Posted on 01/28/2010 6:17:03 PM PST by Tom Hawks
I had just finished my first semester of college at the University of Montana where I am studying wildlife biology. I got home for winter break and have been able to get out quite a bit lately. My friends and I have treed several lions and we have taken two.
Yesterday my friend and mentor Mel, invited me to go with him and another fellow named Jay who has two young dogs and a tag for our area. At about 6am we headed up into the Yaak area of northwest Montana. At about 2pm Jay found a track so he turned out his two dogs (Top & Lilly) and I also turned out my two (Elvis & Earl). They took off through the woods but they lost the track where the cat had crossed the Yaak River and had then doubled back across again. Mel and Jay walked downstream to gather dogs and look for the track while I was searching the far bank. We eventually lined out the track and put the dogs back on it. It was tough going so Mel put in his two good dogs (Brody & Fancy). The cat had made a third river crossing and the dogs were now on a fairly fresh trail. Since part of our plan was to get Jay’s dogs Top and Lilly some experience we grabbed Earl and Fancy and put them back in the rig.
At this point we had four dogs heading up over the mountain. We drove about 2 miles up a nearby road to try and close some of the distance. We finally got bogged down in very heavy snow and the Garmin Astro collars were saying that the dogs were still about a mile above us and that they were treeing. We headed up on snowshoes but the going was VERY difficult due to deep snow and thick alder brush. It took about 90 minutes to hike to where the dogs were supposed to be.
As we were hiking we saw on the receiver that Jays dog Lilly was running. Since she is young he just thought that she was running a back trail. As we continued to get closer we could still not hear the dogs. At about 500 yards the Astro showed that the dogs were still treeing but since we could not hear anything we became concerned that the system was not working right. As we got close we had to get out our lights as the sun had set and we could no longer see.
We hiked on and soon the screen showed that the dogs should be right in front of us at about 50 yards. Eerily there was absolutely no sound in the woods. We found the tree surrounded by tracks where they had put up the lion. We immediately began calling out for the dogs. Jay saw some blood by the tree and we assumed that a dog must have cut a pad. Jay started shining his light down the hill and saw two eyes shining about 30 yards away. He started that direction and seconds later we heard him start yelling. Mel and I ran down to where he was and saw something no houndsman ever wants to see.
There in the snow surrounded by blood were two dead dogs. I instantly thought that one of them was my good dog Elvis. My heart was pounding as I got closer. When we got to them we had to check the collar since part of his head was gone. We ultimately discovered that it was Mel’s dog Brody and Jays dog Top. I could not find Elvis anywhere. I could only imagine that the same thing had happened to him and that he was lying in the brush nearby.
As we tried to get over the shock of it all we slowly pieced together what had happened. It became very apparent that a pack of wolves had attacked our hounds as they were baying at the tree. Brody and Top had been killed instantly at the tree and then drug about 30 yards away where the wolves had started to feed on them. The eyes Jay had seen were those of a wolf eating our dogs. Lilly had obviously run away when the attack occurred but there was still no sign of Elvis.
We were all sick about what had just happened but we needed to get down the mountain and try and find Lilly and hopefully Elvis. It was as tough going down as it had been climbing up, and when I broke a strap on my snowshoe I didn’t think things could get any worse. I have hunted these mountains many times but I have never experienced fear like I did on that hike. The thought of the wolves behind us, the dogs that had just been killed and of the two that we could not find were about all I could handle. With broken snowshoes I had to “posthole” most of the way back to the truck.
We finally got back to the trucks and our missing dogs were not there. Before we got out of that deep snow we had to winch ourselves out about five times. It was getting very late and I was both mentally and physically exhausted by the time we got back to the paved road. We were due for some good luck and right then the collars for Lilly and Elvis lit up the screen and appeared to be about 1 mile ahead of us on the main road.
As we got close I could see Lilly by the guardrail so I jumped out to grab her and began yelling for Elvis. I immediately heard barking down below us by the river. I jumped the railing and began calling to him. With my flashlight I could see Elvis ,and he appeared to be lying in the ice on the bank. As I got closer I realized that he was actually in the water and was too exhausted to pull himself up on to the edge of the ice. I was able to reach out to him and pull him to safety. I don’t know how long he had been there but he was shaking so bad I did not know if he would survive. We warmed him up in the truck as we headed for home which was still an hour away on icy roads.
As I write this, Elvis is still so stiff and sore that he can hardly walk but since he is not yet 3 years old he is plenty strong and will be back on the trail soon. I have no idea how he was able to escape the wolf attack and near freezing to death in a river. All I know is that I am very fortunate to have gotten him back. I have not talked to Jay yet this morning but he had put so much time and energy into training Top I can only imagine how crushed he is. I talked to Mel and he is very frustrated, not just because he lost a great dog but also because he called a local game biologist who told him that our dogs were killed not 500 yards from a known denning site. According to the biologist they don’t publicize information like that because people might disrupt the wolves.
