Spooky Encounter in Idaho

Discussion in 'Turf and Surf Hunting and Fishing' started by Quigley_Sharps, Oct 27, 2010.


  1. Quigley_Sharps

    Quigley_Sharps The Badministrator Administrator Founding Member

    Got this from a friend in Idaho







    "The Wolves

    It was the third day of our hunting trip with Birch Creek Outfitters. Terry Robinson, Josh Collins and

    myself, were in the Selway with Don Chlarson, our hunting guide, hunting Bull Elk. We walked from our

    camp down ‘The Spur Trail’ heading for some meadows and ‘The Rock’. We left Terry at the first set of

    clearings and meadows to watch for elk, deer and bear (our hunt was a combination hunt, allowing us to

    get any one of these animals). Don, Josh and I continued down the canyon to the next open slide and

    meadows. Josh stayed here to hunt this area while Don and I continued onto ‘The Rock’.

    About 200 yards further down the trail, Don and I came up on some bear tracks that seemed to be

    heading to ‘The Rock’. We assumed that this bear was heading to ‘The Rock’ after the remains of the

    previous kill (two days prior to us hunting this zone, the other hunters in our group had killed a black

    bear off ‘The Rock’). We moved very slowly down the trail looking for movement and listening very

    carefully. We crossed several small streams and at one point saw a small brown animal (maybe a beaver

    or mink).

    The bear was a secondary objective. We were hunting bull elk and in doing so had shot out several cow

    elk calls along the trail. We continued down the trail to ‘The Lower Rock’ about 200-300’ below the

    main lookout. We looked around this clearing for about 10 min. and then moved into the trees. To get

    up on ‘The Rock’ we climbed the hill side toward the back side of ‘The Rock’. There is a small meadow

    back there, then a group of thick trees and bushes to pass through on the way out to the lookout/cliff

    edge at ‘The Rock’. As we stepped out to the edge and began scoping the area for elk, we called out a

    few more cow calls, hoping to excite a bull into the open. After seeing no real movement, we started to

    relax and get settled for a few hours of waiting and watching. We set down our packs, drained our



    bladders and tried to get comfortable (I set a Way Point on my GPS for the 3

    rd day of hunting at about

    this time – 10:45am). We both found a nice spot along the cliff edge to view the area.

    About 15-20 minutes after settling down, Don shot out another cow call. Nothing was moving… Don

    took off his boots to relax his feet a bit and to set up his GPS. I went up to a log (about 15ft away, near

    the bushes) where I had left my pack, to get a sandwich, and return to the cliff edge to continue to look

    for movement.

    This next part happened very quickly, within 5 minutes:

    Don was watching the hill side just to the right of ‘The Rock’ and suddenly sat up and pointed out a wolf.

    This wolf was about 50 yards away. He was big, real big… I was amazed at how big he was. I always

    thought of wolves being just slightly larger than a German Sheppard. But this wolf was more like a Great

    Perinese (probably 3 ½ feet tall at the shoulders). He was black with some brown stripes on his side. He

    was sneaking into the tree line when we noticed him and then was gone. Don and I were on high alert,

    watching to see if we could see where he went. A couple of minutes later we heard a wolf ‘whooping’

    and ‘yipping’. At first I was not sure what it was, I had never heard wolves in the wild like that. Then we

    saw the next wolf (slightly smaller, but still bigger than I thought they were). This wolf was much closer,

    about 50 feet from us. We were shocked, how did we not see it? It moved in so quiet… But it was way

    too close for comfort. The wind was blowing up over the cliff from behind us and into the wolves. They

    knew at that point we were people and not a cow elk. Don was on his feet, with his pistol out. I was up

    and had my rifle up in ready mode and looking through the scope to find the wolf. Don said we had to

    get out of there. We heard something big in the bushes behind us, then several sounds in different

    locations in those same bushes. They were cutting off our escape route! We had nowhere to go but off

    the cliff (about 100-200 feet straight down). Don turned and aimed high and left of the wolf and in rapid

    fire, shot out 12-15 rounds from is 9mm. Within the first 2-3 shots, 3 other wolves stood up! We did

    not even see them. They were all within that same distance of about 40-50 feet. But the gun shots did

    not scare them. They just headed into the trees, curving toward us as they came. I was scared and

    decided to let loose a round from my gun, thinking it was much louder; a bigger caliber gun would make

    them run. I shot about 2 feet behind the last wolf (BOOM). And he did not even flinch… He walked up

    to a rock and stood his front legs on it, staring at me. An image I can’t get out of my head. He was all

    black with his pink tongue hanging out, just staring at me like I was his target. I jacked in another round

    and pulled up on him again. The cross hairs of my scope on his head and not much else in the viewing

    area (I thought, wow, he is way to close). “Don, I can take him out! Can I shoot him?” I said. Don quickly

    responded “No, don’t shoot him”, and then the wolf walked into the bushes, following the others.

