Minnesota Wolves

[cobb]

They're almost down to Minneapolis! Run for your lives!!!

That map is 3 years old. The story says there is a pack with 65 miles of the city limits.

And an estimate. We had seen wolves in north west Hubbard county prior to 2003, more like the late 1990's. An injured loner on the neighbors property and a couple years later a friend saw a loner go by his stand, several minute later 5 went by as if tracking the loner. I do not remember the exact years, but my Dad and I both saw the injured lone wolf, and my Dad dies 11 years ago, so this was in the 90's

[h2opumper]

Anyone have a physical sighting while deer hunting? What county?

[Jackpine Savage]

I saw my first one north of Togo probably in the late 80's. I was bow hunting and a 6 point buck came crashing by, the wolf was about 50 yards behind it.

Owned some land up by Split Hand lake south of Grand Rapids (Itasca County) in the early and mid 90's. I think we saw 4 or 5 off the deer stands during that time.

An occasional one is spotted here in NW Todd county. One was trapped just west of Bertha probably 5 years ago.

[h2opumper]

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/ ... up/sports/

[grousemaster]

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/214478/group/sports/

I saw one while grouse hunting up by tower about a month ago

[traveler]

I was told long ago that the rule of thumb was: In a pack = wolf; Solo = coyote.

Is that wrong?

[FJ540]

Heard some howling before sunrise today, then Norsesmithy heard more just after dark from the same area. Not yote - no visible contact though.

It'll be interesting to talk to my neighbor who owns the land the sound was coming from (he's got 210 acres with another hundred within it - owned by someone else) later this winter, as he's got extensive cross-country ski trails and will know what he's looking at if he comes across wolf tracks.

I'll be running cameras as well.

[Rem700]

I was told long ago that the rule of thumb was: In a pack = wolf; Solo = coyote.

Is that wrong?

I have seen a group of 6 coyotes.

[DeanC]

Cloquet youth hangs out with wolves at deer stand near Brimson
Jake Johnson had no intention of getting down from his deer stand. Not as long as those five timber wolves were milling around below him.

[Thunder71]

I was told long ago that the rule of thumb was: In a pack = wolf; Solo = coyote.

Is that wrong?

I've seen 2 lone wolves.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

[DeanC]

Not concerned, I have a wolf defense back-up plan

I, too, welcome our new canine overlords.

I miss Mac. He would have gotten this.

[smurfman]

Since the start ofthis year's firearms deer season I have seen 9 wolves over 5 days at my hunting land near Bruno. I had dog urine on my tires higher than my dogs can lift their legs on two different nights. There is a pack of 4 adult and 4 pups in the area which have been around for about 5 years now. Since they moved in the coyotes have become compost. The number of deer seen in the open has dropped by about 2/3 though the real numbers are higher than that. Many of the deer stick to thick cover and do not venture out into the open until well after nightfall. The real drop in numbers appers to be in the 1/3 range which is not really all that bad as the numbers were so high. The neighbors have beef cattle but have had little problems with wolves. A guy who raises sheep a couple miles away had more problems with coyotes than wolves. The worst part is the wolves seem to hang out on my property alot which plays the devil with deer hunting here. I still have deer using the property but they move at night an awful lot and travel off trails through the thick cover.
I have seen game camera pictures of wolves in the Almelund area of Chisago county, it appears to be several different wolves as the cameras are at best three miles frome each other. One was northwest of the town, another due east, and the third was southwest of town. There has been a pack in the far southern portion of Chengwatana State Forest in Chisago Co. for several years at least.

Wolves are often seen alone, this is especially true in the spring and early summer when the pack breaks up and the Alphas tend to their pups. The wolves gather back together as a pack around late June and early July and can become very protective of the pups. This is when many of the dog/wolf incidents occur and is the time of year I worry most for my dogs. Wolves have been known to become aggressive to dogs on leash and at a human's side during these times which is what worries me the most as my wife likes to take walks with the dogs. I don't think she has the command presence to ward off a threat nor the strength to hold back our own dogs if they should try to be protective. I try to go with her but sometimes she gets a hair in her rear and decides to take off on her own. At least I have her carrying bear spray now, it should work on wolves too.
One can also see coyotes in groups, they tend to be family groups which break up by spring but they can run to as many as a dozen though 6-8 are more common. I've called in as many as 5 at one time and that is one reason I now hunt coyotes with an AR-15 rather than a Mossberg SSi-One single shot.

[h2opumper]

Perhaps the territories in the state where the wolves have been introduced needs to be expanded. Doesn't the metro have a problem with deer?

[Norsesmithy]

Minnesota doesn't have "introduced wolves".

We never exterminated them completely in the first place, and when the wolves are moving into a new area, it's natural territorial expansion driven by the population pressure in the area they already inhabit.

So far, the DNR has eliminated any packs that have moved down much further south than St. Cloud on the hush. A few years ago there was a pack that made its way down the Mississippi all the way to the metro, and they were eliminated for worry of the danger they posed to humans (esp. an elementary school who's recess yard abutted the river bottom area the wolves were frequenting). The same thing happened to a pack of wolves that had established themselves between St. Boni and Mound, once it was well established that they were, in fact, wolves, and not just hybrid Coyotes (which, due to the "hear no wolf, see no wolf, speak no wolf" policies of the local DNR officials, took almost a decade).

Especially now that the program that reimbursed farmers for wolf killed livestock has ended, I doubt that further expansion of permanent wolf territory will be much tolerated by the two-legged apex predators in this state.

[SAM]

In the 60's we would hunt wolves up near the canadian border by Ray and Loman. Lots of the wolves we shot were alone. I'm in Douglas county and could hunt them right here. Lots of sightings over the last 10-15 years. A friend of mine invaded a den and took two pups about 20 years ago and raised them as pets------that den was about 4 miles from Forada and 6 miles from Alexandria.