R.I.P. Brody and Top, I hope the hunting is good up there in heaven.
If you are going to hunt in wolf country you might want to take a few extra pitbulls, shar-peis, or presa canarios to guard your hounds while they do their job sniffing out cats or other predators.
If there are no dogs in Heaven, I’ll be asking for an upgrade....
but also because he called a local game biologist who told him that our dogs were killed not 500 yards from a known denning site. According to the biologist they don’t publicize information like that because people might disrupt the wolves.
Oh effing please! As the story relates, it ain’t the dogs that were the issue. “I have hunted these mountains many times but I have never experienced fear like I did on that hike”.
It was the humans who realized the fix they were in. Wolves are a part of wilderness, and wilderness is what our forefathers spent a great deal of time and effort ridding this country of. Morons intent on bringing wilderness back, are just that, morons,
Game bioligists who know stuff aren’t helping. I wonder what the hunters actions would have been had they been briefed on den locations prior to the hunt.
my sympathies...but wild animals are wild animals....they are not evil, they’re just doing what they do...so sorry
The Left has been bringing back in to and empowering the predators of America - both the animal kind and the human kind.
I guess we should we should be briefed on the known denning sites of jihadis (called ‘mosques’) so we the hunted (that’s us law-abiding Americans) will know how to quietly conduct ourselves and not bother them.
The jihadis are just a part of the urban landscape. They’ve been coming into this country since 1895 so they have every right to be here. Right?
Your right. And jihadis are just wild human animals. They aren’t evil. They are just doing what comes naturally to them. Protect the predator not the prey. That’s the spirit!
Sorry, but I don’t really don’t think it’s any sadder that these dogs got killed, than that the lions you’ve “taken” got killed. Leave the wild animals alone and quit forcing your domesticated dogs to run around in the wilderness pissing off wild animals.
They’ve been coming into this country since 1895 so they have every right to be here. Right?
Right, at least the ones that came in 1895, don’t think we need to be concerned about them, however, the more recent variety are another story, RIGHT?
It's also not a normal situation of domesticated dogs doing what domesticated dogs do. Those dogs were following orders from you and your friends, and those orders directly resulted in their deaths.
I have an old Army buddy that runs dogs for mountain lions, etc. in Idaho. He tells me that the wolves are getting bad there but Idaho is getting ready to release another 100 wolf permits. He told me that about a month ago and I’m sure he will appreciate this story. My old hunting grounds in Northern Wisconsin are getting full of them too. I was back for a wedding last year and I had a guy tell me he won’t go out for a walk with his dog without his .45 for fear of wolves — they were brave enough that a few of them “surrounded” one of his neighbors. thank you for the post. most interesting.
No! Sorry, but YOU ARE WRONG!
sorry, but I am right, evil does not occur in nature,never, never blame the animal...pit bulls are not evil, their owners are, wolves are not evil, they eat things that are slower and weaker than they are...get rid of the idiots who allowed these predators to be reintroduced into the area.....on the other hand, in some places there are far too many deer, wild hogs, etc, and to remove all predators can often result in a situation far worse than a few dead sheep or cattle
First off they were not my dogs, second off the wolves were re-introduced to set up a situation the the left could call for an end to hunting because of the danger the wolves would be having in hunters. Farmers, ranchers and normal citizens all over the the country are paying the price for the left bringing the hated wolf back so idiots like you can blame the hunter!
Imagine what would have happened if it was a family outing with little kids.
Shoot, shovel and shut up.
They were originally bred to hunt wolves (hence the name). They weren’t just bred to keep a wolf at bay but to actually go in for the kill. Yep, I’d raise up a pack of these wolfhounds with regular ‘coon hounds to protect them.
What’s really amazing about them is that even though they are fearless and can kill wolves they have a good enough personality to allow them around children.
Thanks for pointing this breed!
Great Wiki here on them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Wolfhound
That was a convoluted way to get around the fact that these wolves need to be shot and killed. I could give a rats ass about their feelings or their so called rights to be mean and wild. They are a menace, thank you LIBERALS. We need to shoot them when they are a problem and make them very afraid to even think about going near a human, or anything that belongs to a human. Just like deer, pheasant, ducks and any other animal we eat or rule over, or else they will eat and rule over us. Sorry I, my family, my livestock, nor my hunting dogs will be thier lunch!
If the authorities had told the truth about the DEN then the hunters would have taken precaution. Now, thanks the incompetence of those in charge of protecting HUMANS and their Hunting DOGS, every one of these wolves need to be hunted down and killed PERIOD!
You want to hug. love them and the wildness about them, well my friend you can love their dead friggin carcasses! Humans rule, NOT animals, and hopefully soon not even liberals will rule anymore!
Why bring me into this? What on earth did I say?
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