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Thread: Wolf Pack

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    Senior Member RBB's Avatar
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    Default Wolf Pack

    It seems a new timber wolf pack has moved into the area. For weeks I've been seeing sign and scat, but last night I had visual confirmation in the waxing gibbous moon.

    About 11 PM, I stepped out the summer kitchen door, which is much quieter than the front door, and saw seven or eight deer in the yard. They didn't notice me as their attention was obviously drawn toward the lake. I went around the north side of the house and looked down the beach. Two deer, an adult doe and a yearling, were on a dead run headed south, with two wolves on their heels. There is something about a wolf that is immediately obvious, even in the moon light. Dogs chasing deer look like amateurs. Wolves look like the professional killers they are.

    Having seen this type of thing before, I doubted that there was only two wolves involved. I ran down to the beach, after they'd passed, just in time to see two or three more wolves break from the brush above the beach and cut off the deer. The older doe took to the water, and was last seen swimming strongly for the western shore. The yearling wasn't so lucky, and was disemboweled and dead in less time than it takes to tell.

    I headed back to the house, to hear the phone ringing. It was the neighbor lady, and she was hysterical. "Something terrible just happened right in front of our place - can't you do something?" I really don't know what she thought should be done. I asked her if she wanted me to scare away the wolves so she could get the deer meat, and the phone went dead on me. She is from the cities.

    Tonight, as I stepped out the door to go to work, the moon hung large in the sky - one day from full moon, and I could hear the pack howling down to the southeast. A rich cacophony of sound, going from creshendo to creshendo, haunting, wild, and beautiful.
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    Nice to be able to witness such animals in a pack and hunting, i must admit i found your neighbour's reaction to your comment amusing. When a deer goes down the first thing i think of is food. Venison is very expensive in the UK, but you can get it free, from fresh road kill - being large they tend not to be ruined by accidents just "tendorised". Unfortunatly these are not always clean kills but the RSPCA comes along and puts them out of their misery and in some areas you can be put on their phone list and they will request you come and pick up the dead deer, in some cases i think they may even deliver if you do not have a truck and your the only person in the area willing to take it!

    Back to the wolves - having never seen them hunt i was quite interested to hear how they worked in a pack, it seems they flank their quarry and head it off so those chasing can catch up and go for the kill. It astounds me when people think of such animals as mindless killers, they are clearly highly intelligent.
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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Leon - Or take turns giving chase. That way the pressure remains on the prey but no single wolf is exhausted. It runs lead for a while then falls back to rest while another takes lead. Highly intelligent and dedicated to the cause.
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    Cheers, thats really interesting i had never heard of that behaviour before.
    "It is sometimes better to miss an opportunity than to invite disaster" - Stilgar, from Dune by Frank Herbert

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    I suppose I should point out that my comments are not personal observations but others' observations and studies that I have read.
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    Nice description RBB. Could almost hear the howling. I hope that your neighbor doesn't try to "do something" about the wolves.
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    Neo-Numptie DOGMAN's Avatar
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    Very well written. Thanks for sharing
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    missing in action trax's Avatar
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    Two lead wolves will generally chase the quarry in to the rest of the pack. When they're really on their game it's pretty amazing. One lead wolf goes for the Achilles tendons at the same moment that the first one from the pack goes for the throat.
    some fella confronted me the other day and asked "What's your problem?" So I told him, "I don't have a problem I am a problem"

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    Senior Member Riverrat's Avatar
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    Thanks for sharing, almost like I could see it...

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    Worst case scenerio man kx250kev's Avatar
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    I would have ran down there and started shooting...with my 35mm.
    Last edited by kx250kev; 05-21-2008 at 12:11 AM.

  11. #11
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    My luck one of the wolves would have said,

    "Pssst, Charlie. Check out the two legged critter. Forget the deer, these guys are sloooow."
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

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    Senior Member RBB's Avatar
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    I've read sign on wolf kills a lot more than I've seen the actual take down. Though I've seen it across the lake a few times, this is only the second time I've seen one this up-close and personal. Driving prey into an ambush seems to be a favored tactic. It appears wolves have a tendency to watch prey for common routes and lie in wait - while others in the pack drive them in. The last time I saw a wolf take down, one of the wolves had waited over night through a snow storm (tracks from the ambush point to the kill - none leading to the ambush point). Haven't seen too much "go for the throat." Seems like wolves often just go for the ribs and belly. Hard to run with your entrails hanging out.

    Once those jaws clamp shut - the deer is pretty much gone. Wolves can carry 75 pounds in their jaw. Wolves are very fast and the deer is dead before it knows it. With larger prey, such as moose or buffalo, it is a different story. I've followed spoor of wolves chasing moose. Sometimes a mile or two of moose fur tufts on the trail - and the wolves had nothing to show for it in the end, except a good swift kick or two. Deer are about the right size for wolves.

    As to wolves and humans - not to worry. They are a lot more afraid of us than we are of them. When you consider the fact that they were once common in all of the US except the SE, and most of Mexico as well - and original populations are now found only in Minnesota and Alaska - they have good reason to fear us.
    Last edited by RBB; 05-22-2008 at 01:19 AM.
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    Makes sense as the belly in most animals is soft, and easy to get at.

    Yeah your lucky there is still some place where they live over there, they have been gone for a long time in the UK, and they are driven out/hunted in most of mainland Europe as well.
    "It is sometimes better to miss an opportunity than to invite disaster" - Stilgar, from Dune by Frank Herbert

  14. #14

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    wow, great read and good info!

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