Stalked by Wolverines

Very proudly I commenced my first contract job early that Monday morning by putting the scaffolding in place, unwrapping a new paint brush, climbing up the scaffolding and starting to paint. Within an hour I could see I had completed only three boards and I was holding a wrecked paintbrush. I then realized I had made a huge mistake on the bidding of this job.

My motto is "when lost, sit down and think". So I sat down and calculated that by using only a paintbrush to paint these rough cedar boards, at this pace it would take me all summer and six times the amount of paint I had calculated in my contract, and about 30 new paint brushes! I needed to find a solution to get myself out of a bad situation.

Knowing two paint contractors who had the latest painting equipment, I decided to save my first painting contract by trying to make a sub-contract deal with them. I knew they liked hunting and I also knew they had never had the chance to hunt the high country in the mountains, where the caribou are, so I called and met with them the next evening. I offered to take them on a caribou hunt in the high mountains, all expenses paid, by floatplane, if, in return they would paint this large cedar sided building with their spraying equipment. I told them I knew of an extremely well hidden valley high in the mountains where I had hunted caribou for years and that nobody knew about it. So, I promised I would take them into this valley in exchange for a paint job. They knew the building in question and it didn’t take long for them to agree to this deal.

The next deal I had to make was to arrange for the use of a floatplane. My father was a part owner in a floatplane, so I went to his partner and told him of the mistake I had made bidding on the paint job. After some negotiating the partner said that if I would pay for the fuel for the plane, and give him some prime cuts of caribou steaks, he would fly us in. Against my better judgment (going hunting with two inexperienced hunters and being aware of problems that could arise) I finally had a deal in place.

Early one Saturday morning I left with my two painter friends for the mountains east of town, taking with us light camping and hunting gear for a three day caribou hunt. The floatplane rose above the river just as the fog was lifting off the water. We circled slowly over the sleeping city, steadily gaining altitude, and then headed straight for the mountain lake I knew so well.

It was about a one-hour flight from town to this small lake and it was truly picturesque all the way. For the first part of the trip we flew over mostly rivers and creeks, flat land and small ranches, but the last part of this flight was absolutely spectacular. It encompassed rugged mountains, beautiful snow capped glaciers and small, crystal green mountain lakes with icy glacial creeks tumbling into the valleys below.

Rudy's wolverine heads

After this scenic flight, we made a perfect landing at our destination lake, which had no name. The surface of the lake was like glass. The plane slowed down, settled on the pontoons and we slowly taxied to shore. Only a handful of people actually knew about my secret lake and only I knew about the great caribou hunting in the next valley, which was accessible only by foot.

We unloaded our gear from the plane, strapped our packsacks on our backs and started hiking for "our valley" eight miles away. About half a mile from the lake we turned around to see the plane take off slowly, circle the lake, tip the wings and then it was gone, over the mountains. We continued hiking slowly, gaining altitude all the while, following some old game trails towards the top of a very high ridge which separated the two valleys.

By late afternoon, after a good six-hour hike, we came to the top of the ridge and looking back we saw the lake where we had landed that morning. From this ridge, looking ahead of us, we could see the next valley below us in the distance. When I looked down from the top of this ridge I saw a beautiful level area with short scrubby trees, beside a small glacial creek which ran through the middle of the valley to where I usually camped. This was about three miles from where we were standing.

We continued our hike, walking downhill when unexpectedly I thought I saw something move. I looked just below us on a shale slide and I saw a young caribou bull standing there gazing up at us. I pointed him out to my two companions and they fired some shots at the caribou, but because of their inexperience they missed. I decided to give a hand by taking careful aim, allowing for the downhill slope, and dropped the caribou. We went down, inspected it and found it was in perfect condition. I field-dressed the caribou and propped it open to cool the meat, ready for us to pick up the next morning. I also removed two tenderloin strips for supper.

We then continued to my camping spot where we set up camp beside this beautiful mountain creek with crystal clear glacial waters. After we had the tent and sleeping bags prepared for night, I made supper, consisting of barbecued caribou tenderloins between pieces of rye bread - one of my favorite meals.

Next morning I arose early and took one of my companions with me back to the caribou, intending to quarter and hang it in a tree fairly close to camp in preparation for our hike back to the lake the next day. We walked along this small ridge and when we got about 400 yards from the caribou, I noticed something was moving around on top of it. I immediately laid down flat on the ground and focused the scope of my rifle on the caribou. I used my scope for spotting by adjusting it to 9 power from 4 power.

I couldn’t believe what I saw! A large male wolverine was busy urinating on my caribou. It had also eaten a part of the hindquarter. I didn’t want to shoot the wolverine so I fired two shots into the shale beside the caribou but he didn't even move. All he did was to stay on top of the caribou and snarl at us from a distance. I fired a few more shots at the shale slide, over top of him and then finally the wolverine slowly backed away, still snarling, and then loped away from us up to a small ridge above the caribou.

From behind a large boulder he kept looking at us. He then darted to another rock and again would peek out from behind a rock. As we approached the caribou with rifle handy for any trouble, I suddenly noticed the wolverine loping off to another ridge some distance away and again looking at us from behind a mound of dirt.

We arrived at the caribou and it took me a considerable amount of time to cut out the strong urine tainted meat and salvage what was still useable. I decided not to take the caribou back to the camp because the wolverine was still in the area and instead, decided to hang the quarters, which I did in the only tree there, near the creek but some distance from the camp. We then returned to camp and of course told our friend the story of the wolverine.

Never take your food in the tent with you - to do that is asking for trouble. Animals foraging for food can be anything from a bear to even a small mouse. One of the biggest problems of tenting is that if a bear or wolverine decided to get at you and you’re in a tent, in a sleeping bag, you do not have much of a chance to get out. Of course, this is very rare and chances are you could be mugged, raped or killed in a big city before a wild animal would attack you in the woods.

