Have you ever seen a wolverine in the Lower 48?

[Ridley]

Never in the lower 48, only in the NWT.

There were 3 sighting in California’s central Sierras last year. There was one about 10 years before that near Tahoe and then apparently the previous sighting was in the 1920’s.

I helped the CDFW set out trail cameras for wolverine at Fordyce lake back around 2010. Within a week we had photos of a wolverine.

 

[mt100gr.]

I've never seen one, but my cameras have! A pair even! And I tracked one right past one of my cameras....

 

[bpietila]

Not lower 48, but got two on a trail cam a few years ago. This was the best photo.

 

[Schoolhousegrizz]

View attachment 632088View attachment 632089View attachment 632090View attachment 632091View attachment 632092
I've never seen one, but my cameras have! A pair even! And I tracked one right past one of my cameras....

So cool, thanks for sharing!

 

[Schoolhousegrizz]

View attachment 632093
Not lower 48, but got two on a trail cam a few years ago. This was the best photo.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mojave]

I have not seen one but my buddy took a picture of one on the edge of the eagle cap wilderness in Oregon. 2 years ago View attachment 631757

Fisher

 

[mt100gr.]

So cool, thanks for sharing!

....I was just scrolling this thread again realized there are actually 3 wolverines in the one picture that I put up. 2 low and one high. (And the pics from the same camera are out of order, so the single must be as they were leaving the frame)

It's been a few years, but I recall a handful of lower quality pics also, from that location so it must have been close to their core area.

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

Was watching 2 big bucks in the tetons 15 years or so ago and had 4 or 5 of them come out in the rocks below them and start hunting rock chucks for several minutes
Was a very cool experience

 

[benwyoming137]

I have seen about every animal that lives in the West in the lower 48. Apparently, when I was 2 years old my dad was carrying me in his arms in Southwest Wyoming when we crossed paths with a wolverine. I don't remember it obviously, but my dad said that I saw it. I've also never seen a lynx.

Just curious who has seen a wolverine in the lower 48. Go ahead and post where you have seen them as well, it would be interesting.

Never have I seen one in Wyoming but have seen tracks in NorthWest Wyoming.

 

[Hectocotylus]

Yes here in Washington


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[Elkmagnet]

Saw one here in NE Oregon in 2018. Very cool critter.

 

[cornfedkiller]

Are they that rare, or just that good at going about their business undetected?

 

[MTtrout]

Are they that rare, or just that good at going about their business undetected?

Both but they are very rare. Studies suggest they have alway had low population densities. They have a huge home range as well.

 

[MTtrout]

None in the lower 48. I did get to do a necropsy and skinned one out from Montana that was trapped for a study and didn’t make it through anesthesia, unfortunately

 

[cornfedkiller]

Both but they are very rare. Studies suggest they have alway had low population densities. They have a huge home range as well.

That was my reason for asking the question.. if they are so few and far between, how do they find others and mate and produce offspring?

I've wondered the same thing about badgers around here. I know very few people that have ever seen one, and most of the people that have, have only ever seen 1.. seems like they would have a hard time finding a mate..

 

[Schoolhousegrizz]

That was my reason for asking the question.. if they are so few and far between, how do they find others and mate and produce offspring?

I've wondered the same thing about badgers around here. I know very few people that have ever seen one, and most of the people that have, have only ever seen 1.. seems like they would have a hard time finding a mate..

Low densities, small animals, super spread out. That's why they are rarely seen in my opinion.

 

[Ashy Larry]

I did. It was winter 2008-2009 on Bellyache Mtn in Wolcott CO. I was renting a room in a cabin from a guy while working at the golf course below. We were damn near at the top, about 9,000 ft. 40 yards off the front dropped down SE facing towards Cordillera Resort. There was a couple feet of packed snow on the ground and it was a bright moon night. Roommates lab started growling pretty seriously and I looked out my window to see a critter crossing sage field above us. It would run and then stop, run and then stop. I had never seen anything that looked like it, and with the bright moon I got a very clear picture. It was 15-20 yards from our cabin. The next day I visited the Eagle County library to use their internet and computer. I researched badgers and wolverines and I’m 99% positive based on appearance and size that I saw a Wolverine. Their scent is strong and sure that’s what got the dog stirred up.

 

[Marble]

I read an article about one being confirmed near Lake Tahoe. They gathered some scat and did DNA testing, linking it to animals in Idaho somehow. It was a male, biologists believed he was on the hunt for a mate and new territory.


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[bigmoose]

I saw one while elk hunting in the Gravelly Range in Montana back in the 70's. There was about 16 inches of snow and I was following a set of bull tracks up a hill when the wolverine came down on the same tracks. We came face to face at 25 feet. He jumped out of the elk trail and scurried off in to the timber.

I back tracked him just to see what he was doing. It was a very cool encounter. Wish I could have watched him longer.

 

[OMF]

I've seen tons of them. All my sightings have been in and around the Ann Arbor MI area. Very common there. Lots of mating going too.