TWIN Track-A-Thon

Eastern Grey Wolf

Although I've been tracking animals for as long as I can remember, it's usually been as a side interest to whatever other outdoor excursion I'm on- hunting, cross country skiing, mountain biking or snowshoeing. Grooming ski trails late at night always offers great opportunities as well and sometimes the hours last a little longer if I'm distracted by minutes old fresh animal sign. If anything, those days now feel like the minor leagues-I knew tracks pretty well, but after completing tracking certification and becoming a Volunteer DNR tracker earlier this year, it's more like I graduated to the big show. Now, I need to be very precise, I need to verify, look for evidence and confirm what I'm seeing in the snow and keep detailed records....yeah, this is a new ball game.

This past weekend TWIN (Timber Wolf Education Network) held their annual “Track-A-Thon” in the central forest region of Wisconsin-the southern end of wolf territory in the state. Headquartering out of the Sandhill Wildlife Area near Babcock, TWIN members meet, were given assignments on tracking areas, discussed recent sign and headed out to spend a day surveying their blocks. TWIN focuses on science-based wolf education and provides outreach through wolf ecology workshops each winter. Most members are also involved with the Wisconsin DNR volunteer carnivore tracking program and results from the Track-A-Thon were forwarded to that effort.

The WDNR runs the most extensive tracking surveys in the country, starting in 1977 for fur bearing animals. Wolf tracking began formally in 1979 and the current volunteer program of conducting wolf and carnivore surveys started in 1995. The intention of the study, in addition to determining numbers and territories of wolves, is also to keep tabs on other medium to large carnivores and determine if rare species like Canada lynx, wolverine or cougar also exist in the state.

Bob Cat

Participants are asked to complete a track training course, attend a wolf ecology class sponsored by the DNR, Timber Wolf Alliance or TWIN, complete a mammal test and conduct a minimum of three surveys submitting their results per guidelines to the DNR.

Being new to the group, I was eager to meet and learn as much as possible during this day long event. Sandhill is about 30 miles east of my usual tracking area, so I decided to start my survey on some unexplored forest roads nearer that side of my block. I'd been tutored on using some high tech gear-an external GPS unit, which blue tooth connects to my ipad loaded with various off-line maps. The DNR tracking surveys follow specific protocol and one needs to carefully record the survey route and milage. I found the technology on the dash of the truck advantageous, and if needed, I could flip through different charts on the ipad, looking at everything from topo maps to satellite imagery. Track locations could be added with waypoints and details typed in on the fly. That said, there is also room for the old school methods. Hand written notes on every track observed were scribbled with pencil in a notebook and old fashioned folding wood rulers did the measuring. I do carry a digital camera as well and police evidence scales (rulers) to grab images of particularly interesting tracks or sign.

The track-a-thon was lucky enough to fall about 36 hours after the last snowfall-prime time to get good tracks. Windy conditions the previous day also helped in aging-aiding trackers in determining how recently animals passed by. If roads hadn't been plowed, then it's a much easier task to spot sign. More traveled routes, require an even slower survey speed. My average pace was under 8 mph for the five and half hours in the field. All larger carnivores are recorded-every coyote, bobcat, fisher and wolf track is noted, located on a map and direction of travel indicated.

Coyotes are ever more present and jumping in and out of the truck to check their prints and document them is quite a task. It's when there is something different about a track, the size, the gait pattern, how the snow is scuffed, that makes tracking exciting and I'm quick to exit the warm cab. Deer prints are pretty easy to spot and dismiss-they wander, have a wide straddle and leave a collar of snow around their steps.

Bob Cat

My first 2 miles seemed to take forever-frequent coyotes criss-crossing the road and plenty of deer sign kept the pace slow. Hitting a forest road with all fresh snow and no other vehicle traffic was divine for surveying. Within another mile, a tell-tale large, consistent and widely spaced imprint suggested a wolf. Excitedly jumping out of the truck, my thoughts were confirmed-perfect 4.5” canid track-an Eastern Grey Wolf. Although we are recording all carnivores, wolves are what we most want to keep tabs on, so this was a great find so early in my survey. Following the trail into the woods off road, there was good reason why “he” was here-whitetails had the whole area tore up feeding on acorns-good habitat for both animals. The wolf continued for some distance, seemingly having places to get to south of my position, so I continued checking roads and dead end flowage trails for more sign.

