Wolf Encounter - maybe?

[JDB9818]

I was just up elk hunting in north central Colorado (north of Walden). I was camping in an established camp spot that I have stayed at several times in the past.

I had gone to bed and around 9:15 I was awoken by what I initially thought was a coyote "yipping" right behind my camp. It was making quite a bit of noise and I could hear it moving around fairly close to my tent. After a couple of minutes it moved off and I thought it was probably just passing through.

Several minutes later it was back and this time I realized that there were at least two of these animals and I also realized that they were not coyotes, but wolves. They were "aggressively yipping" for lack of a better description, but they were also clearly circling my camp. I could hear them fairly close to the tent and they were making noise from every direction. This, believe it or not, continued until about 2:30 in the morning. I tried yelling, shining a light, etc. to try and get them to leave with no success. Eventually they moved off.

I confirmed my suspicions in the morning when I found a track in the dirt about 65 yards from my tent. I know that they were closer than that for sure.

This is an area that has seen a rise in wolf activity over the past few years. The pack has killed domestic cows and a dog. Last year while moose hunting in this area we ran into a guy who told us a story about an outfitter who had some clients in a spike camp get surrounded by the wolves before moving off.

When I did some very quick internet research, they say that wolves typically avoid humans and attacks are very rare? I keep a clean camp and there wasn't any meat hanging, etc. Coincidently, there were no elk in the area either (haha).

This encounter was pretty frightening and I am just trying to learn from others who have some experience hunting in wolf county. I have spent a significant amount of time in this part of Colorado, but I have never actually laid eyes on the wolves there. I have seen several tracks over the years. Is this "normal" behavior or why would they act like this? Just looking for some info or to hear of others who might have had a similar experience.

 

[streetdoctor]

Coyotes around here get very big. Pictures? There could have been no elk cause half of texas hunts that same area.

 

[coloyooper]

I gotta imagine with all the keyboard cowboys shooting, shoveling and shutting up, no wolf is going to come close to human presence in northern colorado

 

[Laramie]

I hunt in that neighborhood occasionally and have never seen anything resembling a wolf or wolf sign. I know others who have but no stories similar to this.

Just curious, why not poke your head out the tent with a light and a firearm to get a look?

 

[mtnbiker208]

I have bumped into wolves a few times, always came away smiling. Pretty cool expierences.
if you get a chance and hear them howling, howl back. you might be suprised what happens next.

 

[JDB9818]

I hunt in that neighborhood occasionally and have never seen anything resembling a wolf or wolf sign. I know others who have but no stories similar to this.

Just curious, why not poke your head out the tent with a light and a firearm to get a look?

So I did take a look outside, actually got out for a quick look but I didn’t lay eyes on anything.

Not gonna lie, I didn’t feel like spending a lot of time out there looking anyway

I actually know a couple of guys who live and work (ranchers) within about 1-2 miles of this place and they saw wolves killing elk in the area this past winter. I know they are around.

Maybe it was a couple of very large coyotes, I don’t know for sure, but it definitely was an uncomfortable situation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Pic of the track you found?

 

[Flyjunky]

shoot first and ask questions later comes to mind

 

[def90]

Probably coyotes, they aren't too afraid of approaching people. Have yet to hear of wolves doing anything similar in Co.

 

[wapitibob]

You’re the last thing a wolf is gonna eat.

 

[manitou1]

Didn't think wolves "yipped".

 

[KY_Whitetails]

Glad there's no wolves in KY

 

[49ereric]

Didn't think wolves "yipped".

They don’t.

 

[49ereric]

I walked into a wolf in the woods last year in mid September. I was walking up wind on a track in dense woods and it heard me but had not identified me and when it did it was gone in a flash. Probably around. 25 yards away at the most.

 

[BajaDog]

Pardon my intrusion. I've worked on the wolf issue in Colorado and have been involved in efforts in North Park to try to minimize livestock/wolf encounters. I try to keep my ear to the ground on rumblings, which includes some lurking of these forums.

JD, as you may know, there is an active pack of wolves in North Park. This includes a breeding male and female and up to 6 offspring, though no more than 7 have been seen together in some time. The radio collars for this pack have all stopped functioning and CPW doesn't plan to refit the wolves with new collars until the weather cools off, likely in the winter. The breeding male is the only gray colored among them. The female and yearlings are all black in color. If you were able to get eyes on the pack, the coloring would be a pretty clear indicator about wolf vs coyote, as black coloring in coyotes is exceptionally rare.

In either case, it's my opinion from your account that you experience some harassment from the canines, whatever they may have been. Wolves are indeed people-shy, but they're also protective of their territory. If a pack felt you were in their territory and too close for comfort, they might try to haze you out of the area. We often see wolves and coyotes alike 'escort' people out of their territory, though it can feel a lot like being stalked.

