Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Wolves => Topic started by: browninga5 on November 10, 2015, 11:49:09 AM

Title: Wolf-fawn attack in 117?
Post by: browninga5 on November 10, 2015, 11:49:09 AM: Muzzleloader elk season I was hunting in 117, and I came across something strange looking (first pic). I had hunted for a couple days and there was a big patch of disturbed dirt in the middle of a road I had driven down every day and not seen before. I got out of the rig and looked at it closer, and there was a pile of what looks to me like undigested grass. Weirdly, I couldn't find any tracks in the patch of disturbed dirt or anywhere near, but about 25 yards up the road i found a set of tracks (third pic). It looked like whatever it was was trotting down the road and then started running because the tracks got pretty far apart (4-6ft, can't remember exactly).

The third pic has my .50 speedloader for reference which is probably 3" long. The only thing I could figure is maybe a wolf or a BIG coyote got a fawn? I was brushing a road on the property later that week and I found another spot that looked almost exactly the same - down to the undigested grass.

Thinking its a woof? Where I was hunting was just outside the carpenter packs "range," but on the wdfw website I saw they confirmed a breeding pair in that pack.

Anyone have any thoughts or seen anything similar?
Title: Re: Wolf-fawn attack in 117?
Post by: KFhunter on November 11, 2015, 11:35:42 PM: the track by your speed loader is not a coyote but does appear to be canine
the grass in the poo is normal for a k9, they'll eat grass. A bear would have digested the grass better.

the dirt trail has me scratching my head though. I wonder if it drug some guts along there and a smaller critter came along and rooted the dirt up, like a skunk.
Title: Re: Wolf-fawn attack in 117?
Post by: Romulus1297 on November 11, 2015, 11:46:24 PM: Did it rain in between your trips down the road? Could just be water.
Title: Re: Wolf-fawn attack in 117?
Post by: Idabooner on November 12, 2015, 08:07:12 AM: I've seen the undigested grass in both wolf and coyote poo. Dogs will eat grass when they have an upset stomach, it helps push the little bones out.
Title: Re: Wolf-fawn attack in 117?
Post by: jasnt on November 29, 2015, 12:07:19 PM: Lots of predators in that area! I hunt that area often and ALWAYS find either wolf, cat, or bear signs of predation on deer or elk and moose in that area! I hunt south of middle fork rd. mostly. Basically all of the carpenter ridge pack territory is home. The tracks do look like k9 and could be a young wolf. The undigested grass is from the guts of a deer or elk. I find it often some times there is still some intestine left over but not always. Also some times turkey and grouse pick threw the undigested material. Could be the scuffed dirt :dunno: only thing I can say for sure is if you continue to hunt the area you will see it again. I have been in the area at night trying to locate coyote core areas and fired up a coyote group serrenied and had the wolves cut me off from few hundred yards away. Coyotes in that area are pretty tight lipped these days
Title: Re: Wolf-fawn attack in 117?
Post by: Sitka_Blacktail on November 29, 2015, 12:19:45 PM: If a deer died there, it wasn't a 4 legged predator. If it was there would be lots of fur in the area. The only predator that leaves only gut piles is humans. This may have attracted some scavenging canines which would account for the tracks and the grassy scat.
Title: Re: Wolf-fawn attack in 117?
Post by: jasnt on November 29, 2015, 12:44:00 PM: Quote from: Sitka_Blacktail on November 29, 2015, 12:19:45 PM
If a deer died there, it wasn't a 4 legged predator. If it was there would be lots of fur in the area. The only predator that leaves only gut piles is humans. This may have attracted some scavenging canines which would account for the tracks and the grassy scat.
you could very well be correct as I've seen plenty of jerks leave gut piles in the middle of the road, or the deer was attacked near by and guts spilled on the road the the deer was drug or carried to a more seculded spot to eat. All speculation with out investigating the area in person right after it happened
Title: Re: Wolf-fawn attack in 117?
Post by: Sitka_Blacktail on November 29, 2015, 05:23:43 PM: The "disturbed" area seems to me to be the partially digested food or ingesta that is commonly left over after scavengers such as birds and small animals eat the gut pile of cervids. If you have ever gone back where you left a gut pile a week or 10 days later, you've seen what I'm talking about.
When a predator makes a kill they rip loose a lot of hair getting to the meat or the entrails. While they do ingest a lot of hair also, they don't go around cleaning up after themselves and a predator kill site or a site where they have been eating after dragging game off will have a lot of loose fur and chunks of hide and bones or pieces of bone. This picture is pretty sterile looking other than the possible partially digested food.