Well, another year and a few Idaho wolf tags left unfilled... but not for lack of exposure to the country AND the animals.
During my Idaho deer hunt, the first member of our party harvested a deer which we promptly boned out and brought the meat back to our base camp. We then decided that we'd move the skeleton to a point we could easily sneak up and see... well, the next morning it was completely consumed. Nothing but a few bone fragments remained of the critter. The first snow of the season fell, and with it came our first audible proof of their existence in the area we were hunting; from across the draw amongst the gray day and silently falling flakes we heard a single wolf howl. I howled back, and the hillside lit up with multiple responses. We were unable to make a move on them, and while sleeping that night and the next we were treated to their voices just south of camp.
After 10 days in the wilds, my companions had families and responsibilities to get back to, so we headed back to our "normal" lives.
Well, I figured I still had some time, so regrouped after some EMT training in Oregon and headed up through Orofino, Bovill, and Priest Lake areas for some tentative scouting and hunting action. It seemed like every place I had thought to hunt was about a week late... I heard stories from loggers of "Oh, a guy stopped on this road to show us two wolves he'd killed up there last week!" and "There was a big one taken in that area on Friday" so after a few days in each location, I kept working north.
And then, after a day and a half in my northern wanderings in the Idaho panhandle I lucked into a COOL situation. Following moose tracks up a snowy road late in the day, a single wolf track started to follow it! Then more, and more. Various ages of tracks... I counted 30 sets crossing the road back and forth... the newest from the last few hours because they were yet to be covered in snow!
At this point I had two distinctly different reactions... part of me was giddy with excitement: "THIS IS WHAT YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR! HOW COOL!" and the other part? It was mirroring Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movie, saying "RUN, YOU FOOL!"
I estimated that there were probably around 6 animals making all these tracks, which calmed my nerves a little, seeing as I had 6 rifle bullets and 5 in my .38 special... (I always keep the first cylinder blank) much better than letting my paranoid part of me believe there were 30 animals running around up there..
I put my back up against a douglas fir along the road with my gun laying across my lap, and howled.
The creekbottom below me responded with multiple howls... and fairly close!
It was thick, and I was unable to get a bead on any of the animals below me. I stood up, and started paralleling the road trying to get a peek of any kind of fur, but all I was seeing was fir... Douglas fir.
I finally got the courage to push through the thick timber, but it was too late. The wolves had had enough; I could see where their chests dragged through the snow as they ascended the other side of the creek.
It was unsuccessful in filling a tag, but a very neat experience to be so close to such a great predator... here's to 2015 and maybe getting it done.
One of the older sets of tracks, with my hand for comparison.