On the reverse end, there is a degree of legal harassment people can use when they encounter wolves, even with their federally protected status. So long as you do not cause injury, you can scare the wolves off and that sort of hazing is encouraged to help make sure the wolves never habituate to people. Range riders and ranchers have been encouraged to haze the wolves when they are encountered. US Fish and Wildlife Services does prohibit harassment, but they define harassment as "an intentional or negligent act or omission which creates the likelihood of injury to wildlife by annoying it to such an extent as to significantly disrupt normal behavioral patterns which include, but are not limited to, breeding, feeding, or sheltering." Simply making noise or other actions to scare wolves away from an area are perfectly in line with FWS's rules.

Reference: https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Wolves/USFWS-Regional-Director-Letter-03072022.pdf

Hope this is helpful

 

[49ereric]

Pardon my intrusion. I've worked on the wolf issue in Colorado and have been involved in efforts in North Park to try to minimize livestock/wolf encounters. I try to keep my ear to the ground on rumblings, which includes some lurking of these forums.

JD, as you may know, there is an active pack of wolves in North Park. This includes a breeding male and female and up to 6 offspring, though no more than 7 have been seen together in some time. The radio collars for this pack have all stopped functioning and CPW doesn't plan to refit the wolves with new collars until the weather cools off, likely in the winter. The breeding male is the only gray colored among them. The female and yearlings are all black in color. If you were able to get eyes on the pack, the coloring would be a pretty clear indicator about wolf vs coyote, as black coloring in coyotes is exceptionally rare.

In either case, it's my opinion from your account that you experience some harassment from the canines, whatever they may have been. Wolves are indeed people-shy, but they're also protective of their territory. If a pack felt you were in their territory and too close for comfort, they might try to haze you out of the area. We often see wolves and coyotes alike 'escort' people out of their territory, though it can feel a lot like being stalked.

On the reverse end, there is a degree of legal harassment people can use when they encounter wolves, even with their federally protected status. So long as you do not cause injury, you can scare the wolves off and that sort of hazing is encouraged to help make sure the wolves never habituate to people. Range riders and ranchers have been encouraged to haze the wolves when they are encountered. US Fish and Wildlife Services does prohibit harassment, but they define harassment as "an intentional or negligent act or omission which creates the likelihood of injury to wildlife by annoying it to such an extent as to significantly disrupt normal behavioral patterns which include, but are not limited to, breeding, feeding, or sheltering." Simply making noise or other actions to scare wolves away from an area are perfectly in line with FWS's rules.

Reference: https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Wolves/USFWS-Regional-Director-Letter-03072022.pdf

Hope this is helpful

People should mark their camp-territory in the manner in which wolves do.
lift a leg fellas on the corners of your camp.

 

[505Wapiti]

I’ve read several online posts in the past few years about questioning the difference between wolf and coyote. Last year in SW New Mexico my 12 year old son and I were on his deer hunt late November. We were lucky enough to watch a pair (one large black, one smaller grey) lurk around a small group of cows for about 15 mins. My son spotted them first and we watched them through binos from about 300 yards away. I’ve seen and killed more coyotes in my life than I could even try to count, and these things dwarfed any coyote I’ve ever seen. I have a 90lb English Chocolate Lab and the black one was bigger and the grey one was prob the same size or a tad smaller than my lab. Figured it was a male/female pair. Neither one had a radio collar. Their legs, head and size of their feet doesn’t compare to a coyote at all. Pretty cool to see…. From a distance

 

[Ishisube]

Measure that track. I don't know the proper way to do it, but I've always just used the measure on my Leatherman and gone from the back of the rear pad to the claw mark and they should be in the 4-6.5" range, at least for the ones I've taken the time to examine. For comparison I measured my friends German Shepherd at 3.5".

About wolf voicings, they howl only when they're far apart and the absolutely do make yipping sounds when they get within close proximity to each other for location purposes.

Also, wolves will eat anything when they're hungry enough, and if they're starving, it definitely includes human beings too.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

I’ve read several online posts in the past few years about questioning the difference between wolf and coyote. Last year in SW New Mexico my 12 year old son and I were on his deer hunt late November. We were lucky enough to watch a pair (one large black, one smaller grey) lurk around a small group of cows for about 15 mins .......

Mexican Grey Wolves. They've been present in the United States (Arizona and New Mexico) since the mid 1970's. There's currently a self-regulating population of 250 (+/-).
They're listed as an Experimental Population under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).

 

[49ereric]

Measure that track. I don't know the proper way to do it, but I've always just used the measure on my Leatherman and gone from the back of the rear pad to the claw mark and they should be in the 4-6.5" range, at least for the ones I've taken the time to examine. For comparison I measured my friends German Shepherd at 3.5".

About wolf voicings, they howl only when they're far apart and the absolutely do make yipping sounds when they get within close proximity to each other for location purposes.

Also, wolves will eat anything when they're hungry enough, and if they're starving, it definitely includes human beings too.

Measure the distance between the steps cuz wolves are long legged nothing else compares unless there is a Great Dane on the loose