THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. - Mike Olson had been working under his dad's deck for about 20 minutes when he realized he wasn't alone. "I cocked my head back, and I saw those two eyes looking at me," Olson said of the Monday encounter. "I got out real fast."

Olson had seen what he thought was a gray wolf. "It was probably 6 feet away," he said. "It was just laying down. It had its head up and was just looking at me."

Olson and his dad, Erling, called the police, who responded expecting to find a large, wolf-like dog beneath the deck.

"They put their head under the deck, and sure enough, it was a wolf," said Craig Mattson, deputy chief for the Thief River Falls Police Department.

Police and the city's animal control officer were unable to put a noose around the wolf's neck and capture it alive, Mattson said. He said the animal had been growling and appeared to have mange, a parasitic infestation of the skin. So, a section of planking was removed and an officer shot the 104-pound male wolf, Mattson said.

It's the first time Mattson can remember a wolf in town.

As for Olson, he cautiously went back to work on the deck Tuesday.

"I'm going to look twice," he said.
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Is it just me or does it seem that a lot more "wild" animals are in the news lately?

Well, we could have the whole "spreading population...animals and people bumping into each other more often" conversation again I suppose. That's going to be inevitable. It kind of sounds to me like that wolf would laid there til he died anyway, if he was that sick.

I've had two encounters with wolves in the wild, was never bothered by them either time, I'll admit I was a little nervous though. I don't hunt wolves or bears, that's a personal choice and whatever anyone else hunts is their business. (Anyone wants to know my rationale for not hunting them is going to have to get to know me way better than anyone in here is going to, lol) If I knew one was that sick I'd probably put him down to end his misery.

I've heard the arguments about areas where wolves have been re-introduced and how much trouble they cause for hunters, taking game etc and that people think they're throwing the balance of nature off. I disagree. I think that the balance having been thrown off already, the pendulum swings both ways before it settles.

One of the problems that has arisen, even up north where there's still plenty of wild wolves, is that there aren't enough people hunting and trapping them to a certain degree. I know that's a pretty strange perspective coming from me, but what happens is the wolves become less afraid of humans, people start to think that it's ok to feed them, strengthening that cycle of familiarity and then some idiot winds up getting attacked or snarled at because they're still wild animals and a bunch of conservation officers go on a wolf hunting frenzy.

I may have mentioned in a previous posting about the wolf skin in the community center and the ten names listed as having hunted it. The first three lines of the plaque were about how rare wolves have become in this part of the country, so of course the thing to do is shoot the first one you see...hmmm....I have no doubt that those ten guys used snow machines and chased the wolf down until he was exhausted and then shot him. That's not hunting to me, that's akin to the people who sat in train cars shooting bison and leaving them there to rot the way it was down in the 19th century just to say they'd shot a bison.

One time in the '80's I was on a flight to a bush job in a Twin Otter and the pilot saw a pack of wolves running across a lake, we're talking way north here, far from human settlements. He dropped down and buzzed them for a laugh. The wolves broke out and started running full speed. He chased them almost the full length of the lake, Manitoba has a lot of long, narrown lakes. I told the guy off when we landed. Those wolves would have run themselves to death if he'd kept it up. That's the kind of attitude I don't understand.

Anyway, I think we probably will hear more and more stories of "wild" animals in the news (although I think there's stories of wild animals in the news every day, they just happen to be human) and we're going to run into more, depending where we live, and I hope that we respond judiciously. If that wolf was sick, it seems to me those officers did.

Man, did I ever yap off lots in that last posting

Quote::

One of the problems that has arisen, even up north where there's still plenty of wild wolves, is that there aren't enough people hunting and trapping them to a certain degree. I know that's a pretty strange perspective coming from me, but what happens is the wolves become less afraid of humans, people start to think that it's ok to feed them, strengthening that cycle of familiarity and then some idiot winds up getting attacked or snarled at because they're still wild animals and a bunch of conservation officers go on a wolf hunting frenzy.

I think that that might have been where my mind was when I found this. I keep thinking of those videos they show of bears getting into cars at the National Parks.

Also when I was younger, only like 15 years ago, it was hard to find a story about "wild" animals that close to a city. When one got into a town it was a big story because it never happened. It's like the gang violence around here it's almost to the point where I don't even notice it. I noticed this one because it was a wolf and not the normal mountain lion which we have where I live.