    Don slipped his boots on and told me to grab my stuff and that we had to get out of there, NOW! I was

    scared to go up by the bushes and get my pack, the wolves were right there, we could hear them. With

    both of us ready to shoot we ran up and got my pack and jacket. At some point here I remember seeing

    Don’s hands shaking and I knew he was as scared as I was. I remember shoving my gloves and GPS into

    the pack and then we headed down the right side of ‘The Rock’. It was steep and I was thinking “don’t

    slip… they are still coming…”. We hurried down the hill to the trail out of there. We had gone about

    100 yards down the trail (almost running) before we stopped for a breath. We whispered back and forth

    about how unbelievable it was to have them that close. About then I heard something moving on the

    hill above us about 30 yards away. Don did not hear it but we started moving again anyway. About 75

    yards further down the trail we heard the ‘Yipping’ again, just up on the hill about the same distance I

    had heard it before. They were following us, hunting us! Don made me go first down the trail thinking if

    they attack, it will be from behind and he wanted to make sure I was safe. When we got to the first

    stream we saw that there were wolf tracks on top of our foot prints in the mud from earlier that

    morning. The wolves had followed us in, and now, were chasing us out! We continued to move quickly

    up the trail. At the next stream we saw prints again, following us in and now they were going the other

    way as well. They were behind us, beside us on the hill and now we knew they were in front of us as

    well! PANIC!!! We moved up the trail as if we were moving through a war zone jungle, both of us ready

    do battle at any point, safeties off, guns loaded and fingers on the trigger.

    Josh had the other 2-way radio, so I radioed ahead to let him know we were being hunted and that

    there were wolves all around us and between him and us. I told him to be on high alert and be ready

    when we got there. We were heading back to camp, now! After picking up Josh and heading to get

    Terry we heard them again, behind us and still too close for comfort. As we approached the meadow

    where Terry was we did not see him in the tree line where we had left him. Instead he was standing on

    a set of large rocks in the middle of the meadow. He explained that he had fallen asleep along the tree

    line and had been woken up by the sound of wolves. The yipping and howling was close enough to

    wake him from a dead sleep. With his back against a tree, he had seen a large black wolf run through

    the trees (about 75 yards away) toward ‘The Rock’ and heard several others moving around him. He

    decided it would be better to put some distance between him and the tree line in case they got any

    closer. We talked for a few minutes and put times together. Things did not match up, the wolves he

    saw were there at the same time Don and I were shooting on the ‘The Rock’. We had two groups of

    wolves in this same valley with us! We started moving toward camp again. About 200 yards out of that

    meadow, we heard them howling and yipping no more than 75 yards away. They were still chasing us!!!

    We made it back to camp in record time. We did not see them again but could hear them howling,

    yipping, and barking, for the rest of the night. About 4:30am the next morning they all lit up and

    howled, barked and whooped together for about 30 seconds (which seems like an eternity when this is

    happening, in the dark, in the back country) and then they were gone.

    Some hind-sight thoughts:

    The wolves moved in very quickly and very quietly. Unbelievably quiet, the only thing we really heard

    was a few whoops and yips from the Alpha wolf up on the hill. It was like Morse-Code and he just lined

    them up in a way that was most effective for a kill. I am sure that they thought they had a cow elk

    pinned against that cliff and that they were going to eat. By the time we saw them, the Alpha wolf

    already had them worked up into a feeding frenzy. They were going to kill something and did not care

    what it was. Even after they could smell us and knew that we were people and not an animal. That is

    down-right scary to me, being a born and raised Idahoan. I have spent most of my life in the Idaho

    wilderness, hunting and fishing in the Stanley and Challis areas. This event has opened my eyes to the

    VERY REAL DANGER that the Northern Grey Wolf presents to the people of Idaho. I no longer feel

    comfortable going into the wilderness unarmed.

    Seeing first-hand how quickly the wolves moved in on a ‘cow elk’ amazed me. This should be the elk rut

    and the bulls and cows should all be “talking” right now. We used an elk bugle several times during the

    week long hunt and did not receive a single response. I believe that the elk have learned that by making

    any noise they put not only their own lives in danger, but the rest of the animals in the valley in danger

    from these predators. We did not see any Mule Deer or any Whitetail Deer the entire week. What is

    happening in our precious wilderness areas? We must gain control of this so called endangered species.

    Feel free to contact me to discuss this wolf encounter.

    Jason Smith

    430 Center St. East

    Kimberly, Idaho 83341

    208-241-8831 jsmith@ced-columbia.com"



    Spoked me good!
     
    AmericanRedoubt1776 likes this.
  2. Disciple

    Disciple Monkey+

    Yeah that will leave you with the need to change your fruit of the looms.
     
  3. dragonfly

    dragonfly Monkey+++

    I've only had a similar instance here in Arizona...A bunch of us snot nosed kids screwing around in the desert, until we discovered that in following an animals tracks, it was following us! A mountain lion followed us all the way home, and ended up on the roof of the house! Yeah, it sure lets you know there is more out there than what man can take on!
     
