Wolf?

[strait-meat]

I was wondering how far South they come. I heard of one being in the Monticello area along the river and it was seen at night by a few people and tracks were seen in fresh snow.

[nofishfisherman]

I'm guessing there are some that range fairly far south from time to time. However, when I hear reports of someone seeing a wolf outside northern MN I tend to be skeptical at first. I'm sure most reports are simply people misidentifying coyotes which are basically everywhere.

[strait-meat]

Right I think the same thing--either a coyote or a German Shepherd. He has seen plenty of coyotes and I was told he had a good ID of it so I am sorta thinking it might just be one. Plus being along the river too. The tracks were seen too with the fresh snow we had last night.

[O.T.C.]

Hey nofish you ever look at the tcam shots from the outdoor news ? If so did you see the pack of three from the Eagle Bend area maybe a month or 6 weeks ago ? That's Todd County not sure if that's north to you or not but maybe google wolves Wadena county and read up from years ago, they've been pushing south since 2007 for sure. I could see a loner surfacing anywhere in the state at this point. Many packs are established in Ottertail County according to the federal trapper that nailed 2 dozen of them in 2012 by Deer Creek/Henning/Wadena. How do I know that well a good friends land is where that went down and he was in contact with that trapper frequently, said I barely made a dent taking 2 dozen, had to ask my friend about that twice like what ? When he left the area 3 different packs or more were howling back and forth. I consider that whole region central MN I guess.

[nofishfisherman]

I guess when I say northern MN I think of that as anything in the top half of the state. So draw a straight line across the state maybe about as far north as Alexandria and anything north of that I'd call "up north".

Wolves in Tood County or around Wadena wouldn't surprise me at all. I don't doubt that at least some wolves have started moving even further south than that. With deer populations lower in the northern half of the state I'm sure some have moved south looking for a meal. Could mean wolf populations are getting bigger or that lack of food has pushed the entire population south, or it could mean both.

I was just saying that my first instinct when I hear people say they saw a wolf in the southern half of the state I usually start out thinking they probably saw a coyote versus a wolf. That doesn't mean its not a wolf its just seems more likely it was a misidentified coyote. A wolf sighting around Monticello while not out of the question would have me thinking coyote first.

I had to work pretty hard to convince one of my coworkers that the "wolf" she saw in her backyard in Shakopee was almost certainly a coyote or the neighbors dog.

[O.T.C.]

10 4 on that then ur spot on lol. No doubt a fluffy large male coyote can make a guy take a 2nd glance, coyote 99.9% of the time down there if not 100% of the time. And yes eagle bend is like 15 miles south of Wadena approx. Never thought in my Bemidji State days my dad near hewitt would report multiple wolf kills and mostly bucks behind the house and wolves on our driveway etc. Asked if he was straight shooting whiskey at the time. The wolves figured the farm/forest line is fairly loaded with deer when they got here and they were correct. No wonder there's such a mass herd of deer living in town, safer then out of town in the corn, nowaday.

[nofishfisherman]

The funny thing with wolves is that they seem to really localize themselves. They'll find a place with a good food source and stick to that area while seemingly avoiding other nearby areas completely. You can have one guy saying there are wolves everywhere and a guy 5-10 miles away can saw I never see wolves. It seems either you have a million of them or you have none.

In my hunting area north of Park Rapids we haven't seen any wolf sign in at least the last 5 years. We put on a lot of miles in the woods and even though we are looking we haven't been able to find any sign of wolves. We know they are around that part of the state but so far they have been leaving us alone.

As far a wolves moving south it will be interesting to see if the DNR is able to boost the deer herd in the far north if the wolves start sticking around that area more and stop drifting further south. Its only a theory on my part that the lack of deer in the far north and north east is whats pushing wolves south but it seems to make sense.

[ESSGuy]

Friend had two Wolves on camera last winter outside Somerset, Wi where I live. No doubt wolves when seeing the size of the tracks, twice the size of my 50lb springers.

[mainbutter]

I forget the exact year, but one was seen multiple times and verified by reliable sources hanging out in the Carleton Arb down in Northfield, 45 mins south of the cities. Assumptions were made that it was the same wolf seen a few times, but my gut says that a group was in the area.

Our weekend place is near sandstone/finlayson/willow river, definitely plenty of wolf tracks along the river. Our 100lb lab mix has bigger paws that what we assume are yote pawprints, and we see prints that DWARF the lab mix prints. Nothing on the cam yet, but I don't leave them up in the summer and I haven't left a camera by a deer kill.

We did have a deer carcass last late fall that showed up on a walking trail 50 yards from the house on the property, obviously killed elsewhere, dragged, and eaten. I'm curious if it was a wolf or wolves, wish I'd put a camera on the carcass, but we ended up just disposing of it to move it away from the living area.

[corncob]

The heavily wooded areas just north of Park Rapids have wolves, and by time you get to Bemidji , wolves are common. A friend runs a trapline and is a quide for bear and deer by Squaw Lake. He sees them or their sign regularly...You don't talk to him about protecting the wolf , as he sees them as wanton killers that are overpopulated.