I have a good buck tag this year. I have seen several 160 to 170 class bucks that I have passed on looking for a 180 to 190. That all came to a end this weekend. I hope it is because of the Moon but I am afraid that the early migration moved the deer. Another thing that I found was a Wolf kill. Take a look at these pictures. I thought that elk were the main menu. Looks like mule deer are on the menu as well.
I first saw the buck with my spotting scope. I found tracks going off the saddle down the draw. The wolves chased a herd of deer down into a ravine. This buck was pinned down in a wash that was about 5 feet deep. It had tall brush around it. It was a natural corral for the wolves to get the deer. He put up a good fight by the looks of the tracks but he never had a chance. I don't think anyone will be able to say these were coyotes. The shell is a 243 wnchester. Ron

Just like any other animal, wolves gotta eat too. But they also needed to be hunted as well. Cool pictures.

At least they ate the buck. I don't like to see uneaten carcasses where it is clear they just killed it to kill.

Can't say I have ever seen a wolf-kill carcass that looked like that one.
Brent

looks kinda like the deer around here when the poachers grab the hams, the back straps and leave the rest lay. Were the big bones there?

Is it me or did they leave a lot of meat behind?

Ron, those woofs had a darn fine skinning knife..... Looks to me they scavenged a hunter kill -- and a poorly trimmed one at that. JMO, Dutch.

Not like any wolf kill I have seen. More like a two legged wolf that drug the mule deer to a hiding place to skin it.

Wow, good catch guys.

I tend to agree that this wasn't wolves. They may have gone in to scavenge the carcass (or those tracks could have been domestic dogs (?))

Every wolf kill site I've ever seen (deer, moose, beaver etc...) the animal looks like a bomb hit it. They pull it apart and wouldn't leave behind that much meat.

Looks very human to me. Could be wrong though.

I didn't take a picture of the kill site, it was about 15 yards away. There was a lot of hair and blood all over inside the wash out where the kill happened. The wolves dragged him out of the bottom and up to the spot where it was laying probably so they could see better. The hind legs are wrapped around the sage brush in front of the head. The leg bones and hips were there and no blood shot like a bullet had broke it down.


I followed the tracks. The deer were running down the hill on a trail. At the bottom they split and the buck went left and the rest went right. The buck went into the wash and that was the end. I know this was a wolf kill. Why would someone skin a deer in the dirt? Where is the blood shot from a bullet? The legs were not broken and like I said no Blood shot from a bullet. I can tell you this was a wolf kill.
The Fish and Game were informed of the kill and are investigating it. Ron

Where was the gut pile? Specifically the rumen?

My guess is that it is a deboned carcass from a hunter (bow or gun) that was dragged down in the wash by a pack of yotes or dogs.

Brent

Guess's are like opinions, and opinions are like a$$holes, everyone has one! I am yet to meet a hunter that would leave the antlers of a buck he shot with the carcas and go off and forget about it. Regardless of the size of the rack. Not everyone is a trophy hunter from iowa!

quote:

Where was the gut pile? Specifically the rumen?

My guess is that it is a deboned carcass from a hunter (bow or gun) that was dragged down in the wash by a pack of yotes or dogs.

Spoken like a true liberal, pro-wolf, flint lock shooting, biased professor!
Next your butt buddy "kamo" "gari" "san", will pipe in! Also daniel boone, the front legs are still on the carcass. Dog or wolf or maybe a cougar! Down in the sagebrush? Cougar!

Okay, cougar. Where's the rumen? Cougar ate it?

quote:

Originally posted by Brent:
Where was the gut pile? Specifically the rumen?

Brent

quote:

I didn't take a picture of the kill site, it was about 15 yards away. There was a lot of hair and blood all over inside the wash out where the kill happened. The wolves dragged him out of the bottom and up to the spot where it was laying.

I'll take a guess... 15 yards away?

The tracks are clearly of a large canine, apparently there are no lion tracks, no report of any human tracks. Lions usually crush and damage the nose. I don't see that type of damage. There surely would be human tracks around as fresh as it is and for the amount of handling that would be required to skin, debone, and pack out the meat. Also no apparent gunshot injuries.

Wolf? I don't know, is it possible to have them in this area. With no sighting I think it is more probable to be large feral dogs.

