Hello Backcountry Pilots,

This is one of my first attempts with a gopro camera I got for Christmas. After reviewing this video, I think I spotted a couple wolves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhKdSoqPi6g Got skunked so far this year on wolves, but I'm going to keep at it.

James
Clear Creek, Idaho

January on Clear Creek, 2 air-miles from my place

Cool! Looked like a nice flight around the neighborhood.

I hope you eventually get one.....or 6.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife just released a report that they know of 77 wolves in Oregon now.
There is probably a lot more than that.

"$150,830 awarded in eight counties to help ranchers prevent wolf depredation and to repay ranchers whose cattle were killed"


http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2015/02/77_known_oregon_gray_wolves_ma.html

The full report.
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/agency/commission/minutes/15/03_march/Exhibit%20D_Attachment%202_Staff%20Report%202014%20Oregon%20Wolf%20Conservation%20and%20Management%20Report.pdf

beautiful spot, I recognize the airstrip from other videos I have seen.

I watched the video about 8 times, the first couple admiring the area and the last 6 looking for wolves. as an avid wolf hunter and search and rescue spotter I figured i'd be able to pick them out.........no luck. how about a hint???

Roamer

What's the deal on wolf hunting? Tag required, or is it wide-open like coyotes? Somebody spent a lot of money & political juice reintroducing wolves somewhere (Yellowstone?), hard to believe that the powers to be would allow wolf hunting- even in another state.

weve got coyotes galore here in texas. i can't imagine wolves! all my livestock would be gone

Off topic slightly, but your rifle looks nice. What is it?

Are those tracks big or average for wolves? I've never really dealt with them.

What I know about wolves comes from 2 sources, and it's pretty minimal.

The first was a boondoggle trip to Barrow, AK in 1972, courtesy the USAF, in which a bunch of us flew in a C130 from Elmendorf AFB. At Barrow, the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory (closed in 1880) had a pen of wolves, where they were being researched to determine how their metabolism allowed them to survive in the extreme cold of the Arctic. We were given lots of fascinating information, but the most telling to me was the reaction of the wolves when I walked up to their pens--in total silence, I was suddenly in a stare down contest with several wolves, and even with the heavy chain link fence between me and them, they were really intimidating.

The second was the short story by Saki, "The Interlopers". I don't recall when I read it, probably in college, but here is a website that has it: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stori ... Inte.shtml

So I'll leave it to you guys to hunt those critters. I'd just as soon stay away from them!

Cary

Saw this guy roaming around my backyard. But he's our puppy. He's a BC gray wolf and turns 5 in Arpil.

Timberwolf wrote:

Saw this guy roaming around my backyard. But he's our puppy. He's a BC gray wolf and turns 5 in Arpil.

He is stunning!

(Ooops. My bad. Carry on talking about how killing wolves is our natural duty in the ecosystem...)

hotrod180 wrote:What's the deal on wolf hunting? Tag required, or is it wide-open like coyotes? Somebody spent a lot of money & political juice reintroducing wolves somewhere (Yellowstone?), hard to believe that the powers to be would allow wolf hunting- even in another state.

In Montana..tag required. As a rancher, we can shoot them whenever we see them threatening our livestock. (we lost 5 head year before last... we cleaned them out, so we lost nothing last summer....now calving season is near, so they're looking for easy food again...)
These weren't "reintroduced" at all...they are "INTRODUCED" and that's the sad fact. They are nothing like the wolves we had here forever... those were about the first lunch for the ones they turned loose. Totally a non-native wolf. We've lost a lot of cattle, horses and dogs in the past few years in my area, so they had to do something.
James, too bad you haven't gotten any yet.... good luck to ya, and I hope you limit out!!
Cary, I know exactly what you mean about the stare down...but he wasn't in a pen. A bit unnerving.
TxKiger, you're exactly right...your livestock would be gone... One neighbor lost over 50 head of cattle and a dozen dogs in one winter here...we've never been hit that hard...yet.
Anyone dumb enough to think they only kill the weak and old haven't spent any time around them....
John

Always a good time to bring up the controversial idea of the tropic cascade. Great for stirring up trouble!

He (narrator) on some good meds..

For the wilderness lovers, some really pretty Idaho Wolf footage here from Ray Mears.

CamTom12 wrote:Off topic slightly, but your rifle looks nice. What is it?

Are those tracks big or average for wolves? I've never really dealt with them.

Tom,

That is my Weatherby Vanguard 22-250 with a Leupold 6x18 scope, a real tack driver. The Jaunuary day with the snow I flushed one small black wolf out of the brush with my predator mouth call. It had the opposite affect and it took off the oposite direction. About 700 yards away. I did get on those other tracks of a big wolf and followed them for a couple miles. I lost the tracks where a herd of elk was earlier (track soup).

Coyote hunting sucked this winter too, no snow.


Flying down to my Idaho place in the AM with 350 pounds of nytrogen fertilizer in the Maule. $14 per 50 pound bag. Got to get the airstrip looking good for spring time.

James

James,

Nice gun. I had a 220 swift built two years ago for a wolf gun but no luck yet. There's retired guys in my neck of the weeds that keep them thinned out. They probably put in more hours hunting than they ever did farming. I got to see the pile of 176 sheep the wolves killed one night near here. It was amazing. To their credit, the feds did wipe them out after they killed another 150 sheep, 75 cows and several dogs.