  4. Nadja

    Nadja RIP 3-11-2013 Forum Leader

    An even larger threat would be the packs of wild dogs roaming around. They in no way fear man. I had an artic white wolf for several years until it turned on my wife, and it made me clean my .357. Hate to waste ammo. But, several times over the last 15 or so years, have had to go out and hunt down the packs of wild dogs, and make the good dogs. They really do damage livestock, and small people if given the chance. That is only a few of the things in the woods, waiting for the city boys and girls heading for the hills when something goes really bad in the world
     
  5. dabprod

    dabprod Monkey+

    About 15 yrs ago I was bow hunting during the early deer season in up state NY. I had driven in on my ATV and parked it an then walked about 1/4 mile to my tree stand. Hunted from about 1:00 to dark without seeing or rearing anything. I lowered my bow and climbed down. About the time my foot hit the ground coyotes opened up
    all around me, it was probably 3-4 of them but sounded more like 15 at the time. You
    aren't allowed to carry a hand gun during bow season so all I had was my Browning bow and a hunting knife and by now it was pitch black dark. They yelped and howled
    and barked as they followed me on both sides all the way to my ATV. I realize they
    were just coyotes and not wolves but they knew exactly what they were doing and
    they had me rattled. A few years after that on a cold Feb morning using a mouth
    call I was able to call a nice dog yote within 30 feet of me right in the same area
    where I had bow hunted. I put his lights out with a 22-250 and he is now on my den wall.
     
  6. Grape Ape

    Grape Ape Monkey+

    Every time I hear stories like this it makes me shudder.
    I'm a cityboy but a few years ago I baught a half section of land in Northern British Columbia Canada. Its within a few hours of the Alaskan border and its surrounded by nothing... just crown land wilderness.
    I know there are three large grizzly bears that literally live in my back yard. Around here we don't go out without a beargun... last summer my dad forgot that rule and sure enough he ran nose to nose with the bears.
    I've seen a number of mountain lions around here and the place is over run with wolves.
    The wolves here are big and black as well. Theres talk about putting a bounty on them because there are so many. Just in this valley alone you can go out for a walk and find 11 or more wolf kills in short order. They say theres about 14-15 wolves feeding off each kill you find... soooo add that up.
    A world record wolf was taken from this area measuring 8 feet from end to end.
    Then theres me lol... just wandering the woods alone with my gun for hours on end.
    I hear a lot of animal stories, and I just wonder why I even bother going outside :p
     
    Quigley_Sharps likes this.
  7. Spartan300

    Spartan300 Monkey+

    Coyotes are out of control in this neck of the woods. I have had war with them for several months, especially this last Fall and Winter. They are numerous and they are smart. They will carry away a small pet, kill your livestock, you name it.
     
  8. TXKajun

    TXKajun Monkey+++

    Stories like these make ya wonder just who IS at the top of the food chain! [dunno]

    Kajun
     
  9. Gator 45/70

    Gator 45/70 Monkey+++

    I once had a gator grab my Heddon Lucky 13 top water lure while fishing....
    We ate his tail for supper and i saved my lure...lol
    True story b.t.w.
     
  10. Dont

    Dont Just another old gray Jarhead Monkey

    Nice that wolf tag's are 10.00 each (??) now in Idaho and you can take 5.. Still , the game is getting hammered by the wolves...
     
  11. AmericanRedoubt1776

    AmericanRedoubt1776 American Redoubt: Idaho-Montana-Wyoming Site Supporter+

  12. Dont

    Dont Just another old gray Jarhead Monkey

    Or, be very well practiced in mag swapping in a 1911..
     
  13. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Mostly Hype are the Wolf/Human Stories.... People really are NOT on the Wolf Food Chain, as they taste way to Salty for normal consumption.... The ONE Documented Case in Decades, was in Chignick Lagoon, Alaska, a couple of years back. Some Prime, Tender, 20 Something, Female Teacher, recently relocated to Bush Alaska, was KILLED and eaten by a small pack of local wolves, while out Jogging with her iPod stuck in her ears, on a very nice September Morning, before School, just outside the village, on the road to the AirStrip. (1.5 Miles and open terrain, with scrub brush) A village Resident found the remains, 3 hours later when school open and she hadn't returned. State Troopers arrived the next Morning, along with two ADF&G Biologists, and together with Hunters from the Village, went out and tracked down the Wolf Pack, and Killed every Member of that Pack. First Documented Wolf/Human Kill in over 100 years in Alaska. ......
     
    Silversnake likes this.
  14. Dont

    Dont Just another old gray Jarhead Monkey

    Did find it curious in the story that they seen no game, nor did they mention any game sign, but the with a pack in the area the game may have been pushed out of the area.. Wolf populations in this area as well as the selway/sawtooth have exploded. That is why Idaho has opened the hunting season on them.
     
  15. Airtime

    Airtime Monkey+++

    Hmmm... not sure I want to know how he knows that humans taste salty. A fella living remotely away from the prying eyes of civilization... A modest Excursion from STEWard, I'm sorry, Seward AK. (fingers in ears, lalalalalala..) But maybe it's just me.... :)

    AT
     
    BTPost and kellory like this.
  16. Dont

    Dont Just another old gray Jarhead Monkey

    Inquiring minds wanting to know??? Well, Maybe not!! Snicker! Maybe someone really getting ready for the hard times...
     
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