Another hour passed and I hit the trackers mother-load (well, we do get excited about finding different species!)- A wolf, also traveling south, a large bobcat and just a ¼ mile down the same lane, a Fisher, bounding down the road before veering off to bop from tree to tree. It's interesting that the snow covered roads can be a blank slate for miles and all of a sudden, you collect a bunch of tracks all at once.

Slow miles continued for another hour on pristine drifted roads until spotting a day old track. The wolf had followed a logging road and I back tracked it for a mile to the point it entered from a large marsh. Another fresh track had crossed this, so I had plenty of information to record and GPS. Soon, things became crazy-several sets of tracks crossed the road different directions and I needed to investigate further into the woods to figure out where they came from. One group of three seemed to have found something interesting under a brush pile-the tracks had the ground pounded smooth, but there was no other sign. A bit further, a pair of tracks traversed the lane in an opposite direction and left behind a RLU (raised leg urination)-a good indication this was a alpha animal in the pack. Scribbling notes and drawing arrows on maps, all the sign seemed to point at just a few animals that were going back and forth in a small area. In any regard, it was fun and challenging to decipher all clues left on this short section of road.

Wiley E. Coyote

Sometimes it's a matter of feast or famine. As interesting as that flurry was, the next 2 hours passed with only a couple coyote prints, a ton of deer sign and another bobcat trail to keep me busy. My truck slithered down more narrow rutted paths, but for the most part, the snow was undisturbed for the final two hours.

Volunteer trackers are asked to travel 20-30 miles each outing, so with 26.5 recorded and completing a loop in the state and county forest, I ended the survey. From here it was a long drive back to Sandhill where we would tabulate results and do a post survey debriefing, along with just visiting and finding out what the other participants discovered. Most of the TWIN members have many years experience under their belts and had a good handle on what we'd find. On the wolf tally, some individuals and packs were located where expected, while others seem to have disappeared, fueling discussion within the group for possible causes.

Later in the evening Retired wolf biologist Dick Thiel and Ray Leonard, TWIN chairperson, lead a discussion on the recent re-listing of the eastern grey wolf to the endangered species list. The day was a great opportunity to make connections with other TWIN members, practice the craft of tracking and spend a day outdoors in the winter, always a good thing and something I'll look forward to again.

Snow tracking Rare Animal Species

Dr. Jim Halfpenny

“Never forget the trail, look ever for the track in the snow; it is the priceless, unimpeachable record of the creature’s life and thought, in the oldest writing known on the earth.” Ernest Thompson Seton, Mammal Tracks and Sign

Tracking and reading animal signs and the stories they can tell has always been something I've been interested in. Tracks can easily distract me from my other persuasions like skiing, mountain biking or hiking. But keeping an eye on the ground and not taking for granted the signs animals leave behind is really a part of those sports as well. When word reached me that Dr. Jim Halfpenny, professional tracker, carnivore ecologist and author would be teaching a course in Wisconsin, I jumped at the opportunity to learn more.

Dr. Halfpenny describes himself as a “scientist and educator who specializes in carnivores, cold and tracking.” A love of those predators, especially bear and wolverine, and teaching others how to track and find other rare species is central to his life's work. Canada lynx, wolves, fishers and martin are other animals of special interest and ones we studied in our course. These mammals, along with cold, high altitude and arctic study, have taken him to seven continents-to call him an expert in these fields would be a gross understatement.

The class, offered at Treehaven Outdoor education center between Rhinelander and Tomahawk, was an intense, professional, no nonsense and comprehensive course on the subtitles of tracking and trailing. Participants in the seminar varied in background-some, like myself, desired certification for the Wisconsin Volunteer Wolf tracking program, others were there to refresh their skills and some just to learn more about tracking in general. From the get-go, it was conveyed that this was a professional level curriculum, the same as DNR personnel would be taking in the days following our tenure there.