Fresh kill, fresh wolf tracks (or feral Saint Bernard), clearly chewed ribs and dismemberment, reported tracks of the chase, apparent lack of human tracks. I'm unclear on why anything but a wolf kill should be suspected.

I have investigated hundreds of (cougar) kills where coyotes are super thick. Obviously by the tracks its hard to argue wolves werent around but if this were a cougar or wolf kill I would bet my life they would have torn the head off first and ran off with it to crush the skull and consume the fresh brains. Rarely is a head left behind unless they came across a dead carcass and have no desire to eat brains they didn't kill themselves.

If anything, this was a wounded or dead deer that wolves came across and moved on.....

Just my $.02...........


IV

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
At least they ate the buck. I don't like to see uneaten carcasses where it is clear they just killed it to kill.

Hunters do this all the time and nobody seems to care. Every year, you can drive down the county roads and see where someone shot their buck, cut is's horns, backstraps and hind quarters off and left the front shoulders. Also, each year, more and more people shoot their animals and donate them because they don't want to deal with the meat. All they (many, not all) want is to kill something. Of all the predators out there, humans have got to be the most wasteful. I don't really have a problem with the concept of donating meat, but I think it's funny when people get bent out of shape because a lion, coyote, wolf, etc does not eat every scrap of meat from a kill, when we humans do it all the time.

Hey Idaho Ron, where abouts did this happen? Really just curious. I had seen dark gray/black one on the north side of Danskin lookout (Unit 39) last week. He was moving pretty quick. I also came across fresh tracks in Unit 44 last weekend. Also, this year during the Sept archery elk hunt in Unit 43. I have been hunting in Idaho since '93, and this year was first year that I have seen a wolf, and tracks down south (Units 39/43/44).

It was in the Hunter cr drainage. Ron

quote:

Originally posted by Tundragriz:
Wolf? I don't know, is it possible to have them in this area.

I've read that the Yellowstone wolves have been sighted in Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon, Southern WY and Northern CO. I'm sure there are other states and remember one wolf hit by a car in South Dakota also.

Anyone know what the Northern Yellowstone Elk herd numbers are at this fall? Will it reach 3,000?

I spotted one stalking Elvis in a 7-11 the other day. It was obviously from Yellowstone because it had YNP spray painted on both sides. -TONY

Really, was it Elvis? Wow!

Alan

quote:

Originally posted by Outdoor Writer:
I spotted one stalking Elvis in a 7-11 the other day. -TONY

I'll bet you see UFO's too!!!

From: Gray Wolf Recovery Coordinator, Helena, MT 11/2/2007
Subject: Status of Gray Wolf Recovery, Week of 10/29/07 to11/2/07
Holyan has been coordinating with members of the Alberta Sustainable Resource Development division, a governmental body, concerning the GPS collared wolf that emigrated from Alberta, passed through Montana, and has been most recently in Idaho (near Tensed).

Kude56

I was interested about your comment that you have not met anyone who leaves the horns. I have left raghorn racks in the woods on 3 occassions and maybe 6 deer racks about half muleys and half whitees. I didn't know it was terribly unusual.

You wolf nay sayers are kidding yourselfs, I have seen a bunch of kills here in AK. WHERE THEY EAT FROM ASS FORWARD the inners contain the most protein.

They most likely ate that deer alive very seldom do they kill first they just start eating.

quote:

I was interested about your comment that you have not met anyone who leaves the horns. I have left raghorn racks in the woods on 3 occassions and maybe 6 deer racks about half muleys and half whitees. I didn't know it was terribly unusual.

Just unusual, not terribly. Small racks, elk and deer are worth a few $bucks$! My son sells about 500# of sheds every year. $7 a pound. But every person I know who shoots a buck or bull, regardless of the size keeps the antlers.

quote:

You wolf nay sayers are kidding yourselfs, I have seen a bunch of kills here in AK. WHERE THEY EAT FROM ASS FORWARD the inners contain the most protein.

They most likely ate that deer alive very seldom do they kill first they just start eating.

And with a cat they bury what is left. Elk or deer., I have seen both, partially eaten, the the remains, guts and all burried or partially burried. I have seen cattle(calves), sheep, and deer killed by coyotes, guts and all!