S.W. Washington Wolves ??

[oldcolt]

     I am new to this site, and have not read ALL the different posts yet, but what led me here, is a search for information on wolves in S.W. counties of Washington.    Over the past couple years, i have seen a few things that lead me to believe that they are here. Either by nature, or by being planted. The game dept emphatically denies they exist. The timber companies who have voiced their want of the wolves denies their existence. Yet The area is "closed to ALL public entry", and last year i found tracks in the snow. And this year ran nose to nose with 2 of them just outside the forbiden zone. I have been in the woods for over 30 years, and am pretty confident that i know what a coyote looks like. (this was the WDFW answer to my inquiry).  I have a picture of the track in the snow next to a glove. Naturally WDFW wanted the picture.

    Has anyone heard of other sightings in Cowlitz/Clark counties, and or of the timbers companies bid for the breeding pairs that they are wanting in the Mt. St. Helens area ??

[mtman]

I would believe they are all over the state. I have heard them and seen there tracks, with in 20 miles of vancouver. I dont know if there planted. But heres why it is easy to believe. When I was younger the guy that lived behind us had seven wolves. One day they were all gone from There cage. So if there that easy to get and let go, I dont see why the goverment and everybody else couldnt do it.   

[oldcolt]

The tracks, and sighting was about 8 miles above Kalama. It is possible that I could be wrong on what I saw. I seriously doubt it, but possible. This area used to be covered in deer, but as of the past few years, seeing a deer in the area is almost like a Bigfoot sighting. I would immagine, that I am not the only one to see these things in the area.

[mtman]

I drew the Jan 1-15 elk tag this past year for the coweeman and seen about 25 deer in the couple hours it took to fill my elk tag. So i dont know about the whole bigfoot thing .But if you told me there were wolves I would believe you.

[oldcolt]

    There are alot of elk.... no doubt about that. Just a severe lack of deer in this area comparatively speaking to subsequent years.

[wence5]

About four years ago I was hunting deer with a buddy of mine on Weyco land in behind Merrill lake near Cougar. At first light we got out of the truck and walked in on a locked road when we both heard a howl that was no coyote. They are there!

[Jason]

We had two truck drivers say they seen a wolf up around the 4100/5500 line in the north corner of the toutle unit.
Do I belive them they both have worked and hunted in the woods all their lives. 

[Kain]

My brother and his friend swear they saw three in Indian Heavens Wilderness over 20 years ago.   

[oldcolt]

That map is great !!!! I would love to see what it looks like now...... 13 years later. I would immagine it would be quite impressive. I saw what I was pretty sure was 2 in 2000 up near the Sawtooth Berry Fields near Mt. Adams. That didnt bother me near as much as the ones I saw recently that are a mile from my parents place.

[lukeperry085]

Hey all,
I found this thread and saw that it was active pretty recently and I registered just to post. Oldcolt, I would be confident in saying that what you saw was definitely wolves. They are here, they are well, and I'm beginning to think that they may be abundant. The first evidence I saw of them was in May of 2010 when a friend and I were following cougar tracks on McCloskey Creek Rd East of Washougal, WA. Crossing over the tracks we were following, we found canine tracks roughly the same size as the cat tracks. I said, "If I didn't know better I'd say those are from a wolf." I thought I knew better, but after talking to some people I found a reliable source who claimed to having had heard them howling (this person knows the difference between a wolf and a coyote's howl).

Anyway, 2 nights ago I was in Gifford Pinchot National Forest out east of Sunset Falls and I ran across these tracks. That is a US Quarter for size reference:



After seeing these I began to figure that either their numbers either are a bit more abundant than thought, or I am just the luckiest guy in the world to randomly happen across the tracks twice!

Perhaps I am the luckiest guy in the world, because last night I actually saw one with my own two eyes! I was driving on L-1200 near the base of Silver Star Mountain when I came around the bend and there was a silver colored wolf standing in the road, and I only got a moment's glimpse of it before it bolted up a bank on the left side of the road (I had a friend with me who also saw this). The bank was 10-12ft high and almost vertical and it was up and over it in just 2 strides! I got out and the tracks in the bank were inconclusive, but at the top of the bank I could see what were most definitely wolf tracks in the moist soil. The tracks were much smaller than those that I photographed the previous night, and I would estimate that this wolf would have been 75-90lbs.

This was 100% a wolf! I am VERY familiar with coyotes, including their tracks. Even if there was a freakishly large coyote, I would not mistake its tracks for a wolf's, as the center toes on a coyote's foot are pigeon toed and even the toe nails are slightly angled in toward one another, while no other canid that I have ever been aware of has this trait.

Like I said, I am VERY familiar with coyotes, and here is a picture of me with the last one I killed, exactly two weeks prior to the day that I'm writing this. This hopefully should make everyone as confident as I am in my ability to distinguish between what is a coyote and what is not:

[Machias]

I'm assuming that's a quarter placed in the print for size comparison?  If so, that is NOT a wolf track, not even close.  Spread your fingers wide, look at your whole hand and fingers outstreched, now you have a decent reference to the size of a wolf track.

[Machias]

P.S.  Welcome aboard lukeperry085 and oldcolt, nice to have you guys here.

[lukeperry085]

That IS a quarter and that IS a wolf track. A quarter is only 5 thousandths short of being a full inch in diameter, so using that as a size reference this track is 4"-5" in diameter. At the same time, not every wolf weighs 150lbs, there are many wolves with smaller tracks than what I posted here.

And that doesn't change the fact that I actually SAW one last night either!

[JimmyHoffa]

I would agree that the size fits for a wolf track, especially if fresh.  Most tracking references I have list gray wolf tracks as 3.5-4 inches wide and 4.5 inches long.  When a true track melts out the newer overall track will appear larger.  But yes, there are wolves with tracks that get to almost 6 inches wide.  Did you listen for howls?

[lukeperry085]

Yes, and I have not yet heard any howls. I am considering attempting to get a photograph of one. I wonder if there would be local media interest in the photographs?