Jim stressed quality in tracking and that trackers can be judged by the “dynamite test”- “that everything trackers do and practice must be TnT!-testable and teachable.” As Seton describes the trail as the oldest writing on earth, Halfpenny also added tracking as the oldest profession on earth, contrary to some common opinions. The second oldest profession needed to be paid by successful hunters who, of course had to be skilled trackers. These trackers Halfpenny describes as “naturalists and scientists,” who had to become skilled at identifying and following tracks. If they formed the correct hypothesis to test (of an animal to eat) then they were well fed. If not, as Jim would comment to us, “then their genes are not sitting in this room.”

“The ideal attitude of the tracker is that of a detective. One of the reasons I love to read Sherlock Holmes is that he thinks like a tracker. He lets nothing go unexamined. He is constantly observing, sifting through facts and evidence, piecing puzzles together, solving mysteries.” Tom Brown Jr., Nature Observation and Tracking

Halfpenny mirrored this idea as well-that good tracking is like the CSI of the animal world. Tracks, sign and gait, all clues, need to be looked at and collected as quality evidence in order to make a hypothesis. “I-E-R” ...what is Important, collect Evidence and Review. That review may change the hypothesis, and one should be careful not to hold on to one theory too tightly, but be accepting of where the evidence leads you. He presented illustrations of how this progression can work and when conclusions need to be changed. An example might go something like this when a slightly old track is found. “Ahh, 4 toes, kinda rounded shape- must be a cougar!” Fresher snow later clarifies the track showing now 5 toes”-large track, five toes front, 4 hind, claws showing, nope, must be a bear!” Still more evidence indicates a chevron shaped interdigital pad. “No, not a bear,.... large, claws, 5 toes front, 4 toes rear, chevron shaped pad-a wolverine!” Jim used a much more detailed example than this, perhaps based on an actual case study.

Although I've tracked for fun for a long time, the subtle nuances of what to look for when trailing, of what the sign can tell us, was simply amazing in this course. Characteristics of tracks like toe number, claws showing or not, the shape of the interdigital pad, foot posture and gait, all can narrow down tracks into animal groups. We learned how small things like toe spacing or anterior lobe shape can differentiate between similar tracks. Halfpenny spent a good deal of time crawling on hands and knees demonstrating how animals move so we could interpret gait patterns in the snow. This knowledge, in turn, can provide clues as to what the animal is doing. A slight change in gait, where the front feet are in line with travel, can indicate where an animal is looking. Tracks indicating a walk, to trot to gallop, could be a clue that prey has been spotted. Fascinating data for the observant tracker.

Testing us, he positioned cards on the floor indicating front and hind feet, placing them in patterns and asking us to identify such things (in the example of a wolf) as the sex of the animal, it's hierarchy in the pack and time of year. In revealing the interpretations of these clues to us, my eyes were opened to some of these very signs I'd seen in the past, but didn't have the “vocabulary” for. It made me eager to get outside and explore and seek out some of the sentences these animals write in the snow.

In the days since returning from the program, I found myself really “seeing” more when outside. The fatbike trail, illuminated by my bike light, defined a “F4 h4C” track formula-one we learned meant that it was most likely in the dog family. It was rectangular and about 2 fingers wide-most likely a fox. Another, barely visible in the hard pack snow, revealed a “1x3x1” toe position, and “f5(4) H5(4)co print with a chevron pad, three fingers wide. Characteristics of a Fisher. It seemed now that I was aware of these clues, I was observing them everywhere while outdoors. My attention was pulled away from my riding and wanting to focus on the sign below the wheels.

The naming and classification of tracking is also crucial according to Halfpenny. Without a consistent vocabulary, it becomes very confusing and difficult to teach or learn. For instance, the above track formula is quite simple if one understands the language. “F” means front foot and capitalization indicates it's larger than “h,” the hind foot. “5” is the number of visible toes, although “(4)” means sometimes just four are. “co” implies claws often show while “C” stands for claws usually show. “1x3x1” labels the toe pattern having a space between toe 1 and 2 and between 4 and 5. A good indicator of an animal in the Mustelid or weasel family.

