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A few decades ago, wolves were re-introduced to Wisconsin. The project was successful and now we have wolves again. Similar wolf re-introduction projects have been implimented in other states
This is something to be aware of when you camp with pets. I never thought much about wolves when camping... until recently.
A few daysago, my dog and I were winter camping in the Nicolet National Forest area which is known to have wolves. In fact, the park ranger who is also a dog lover told me to be careful with my dog in the forest because there had been several wolf sightings recently.
When I set up camp, I saw a large blood stain on the snow with a wolf print (or at least a big canine print) right on top of the blood patch, and of course, wolf/canine prints all around camp. The campsite is a walk-in site that gets very little traffic in winter. I was the only camper on the whole lake and saw no other people there for the several days we camped.
Foolishly, I paid no heed to the warnings and markings of wolves and set up camp anyway. At night, I could hear a group of large animals surrounding our tent - within inches of our tent (my dog sleeps in the tent with me). There were about four or five of the animals around our tent. I could hear them sniffing at our tent with their noses right up against the walls of our tent and scratching at the snow around our tent. My dog woke up and was upset -not barking as usual, but kind of whimpering and whining and making circles inthe tent. I told him to lay down and be quiet and he did exactly what I told him to do - shivering and trembling quietly. I turned on my light and yelled and the animals eventually went away. They didn't run away timidly. I heard them hang around for awhile, then saunter away after I made lots of noise and flashed the light. At that moment, I was really thinking about Hogsnapper's posts about bringing a firearm camping! I put my gloves on,wrapped a scarf around my neck, had my knife ready, and then did my best to scare the animals away with noise and light. I knew that if a pack of wolves attacked us inside the tent, we wouldn't stand a chance.
In the morning when the sun came up, the only prints around the tent were canine and they could have been my own dog's prints, but I didn't see any deer prints or other large mammal prints, so indications were that we were visited by the local wolf pack.
That was unsettling. With a dog, I am more worried about wolves than bears.Wolves and coyotes will agressively fight and kill domestic dogs. I was surprised to find that the most recent data from 2011 had 28 reports of dogs being killed by wolves in Nicolet National Forest in Wisconsin - many of them while they were walking with their owners.
Attached is a photo of the blood patch with the wolf print. The other photois my dog at our winter campsite.
This is something to be aware of when you camp with pets. I never thought much about wolves when camping... until recently.
A few daysago, my dog and I were winter camping in the Nicolet National Forest area which is known to have wolves. In fact, the park ranger who is also a dog lover told me to be careful with my dog in the forest because there had been several wolf sightings recently.
When I set up camp, I saw a large blood stain on the snow with a wolf print (or at least a big canine print) right on top of the blood patch, and of course, wolf/canine prints all around camp. The campsite is a walk-in site that gets very little traffic in winter. I was the only camper on the whole lake and saw no other people there for the several days we camped.
Foolishly, I paid no heed to the warnings and markings of wolves and set up camp anyway. At night, I could hear a group of large animals surrounding our tent - within inches of our tent (my dog sleeps in the tent with me). There were about four or five of the animals around our tent. I could hear them sniffing at our tent with their noses right up against the walls of our tent and scratching at the snow around our tent. My dog woke up and was upset -not barking as usual, but kind of whimpering and whining and making circles inthe tent. I told him to lay down and be quiet and he did exactly what I told him to do - shivering and trembling quietly. I turned on my light and yelled and the animals eventually went away. They didn't run away timidly. I heard them hang around for awhile, then saunter away after I made lots of noise and flashed the light. At that moment, I was really thinking about Hogsnapper's posts about bringing a firearm camping! I put my gloves on,wrapped a scarf around my neck, had my knife ready, and then did my best to scare the animals away with noise and light. I knew that if a pack of wolves attacked us inside the tent, we wouldn't stand a chance.
In the morning when the sun came up, the only prints around the tent were canine and they could have been my own dog's prints, but I didn't see any deer prints or other large mammal prints, so indications were that we were visited by the local wolf pack.
That was unsettling. With a dog, I am more worried about wolves than bears.Wolves and coyotes will agressively fight and kill domestic dogs. I was surprised to find that the most recent data from 2011 had 28 reports of dogs being killed by wolves in Nicolet National Forest in Wisconsin - many of them while they were walking with their owners.
Attached is a photo of the blood patch with the wolf print. The other photois my dog at our winter campsite.
A canvas campateer
. Great story; great lesson to be learned. Very glad you and your companion made it thru the night unharmed. So ... did you leave the site the next day?
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