1. stopping for a "uh hem" break. 2. BB gun protection by Karsten 3. Wolf track 4. Arrow protection by Kaleb. (He later told me not to stroke his "eagles" by acting like he was the expert.) He is getting way too smart for his own good!!
Here are some photos of our expedition yesterday. It seems that wolves have been frequenting our little valley in the mountains. Last week our oldest son awoke to hear a nearby dog barking crazily. He could hear wolves howling in the distance.
This past hunting season has been marked by the increase in wolf related kills. Almost everybody has some story about the damage wolves are doing. One man's son was stalked by a wolf. Another shot an elk and by the time he got across the gorge, it had been devoured by the beasts. Many locals are so angry about the problems (including less available deer for harvesting) that they want to take matters into their own hands.
Though we would like to see a season on them (because there are really a lot here), we don't have the "kill them all - let God sort em' out" mentality that many of the locals do. I know better than to mention the "W" word around most people because I will get a new story and an earful.
Yesterday I was hiking on one of my favorite trails. It runs along a ridge between a lake and a river. I got that eerie goose bump feeling when I found fresh wolf tracks in the snow. I won't say what I thought they were at first. I am quite terrible at identifying tracks. In fact, I am embarrassed to say I once ran home because I found fresh unshod Clydesdale tracks from the neighbors horse on the road and mistook the mammoth prints for grizzly. Everybody got a good laugh out of that (at my expense). This time I brought the boys to investigate. These are pictures of their expedition with me. Kaleb diagnosed them as wolf. Later my husband was shown for a second opinion. Yes, the men have determined a wolf has been lurking on this trail.