My notebook quickly filled it's pages with crude sketches of tracks (they were illustrated in his books, but I need to draw to reinforce them I guess), of gait patterns and average size of different animals strides. Scribbled terms like “transverse gallop", as opposed to “Roto-gallop", “ambles” and “pronks” along with “group” and “intergroup” was the jargon tossed about the room and during our field work to help understand trailing. Scat was looked at closely (in photographs) to just give us another visual sign in identification of species. Size, shape and what it contains can be a powerful tool in collecting hard evidence and confirming a hypothesis.

Outdoors, we had a chance to witness tracks and gaits actually being made. A young Labrador retriever was brought in to produce walking, loping, trotting and galloping patterns.Still being a pup at heart, she had some difficulty staying on task for the class, but did manage some top end speed, which was interesting and impressive to measure. With so much winter outdoor experience, Halfpenny revealed a world I hadn't known of in snow (and I love snow as well!). He taught how to spot the subtleties of a track in snow by the phases and anatomy of a track being made. The “ramp, “ floor,” “head wall” and “collar” of a print in snow can indicate direction of travel and it's age. The effects of long wave and short wave radiation (from the sun or surrounding forest) will change and metamorpihize tracks, enlarging or shrinking them in size. Understanding this process and the snow type is crucial in determining age and proper measurements of its size. Crawling under a nearby spruce, he also clued us in on finding “track traps” -places animals want to be and locations where a successful tracker can find prints.

Our field work also included casting tracks in snow-not the easiest process. A nearby creek bottom at Treehaven was a target rich location for tracks. After demonstrating the process of casting-spraying with snow wax, mixing of plaster, pouring and curing the plaster, we were off. Halfpenny charged us with finding different species, making the cast and meeting back for show and tell. A bobcat had searched the mostly frozen creek for prey and soon we had some clear tracks to cast. I found the process would take more practice for my water to powder ratio was off and my cast crumbly. Others returned with hare tracks, fisher, fox, red squirrel and deer.

Dr. Halfpenny had quite a collection of casts from his years of work, from martin to grizzly bear. Casts of a much better quality than ahhh... ours. I'd brought in a large wolf cast from a few years ago to share with him. On inspection he questioned me on the number of tracks in the cast. Confused, I sheepishly replied “one?” Nope, he pointed out an ever so slight change in the toe shapes, indicating a double register, two prints. My extra large wolf track was actually 2, something Jim said is common when inspecting unusually large tracks.

The weekend wrapped up with a presentation by Nate Libal from the Wisconsin DNR, who assists with the large carnivore program. He gave an overview of the Volunteer wolf tracking program and reviewed much of what we'd learned of tracking during the course. I was anxious to sign up and put to practical use some of the skills I'd learned. Trackers are required to take several 30 mile surveys during the winter in specific zones, record data, not only on wolves, but other carnivores as well and submit results to the DNR. Wisconsin has by far the largest and most extensive tracking program in the country collecting data.

“Snow Tracking Rare Species” with Dr. Halfpenny was everything I'd hoped it would be (and more). Finding and following tracks is one thing, but properly identifying them, reading what the animal is doing (or did) and knowing all the clues a tracker can collect to make a correct hypothesis is what I'd desired to learn and did. Now to put it all into practice!

“Trackers first observe tracks and trails as naturalists and classify what they see. From their observations, trackers formulate hypothesis and as scientists, test their hypothesis. Trackers, as practitioners, use their skills and knowledge in the field for their enjoyment and often to fill their stomachs. As teachers, trackers honestly pass on their knowledge to others.” -Dr. Jim Halfpenny

A Tracking Story

 

Although I seldom hit the woods with just one objective, the blessing to living in Wisconsin is you can appreciate several things at once.  One of my warm weather favorites is mountain biking of course, and when I get the chance and am in the right place, a little tracking as a side dish. 

Recently, while visiting a far eastern county forest, I took the opportunity of a late night rain storm to provide only fresh tracks on an early morning ride.  Normally houndsmen would be out running bear, but none were in the area that I observed.  My knobbie tracks were the only ones on the sandy forest road. Some friends had sadly described a lack of tracks and sign in the area over the course of the past year, but I was hopeful.  Deer, turkey and bear tracks were pretty common, with the former scattered everywhere, but what I was interested in were prints from wolves that had been more common a few years ago.

