my phone and start playing Taylor Swift and we start singing out loud. And yes, I will admit that I know the lyrics to many Taylor Swift songs. Barking and yipping stops the moment we start singing. We keep singing and moving forward. A couple hundred meters further up the trail I notice a dozen or so ravens circling in the air about 50 or so meters off the trail to our left in the woods. My wolf suspicions are now pretty much confirmed. WTF would a dozen ravens be doing circling like that all the way out here? There’s a kill off in the woods, the excited yipping and barking, the ravens etc.

The trail is running right along the river at this point. We get about even with where the ravens are circling and suddenly our attention is drawn to our right out onto the mostly dry river bed, away from the kill. We see a huge fucking wolf rear end about 15 meters away, out on the river bed. It pauses for a second, looks back at us and then leisurely lopes across the river bed and disappears into the treeline on the far side. My kids and I are giddy with excitement. ‘Did you see that, OMG that thing was huge, that was awesome etc.’ We keep moving, check out the bus and mine site, a couple hours later make our way back along the trail, do the Taylor Swift sing along again. Ravens are still circling, no further barking or wolf sign.

Later on, reflecting on what happened and how it all went down; a couple things stand out. It was almost like we were in the middle of a football play, or a magician's performance feature misdirection or something like that. What I mean is the way the wolf in the river bed drew our attention that way and away from the site of the kill. Maybe his buddies were in the bush on the other side of the river, hoping we would follow. Or maybe there were some pups at the kill site and he just wanted to draw our attention away from them. Who knows. But my kids and I really felt that other than stumbling upon them, the whole episode unfolded exactly how they wanted it to unfold. Buddy and his buddies whom we did not see, they were in full control.

The second thing that really stood out was how f*cking huge this wolf was. It’s gigantic ass and tail had to have been at least 4 feet off the ground. F*cking huge!

It was pretty much identical looking to the wolf I posted a pic of above, except way bigger (and the one above was big!)

Hope that made sense.

Attachment 485731

Here's a pic of my kids at the abandoned bus at the mine site we were going to check out when we ran into the wolf. And despite my phone being in my hand blaring Shake It Off when we saw the wolf, I was too busy picking my jaw up off the ground to get a shot. Definately one of my cooler animal sightings.

Attachment 485732

Here's a shot of the skull of the wolf in the pic I posted above. I harvested it's head tried my hand at skining it and all that. Wasn't too successful as you can see by all the red and stuff but I teach grade 7 in northern British Columbia so one of the students in my class told me to give it to him and for $20 he brought it back to me perfectly cleaned.

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Originally Posted by Angle Parking

OK, I've reread my little story about 3 times and I think it makes sense but here;s how it went down.

My kids, and I were going to check out an old abandoned bus at this mine site from the 50’s. The trail to the mine site runs along a river. We start along the trail to the site, the river is on our right and a forested slope is on our left. 100 meters in I hear a bunch of yipping and barking up ahead, roughly in the direction we are heading, reminds me of my dog mushing days. At first, I’m thinking dogs but since there isn’t a house or private property anywhere near the site, and the parking area was empty, my thoughts quickly switch to wolves. WTF would a dozen dogs be doing out here? I tell my kids (8 & 12) to make lots of noise as we don’t want to surprise whatever it is that is up ahead. I bust out my phone and start playing Taylor Swift and we start singing out loud. And yes, I will admit that I know the lyrics to many Taylor Swift songs. Barking and yipping stops the moment we start singing. We keep singing and moving forward. A couple hundred meters further up the trail I notice a dozen or so ravens circling in the air about 50 or so meters off the trail to our left in the woods. My wolf suspicions are now pretty much confirmed. WTF would a dozen ravens be doing circling like that all the way out here? There’s a kill off in the woods, the excited yipping and barking, the ravens etc.

The trail is running right along the river at this point. We get about even with where the ravens are circling and suddenly our attention is drawn to our right out onto the mostly dry river bed, away from the kill. We see a huge fucking wolf rear end about 15 meters away, out on the river bed. It pauses for a second, looks back at us and then leisurely lopes across the river bed and disappears into the treeline on the far side. My kids and I are giddy with excitement. ‘Did you see that, OMG that thing was huge, that was awesome etc.’ We keep moving, check out the bus and mine site, a couple hours later make our way back along the trail, do the Taylor Swift sing along again. Ravens are still circling, no further barking or wolf sign.

Later on, reflecting on what happened and how it all went down; a couple things stand out. It was almost like we were in the middle of a football play, or a magician's performance feature misdirection or something like that. What I mean is the way the wolf in the river bed drew our attention that way and away from the site of the kill. Maybe his buddies were in the bush on the other side of the river, hoping we would follow. Or maybe there were some pups at the kill site and he just wanted to draw our attention away from them. Who knows. But my kids and I really felt that other than stumbling upon them, the whole episode unfolded exactly how they wanted it to unfold. Buddy and his buddies whom we did not see, they were in full control.

The second thing that really stood out was how f*cking huge this wolf was. It’s gigantic ass and tail had to have been at least 4 feet off the ground. F*cking huge!

It was pretty much identical looking to the wolf I posted a pic of above, except way bigger (and the one above was big!)

Hope that made sense.

