Wolf Expedition Day 4 - Collaring a Wolf

There are very few people overall in the Park during winter.  The temperatures here have gotten down to 0 F. The snow is deep and the roads icy. However there is a hardcore group of about 20 people who seem to show up here specifically for wolves. I am seeing the same people over and over each day and getting to know some of them. They have radios and communicate with each other about the wolves' locations.

First there is Rick, who works for the Park Service. Rick is a super serious type with almost a military precision about him, and demands the same precision from others. I have heard him on the radio chastising another person for not being precise enough in reports about the wolves' locations. He is out there every day -- 365 days a year -- following the wolves. I was told he hasn't missed a single day in 15 years.  That's what I call obsessed.

I was shocked to hear a white guy speaking fluent Japanese. This is Steve, an intelligent and likable gentleman. He also works for the Park half the year, and teaches in Japan the other half. He brought a friend from Japan with him and I saw both of them every day. His license plate reads HIGUMA, which means "grizzly bear" in Japanese.

Mike is a dedicated wildlife photographer and at least semi-professional (I believe he said he had sold some photos to National Geographic). He showed me some of his previous wildlife photos and they were good. He also shared some photography tips with me. Mike mentioned he's eagerly awaiting the release of the Canon 5D Mark IV. I enjoyed camera geeking[1] with Mike.

These are a few of the wolf enthusiasts in the Park.

Today we saw both packs again: the Mollies and the Lamars. For the first half of the day we observed a Lamar adult come back to pick up one of the yearling pups that had been left behind before. It was snowing heavily. The poor pup was clearly suffering from the mange; having lost most of its fur, it was painful to contact the snow with its skin and was unable to to even lie down.

The second half of the day we returned to where the Mollies were hanging out. There was a helicopter capture operation going on! They wanted to put radio collars on some of the Molly wolves. First the yellow plane does aerial surveillance to find out where the wolves are. They then relay this information to the helicopter which comes in and capture the target wolf. To minimize the impact on the wolves, they have decided not to use any sort of tranquilizer darts or other drugs.  Instead, the helicopter simply drops a net over the target wolf to restrain it. Then a guy jumps out of the helicopter and attempts to attach the collar to the wolf. Keep in mind the wolf is fully awake, not asleep or sedated in any way. Then he has to wait there with the wolf until the helicopter comes back to pick him up. This job requires a lot of guts!

They also tried to re-collar Twin of the Lamar pack. He already had a collar but it failed immediately afterwards. So they tried to replace the collar, but this operation was unsuccessful, and they called it a day.

Red fox on the hunt

After all the excitement of the collaring operation, I spotted a nice looking Red Fox and got some good photos. He was hunting for small prey -- mice or other small rodents. I could see him listening for the faint sounds of movement under the snow, with his super sensitive ears. I was hoping he would do the characteristic nosedive into the snow, and said so out loud. Within 2 minutes, he did it! And I captured it in my camera. On my way out of the Park I saw a second fox cuddled up into a little ball of fur and napping.

Red fox caught in mid-leap

Sleeping fox

[1] camera geeking is discussing technical specs and details of photographic equipment that would bore normal people