Tracker, from what I have seen the major objection to wolves in this country is that they take livestock. I have not heard any complaints about taking game species, and I , for one, would deem that a natural thing and no problem!

I'm going to refer everyone to this thread:

huntingnut.com/index.p...opic&t=254

Read mikekuzara's comments, as he worked/was invovled in the reintroduction of wolves.

Too bad he hasn't posted in a while.

Dimitri

I've been with Dave Mech some in my younger days on the Wolf Study in Ely.
I agree with Tracker.
The sound of a wolf pack over a kill while fishing in the winter, or camping in the summer, is breathtaking. Leaving my house for work at the mines one morning, a pack started howling and barking over a kill not more than a couple hundred yards from my back door. I was late for work that day. Had to sit and listen. Had to protect my hunting dogs also. A wolf won't attack a human, but will kill anything on four legs.
Wolves can't be killed in Minnesota, because of the Federal Protection Ban that has been on them.
That Ban has now been lifted, so the State has to figure out how to handle any overpopulation.
Even back in the early 70's, Dave said that the wolf population was too high.
It will be interesting to see what the State does.
We hunt deer in a wolf pack area, and two years ago, a wolf stood over the gut pile of a deer that I shot the day before. He wasn't more than 30' from me for quite some time. It made my season.
I agree with you also Tracker, on shooting Bear.
I'll say it. Shooting a bear over bait isn't anything to brag about.
I'm not against anybody else doing it, but for me, unless I like the meat [which I don't], I won't do it.
If, someday I get a hankering to have some bear meat in the freezer, I'll go out and shoot a bear, and not brag.

Eric

I just love the look and sound of nature. I can sit outside all night listening to it. Even listening to the big cats when I used to camp by the American River was great, freaky but great. The only thing that bugged me was the wild turkes at night in the trees durring maiting season.

I like the taste of bear but still won't go looking for one, I know my limits and that's one of them. I really don't like deer but more power to ya as long as you or someone else (friends/family) eat what you kill.

Help

"A Dingo has my baby"

I don't know much about dingos except what I've read or seen on tv, but I think their behaviour is more like that of a coyote. As I was mentioning in m earlier post, it seems like in some areas wolves are starting to behave like coyotes too. I agree with Eric, the only substantiated wolf attacks I'm aware of, the wolves were after dogs, not people. (Of course if you're running a dog sled across a frozen lake and a pack of wolves appears, it's still a pretty big concern)

Eric, you worked in mines? Me too...12 years of my life shot to h###

I think the bear and the wolf would be better tolerated here than the coyote is. Coyote is an interloper that preys on livestock and domestic pets. I don't know of anyone who thinks the coyote is pleasant to listen to either!

The law in Manitoba is if you've got a big game tag that you didn't fill...moose, deer, bear, elk, whatever, you can replace the prey by going out and shooting a wolf. Coyotes require a trapping license whether you're trapping or shooting them! We have a couple of packs that roam around just a couple of miles south of where I live and when they start yapping at night it drives my dog nuts. He wants to go out and pick a fight with them. Unfortunately for the dog he doesn't weigh 20 pounds soaking wet, so I don't think it'd work out too well for him. He did put the run a raccoon when I was out camping last September though...small but tough, lol.

Yupper, Tracker, even a larger dog by himself would wind up being lunch for the pack!! Kudos to the dog for running off the coon tho!!!

I was a heavy equipment operator at the US Steel Minntac Mine, where I retired from, Tracker.
I have BAD hearing, a bad back, but I actually had fun running equipment.
My favorite was running Brush Cat. Back in the mid 70's, when the fire danger was high, Minntac would lease me and my D-8 Brush Cat out, and I would fight forest fires for the Forest Service. It had a small D-9 engine in it, and boy could it clear the trees.

I used to have an 11 Dog Team of Siberian Huskys, and never had a wolf problem, but a friend of mine, Don Huseby had wolves on his dog team's tail one time when he was beaver trapping. I wasn't with him that time, but Don said that it was a very weird feeling having those wolves on his trail.

Eric

ElyBoy wrote:

I was a heavy equipment operator at the US Steel Minntac Mine, where I retired from, Tracker.Eric

I surface diamond drilled all over the north and underground diamond drilled and mined in Manitoba. I had a lot of different mining jobs over the years, I sometimes miss blowing things up. Got arthritis in my hands, a crushed ankle and a bad back for my efforts over the years.