Josephine --- she'll let us know whenever the wolf is at the door!
Speaking of wolves: Yesterday morning my husband and I were relaxing at our farm in central MN. after making a large batch of venison sausage on Saturday. Our Kai doggie, Josephine, was sitting in her favorite pose, resting her chin on the sill of the kitchen farmhouse window and surveying the peaceful wintry fields and groves of trees (well, ok it was very cold outside, and there was a nice sun but the wind was blowing and drifting the snow -- she was happy to be inside after a morning walk in the elements). All of a sudden, Josephine gave her low warning growl a few times, then started barking like a fool. Of course, "Mom in her kerchief and Dad in his cap" sprang up "from our long-desired winter's naps) to the window to see what the fuss was about. To our surprise, here comes one large timberwolf (no, not a MN basket-ball player -it was the real thing!) between the two groves of pine trees at the top of the hill and proceeding down the path towards the farmhouse. After coming about half-way down the hill (within perhaps 100 yards of the farmhouse), the wolf stopped and looked around, sniffed the air and the ground several times. Then he turned and proceeded north across the field just along the ridge of the hill. When the wolf turned to head north, we caught a sideways view against the snow white landscape and it was pretty clear he was probably at least 2-3 times the size of Josephine. The freaky thing is that my husband had just been out walking Josephine 30 - 45 minutes earlier. He went out later to look at the tracks and said the pawprints were at least double the size of Josephine's. Also, he saw that it seemed, at least in part, the wolf was following the path that he and Josephine had taken just a few minutes earlier. There the tracks were following there trail, which gave a nice side-by-side comparison to Josephine's size and approximate weight. Of course, smart Miss Josephine --- she would not leave the warmth and safety of the farmhouse to join him, so my husband was out there all on his own (of course with shotgun, as is always the case when Josepine is outdoors with him).
Well, as if that was not excitement enough, about an hour later our friend who was helping with sausage making was looking out the same kitchen window and saw yet another wolf come out of the woods at the southeast corner of the field. This one came towards the northeast (general direction of the farmhouse), then went behind a ridge, and most likely into one of the groves of trees at the top of the hill. This was a big one, too, but perhaps not quite as large as the first.
The prior weekend we did go for some nice long walks in the woods up there. There had been some thawing the week before that, and we saw some even larger footprints of a wolf. These prints were slightly larger than my husband's hand (perhaps at least triple of Josephine's prints?). Also we saw deer prints, including some fairly obvious evidence of the the wolf tracking a deer. Sadly, then we came upon the remains of a deer, although very little left except the stomach contents and small pieces of deer hair.
These wolves looked very healthy and sleek and well-fed. Also, beautiful color to them... sort of a blend of silver gray, a bit of brown and black. It was fun to see these animals in their natural state when safely in the house, but also oh, so scary when you have a pet at risk! Sadly, my husband's brother lost a golden lab (elderly, about 13) to a wolf last fall just a short distance from his house on his 30 acre farm. I will say, when your dogs warn and then bark its best to pay close attention. Being city dwellers most of the time, I do say its our habit that all too often we "shush" Josephine instead, as do many other people when their dogs warn and bark, for fear our neighbors will complain about the noise to Animal Control. I'd say it would be more prudent to investigate for the threat first, and "shush" later! (Of course, safely back here in the suburbs, the largest "threats" we have discerned so far over the past 3-4 years is one incident of an oppossum playing "possum", and the neighbors' (almost feral) cats.)
Well, as if that was not excitement enough, about an hour later our friend who was helping with sausage making was looking out the same kitchen window and saw yet another wolf come out of the woods at the southeast corner of the field. This one came towards the northeast (general direction of the farmhouse), then went behind a ridge, and most likely into one of the groves of trees at the top of the hill. This was a big one, too, but perhaps not quite as large as the first.
The prior weekend we did go for some nice long walks in the woods up there. There had been some thawing the week before that, and we saw some even larger footprints of a wolf. These prints were slightly larger than my husband's hand (perhaps at least triple of Josephine's prints?). Also we saw deer prints, including some fairly obvious evidence of the the wolf tracking a deer. Sadly, then we came upon the remains of a deer, although very little left except the stomach contents and small pieces of deer hair.
These wolves looked very healthy and sleek and well-fed. Also, beautiful color to them... sort of a blend of silver gray, a bit of brown and black. It was fun to see these animals in their natural state when safely in the house, but also oh, so scary when you have a pet at risk! Sadly, my husband's brother lost a golden lab (elderly, about 13) to a wolf last fall just a short distance from his house on his 30 acre farm. I will say, when your dogs warn and then bark its best to pay close attention. Being city dwellers most of the time, I do say its our habit that all too often we "shush" Josephine instead, as do many other people when their dogs warn and bark, for fear our neighbors will complain about the noise to Animal Control. I'd say it would be more prudent to investigate for the threat first, and "shush" later! (Of course, safely back here in the suburbs, the largest "threats" we have discerned so far over the past 3-4 years is one incident of an oppossum playing "possum", and the neighbors' (almost feral) cats.)
Comments
In any case, I'm glad you, your family, and Josephine are all safe and sound though.
Really, that is crazy. I too wish you had gotten some pictures - even just of the paw prints, that would be neat to see! Thanks for sharing, really neat story!
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That is a pretty cool story. We have a few wolf hybrids that come to the park. They are ALL rescues. A couple was breeding them and got shut down. People around my area adopted them. Mei is intrigued by all of them, but will challenge them if need be. I think it's the girls that are outgoing in that way. Koda ignores them and won't make eye contact. They seem to be interested in eachother in a total ignoring way. They will tend to mark and follow eachother around in a total incognito way marking and smelling eachother's markings. It's definitely an odd scene that everyone comments about.
I'm glad Miss Josephine was in the house, safe and warm.
I always pay attention to what Conker barks at. Seeing as I grew up near downtown Phoenix AZ right next to a very active gang territory (imagine at least one car chase a week, almost nightly gunshots active), a dog barking can be a really useful warning. It's a personal rule to always check out what Conker barks at since he doesn't bark for no reason. There's always something up be it a car in the driveway, person in the yard, another dog... I don't care if he bugs the neighbors, especially if he warns me there's some shady bloke wandering around my house.
Dave, Brad and others: I am so sorry to say I was a big "fail" with the camera on both of these trips. I did have my camera with me the first weekend, and brought it out onto the trail to catch the wolf track size, but of course my battery was dead.... maybe the extreme cold weather that day combined with battery needing charging. Unfortunately by the time I charged it new, drifting snow had fallen and obliterated all the tracks. This past weekend I totally forgot my camera... of course, who ever thinks of trying with the cell phone (usually I don't!) and my cell phone is not so good at a distance, anyway! So sorry!
Tara: I forgot one part of the story. As the wolf came through the grove of trees and down the trail towards the farmhouse he/she also stopped at one point and peed on the trail. Steve says it was exactly where Josephine had marked earlier on their morning walk. And funny thing about her: She constantly marks, whenever she comes across wild animal scat, not to mention other similar things we can see, and most likely all the markings she can smell but are not visible to us. Jokingly, we have referred to her as our "black coyote" or our "black wolf"....