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Originally Posted by Angle Parking

Attachment 485731

Here's a pic of my kids at the abandoned bus at the mine site we were going to check out when we ran into the wolf. And despite my phone being in my hand blaring Shake It Off when we saw the wolf, I was too busy picking my jaw up off the ground to get a shot. Definately one of my cooler animal sightings.

Attachment 485732

Here's a shot of the skull of the wolf in the pic I posted above. I harvested it's head tried my hand at skining it and all that. Wasn't too successful as you can see by all the red and stuff but I teach grade 7 in northern British Columbia so one of the students in my class told me to give it to him and for $20 he brought it back to me perfectly cleaned.

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That’s incredible; what an experience! Thanks for sharing.

(Wish the forum software was fixed so we could see your pics - Danno, Ideas?)

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Originally Posted by BmillsSkier

That’s incredible; what an experience! Thanks for sharing.

(Wish the forum software was fixed so we could see your pics - Danno, Ideas?)

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Dude thx for the interest.

Will try to repost pics.

Here's the skull;

Attachment 485860

Attachment 485861

The bus we were on our way to check out when we had our wolf encounter.

I always enjoy seeing Spider pics. And then relative to the wolf [emoji33]
Thanks for sharing

What did Spider think of the wolf?

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Originally Posted by Angle Parking

Dude thx for the interest.

Will try to repost pics.

Here's the skull;

Attachment 485860

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Originally Posted by Angle Parking

Attachment 485861

The bus we were on our way to check out when we had our wolf encounter.

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Very cool indeed, thanks for reposting the pics!

I always wonder how in the hell people get stuff like that bus so deep into remote locations. Cool to see - like the deep woods version of a slowly decaying rural southern town.

Spider approched the wolf body with visible caution. I think he recognized it was dead but he could not overcome this deep sense of fear.

I approached it the same way. I was super curious and wanting to check it out but my instincts were on high alert.

Since there is some interest I have a pretty good idea what happen to bring about the death of the black wolf.

The wolf's body was located just off a mountain bike trail in the Bluff Mountain Bike Area on the slope above Smithers B.C. In the days leading up to my finding it, there were some posts on social media about their being a moose kill in that general area. Some wolves had taken one down on one of the old logging roads that weave through the bike trails. Be careful, and the Conservation Officers had been notified, was the general gist of the messaging. I think C.O.'s went out and dealt with it but don't fully remember. I never saw the kill but I remember it was a bt of a topic of conversation amongst the folks who ride those trails.

Anyways, a handul of days after the social media moose kill stuff I was out for a ride on one of the lesser riden trails on the outer edge of the trail network (Remembrance Day for those familiar with the zone). I turn a corner and there it is. Upon examining the body I noticed that there was a hairless circle of bulbous, traumatized looking skin just below it's rib cage. You can see it in the pic quite clearly.

My theory was that black wolf got a moose hoof to the guts as the pack was taking down the moose. Took one for the team basically. That's just a theory I came up with but it makes sense to me and the wound area was pretty wound area was pretty f'ed looking. Internal injuries. Succomb to them a few days later.

Attachment 485867

Attachment 485868

The skull after the kid in my class had finished cleaning it. I never got around to the next step which is glueing the teeth in and putting back together.

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Originally Posted by Angle Parking

Spider approched the wolf body with visible caution. I think he recognized it was dead but he could not overcome this deep sense of fear.

I approached it the same way. I was super curious and wanting to check it out but my instincts were on high alert.

Since there is some interest I have a pretty good idea what happen to bring about the death of the black wolf.

The wolf's body was located just off a mountain bike trail in the Bluff Mountain Bike Area on the slope above Smithers B.C. In the days leading up to my finding it, there were some posts on social media about their being a moose kill in that general area. Some wolves had taken one down on one of the old logging roads that weave through the bike trails. Be careful, and the Conservation Officers had been notified, was the general gist of the messaging. I think C.O.'s went out and dealt with it but don't fully remember. I never saw the kill but I remember it was a bt of a topic of conversation amongst the folks who ride those trails.

Anyways, a handul of days after the social media moose kill stuff I was out for a ride on one of the lesser riden trails on the outer edge of the trail network (Remembrance Day for those familiar with the zone). I turn a corner and there it is. Upon examining the body I noticed that there was a hairless circle of bulbous, traumatized looking skin just below it's rib cage. You can see it in the pic quite clearly.

My theory was that black wolf got a moose hoof to the guts as the pack was taking down the moose. Took one for the team basically. That's just a theory I came up with but it makes sense to me and the wound area was pretty wound area was pretty f'ed looking. Internal injuries. Succomb to them a few days later.

Attachment 485867

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Looks like a young wolf, too. Those teeth look white and healthy.

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Originally Posted by The Reverend Floater

Looks like a young wolf, too. Those teeth look white and healthy.

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The snarl position if the lips was from me checking out it's teeth and yes they were really white and healthy.

Crazy how big it still is even though it appears to be a very young wolf.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3D1q...JwMXVjejl6ZW5t

Most wolves die young. It’s a hard life, and a debilitating injury is a death sentence. The pack does not tolerate weakness. An injury such as guessed for the specimen above is actually a mercy, many die of starvation, unable to hunt once they are abandoned by the pack.