So I stoked up the fire that night, put some wet wood on top of the fire and turned in. I didn’t tell my companions of my concern about the wolverine that had been following us all day.

I have learned from years of sleeping in the woods, to always sleep light, and listen for any different sounds. It was at approximately two o’clock in the morning that I heard the clanging of the pots on my packsack and I knew immediately there was some type of animal on top of our food. I quietly grabbed my rifle and slowly came out of the tent. First thing I did when I came out was to place some dry wood onto the fire and stoke it up. I then looked out toward the packsacks and there, to my surprise, was a large female wolverine on top of our food, tearing it apart. I walked towards her hoping to scare her away, but all she did was to stay right there and snarl at me. I was very worried about the wolverine charging me and 200 feet didn’t give me much room to get my gun up and shoot.

Wolverines certainly did not fear humans. I was worried. A bear is large, rather predictable and easier to hit than a wolverine, if he charges you. A wolverine I had no experience with but I had heard many a story about their ferocious, unpredictable attitude. I had no choice… I lifted up my rifle, aimed and shot the beast, hitting it in the chest. To my surprise she went down, turned around and then she took off. There was only a small amount of moon visible behind the clouds, so I decided to be safe and wait until morning to pursue, rather than go after a wounded wolverine into pitch black surroundings.

I hate an animal being wounded and would never leave one. So I sat beside the fire with my sleeping bag around me, with my rifle on my lap, the remainder of the night and kept the fire going while my two companions tried to sleep, but it wasn’t much of a night. At daybreak I set out to track the wounded wolverine. I found it about a mile away from camp, very much alive and watching me. I had to determine if it could survive my bullet or if I had to put it down. The animal decided for me when it starting hissing and snarling and came at me. I knew it was better to shoot and kill it before it got a hold of me. I didn’t want to leave the animal wounded and I didn’t want it come back to our camp and catch us off guard, so I waited until it got closer and shot it.

At daybreak, we had breakfast, broke up camp and retrieved our caribou from where it was hanging in a tree. We strapped the quarters to our packsacks and started hiking back to the lake in the next valley.

While we were walking up the shale slide out of the valley towards the ridge that separates the two valleys, I was in the rear behind my two companions when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. I saw the male wolverine perched on a rock ready to pounce on the second guy going up the shale slide in front of me! Just as the wolverine sprang into the air I fired my rifle from the waist and managed to shoot him in the chest. He landed on the slide very much alive between my two companions and me. I was worried he would take after my companions… which is exactly what he started to do. My companions were trying to get out of the way but the wolverine was very close. I yelled for them to hit the ground and raised my gun. The wolverine was going crazy, snarling and going for my companions. I had no choice but to shoot. My second shot hit him in the back just before he got to my friends

Wolverine in the wild

The wolverine rolled down the shale slide to the bottom. I walked down, took my rifle and poked it a few times and it appeared to be dead. I saw no movement so I thought he was dead. That thinking was a vital mistake. I walked about twenty feet away to a big rock and sat my rifle down and put my packsack on the rock. I had my back turned to the wolverine and the next thing I heard were snarls and hissing and I turned to see the wolverine coming at me full speed. I dove for my rifle and just before he reached me managed to put a third shot into him, which sent him down. I put one more into him. This time he was down for good. I must admit that this was one time that I was very worried about being killed. I tied the wolverine to my pack caught up to my friends and we all sat down and had a rest and shared the story. We continued our hike and in late afternoon arrived at the lake.

Just five minutes before the floatplane landed to pick us up from this expedition, a group of five moose wandered into view and we managed to shoot a bull right by the lake! We quickly dressed and quartered it, then brought it right to the lakeshore. The pilot helped us load the carcass into the plane before heading back to town. That evening around a fire and some hot rum drinks we talked about our amazing hunt… a very unique story.

Three days after coming out of the bush, the local newspaper wrote a quarter page story about these exploits, complete with photographs.

On subsequent hunts, I would take binoculars and when in the high mountains I would lie down for a hour and "glass" the ridges and mountains and the odd time I have seen a wolverine just lying there watching me. I have never again had one come after me or even seen one that close. Old time trappers have told me that even a grizzly can be scared of a wolverine… they just have no fear of anything. If I had to choose between tackling a bear or a wolverine, not that I would want to tackle either, I would pick the bear.

The wolverine's body is heavyset, the legs are short and thick, and the claws are long and curved. The head and tail are carried low, and the back forms a high arch. The snout is short and pointed, and the head is blunt and rounded; the eyes are set widely apart, and the ears project only a short distance above the head fur. The tail is short and extremely bushy, the individual hairs being up to 20 cm (8 in) in length. The thick body fur is composed of long glossy hairs; it is dark brown except for a lighter stripe running the entire length of each side. The length of the body, excluding the tail, is 65 to 105 cm (26 to 41 in).

Wolverines are nocturnal and do not hibernate. In spite of its seemingly clumsy movements, the wolverine can move swiftly; the animal usually travels alone except during breeding season. The young are born from January through April, usually two to four to a litter. Wolverines will eat bird eggs, berries, and any animal they can kill and, lacking live prey, will eat carrion.

Some wolverine facts:

• Wolverines jaws are strong enough to crush bones.
• If wolverines were the size of a bear, they'd be the strongest animal on Earth.
• Wolverines are capable of bringing down deer or moose.
• A mountain lion will back away if it is challenged for a carcass by a wolverine.
• Wolverines are strong enough to drag an animal carcass three times their own weight for some distance.
• A wolverine's keen nose can smell food under snow. Wolverines have been reported to drive packs of wolves from their kills.
• Wolverines are known among trappers for stealing food while fox or mink get caught.