Hunting story:
Saturday, October 26th
I went out hunting to WMU 326 which is west of Caroline. Me and my buddy were after whitetail deer. We snuck into this area, got there before the start of shooting light (30 mins before sunrise). Our last trip here, in this exact spot, we had heard a buck thrashing the bush with his antlers and we were hoping to get a look at him.
After hunting that small area thoroughly for awhile we headed out of there and continued our explorations for the day. We go in another road and I see that there is a large clearing behind a patch of tall timber and a very old, small road (probably mostly a quad trail these days) that goes through the timber and into the clearing. We creep out there in the truck and see ravens. Tons and tons of ravens.
Now our curiosity is piqued. We look out into the clearing with binocs and see a timber wolf running for the trees as fast as he can. That was cool. I'd never seen a wolf in person before.
After a few moments of carefully examining the area for more wolves and after a short discussion, we decide to get our rifles out and go and see what all the ruckus was about (wolves + ravens = dead animal).
I tell my buddy to keep his eyes peeled... I know that wolves are very very unlikely to attack a human and the last we saw of the one wolf, he was very far away... but I really didn't want to be on the news.
Anyway, we start moving across the clearing to where the ravens had been congregating and we find this:
These images are graphic (blood, dead animal). Please don't click if you are squeamish.
Based on what we observed, it looked as though the wolves had taken the buck very recently (there was steam rising from the wounds on the animal). It is a pretty incredible find, discovering a wolf kill shortly after it occurs, and we were fascinated. We were very careful the whole time, just in case... my buddy was watching and had his rifle ready to scare off the wolves in case they decided to push us off of the kill. After examining the site for a few minutes we retreated to the truck.
My friend is a fairly new hunter, I've been teaching him how to hunt the past few years and this was the first time we had ever encountered wolves while out together. So when we were back at the safety of the truck... I said, "Listen to this."
I howled at the wolves, doing my best impression of a canine howl. At first we didn't get a response but then I howled again... and suddenly the whole area just erupted in barks, yips, and howls from the wolf pack. It was an incredible experience.
I recorded the wolves howling on my phone... here it is. Make sure you listen to the whole thing as the best sounds are towards the end.
One other cool thing... out in the areas where we hunt, wild horses are becoming more common. I always love seeing them. We got some pictures of this stallion who had a mare and two foals with him.
And one last picture that is kind of funny... a sprinting grouse that we saw on a prior hunting trip.