Distressingly, the local game warden had reported five or six poached wolves over the course of the past 12 months in this area and with the newly created wolf hunting season also in force, the pack that once roamed this particular territory had dwindled.  Nevertheless, a chance to return and ride the fatbike and explore a little may turn up something. 

Forest roads and ATV trails have been in the past good places to track in the summer.  The heavy traffic churns the soil up into long stretches of deep sand, fairly easy to spot imprints in the soft surface.  The recent rain firmed the surface and made pedaling easier at the least.  For miles on end it was clear the whitetails had quickly been out and about after the evening storm.  Some sign was mashed in the now drying road, indicating the animals had been out right after the drops had stopped. Others were like perfectly stamped imprints with dry sand grain edges-animals that maybe passed by an hour or two before I.

Deer leave a sure tale scuffed up print that one can spot far down the road-dainty walkers they are not.  But a few miles later there were different tracks-more pressed in, one deep, the other less so.  Common in the area are coyotes, but their tracks are more oval and the center toes a bit larger than the side ones.  These were wolf tracks, an adult and pup, now 4 or 5 months old.  The adult stayed the course and had trotted nearly straight down the road for a 1/2 mile.  The youngster for the most part did as well, but scattered deer bones in the sand, remnants from a last November carcass dump in the county forest, pulled him (or her) aside, curiosity could not be contained.  Sign read that the partial bleached spine had to be pawed and sniffed around, then a quick scat left as a maker before returning alongside the adult, now a ways down the road. 

As they traveled together the pup eventually walked in line with the older wolf avoiding any other distractions along the way.  I stopped and shot a few photographs, excited that there would be a next generation roaming this area for now.  They ultimately turned off the forest lane into a woods trail and from there my tracking would end.

 It may be just a little thing-following two animal’s paw prints, but for me, they told a story, maybe just a very brief paragraph of how they live, but the sentences in their steps  described their life and survival, something I was happy to read.

The Track

"We reached the old wolf in time to watch the fierce green fire dying in her eyes. . . .There was something new to me in those eyes--- something known only to her and the mountains. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch. I thought that because fewer wolves more deer that no wolves would mean hunter's paradise, but after seeing the green fire dire, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view." -Aldo Leopold 

"Two Toes" Right Front Paw

 "How lonely is the night without the howl of a wolf." -Unknown 


I live to be outdoors.  I can't imagine being further than a few footsteps out my door and stepping into the woods.  I live in the heart of West Central Wisconsin, between the soaring coulees  of the driftless zone and the deep forests of the north.  There has always been a part of me that knows the northwoods is home, maybe from years as a kid spending time with my grandfather there hunting and fishing.  There is another part that knows the steep ridges and valleys of the south west, and when I have a chance to climb those hills, hunt or ski or bike them, I take it.  But I live in the middle and am fortunate to to have an outdoor world when I open the door, where I can clip into my pedals, snap a binding closed, chamber a twenty gauge shell or press a shutter.  Sometimes more than one of those things come together on the same day.

A mile down the road is the 133,000 acre Clark County Forest, and further south are the Jackson County and Black River State Forests.  They all provide habitat for wildthings and those of us who enjoy them.  Being fortunate to live so close, I take advantage of it all.  Despite a less than usual winter, my skis still have found the trail, and fat tires and snowshoes have packed snow.  Since I'm in no great hurry, and that seems to be the case the older I get, I try to take in more.  To notice more.  


I hadn't skied two or three minutes from the trailhead when I cut across two sets of prints-one I recognized immediately.  "Two Toes."  I had named him a few weeks ago while skating down a trail at Levis Mound.  The wolf had entered the trail from the east, and loped along marking trees as it meandered along for a mile or so on the groomed trail.  Something about the track looked distorted as I skied along.  Finally I stopped and took a closer look-yep, the two middle pads a front paw were missing.  "Two Toes" had a name. A smaller set of tracks joined him, a female I'll assume and together they cut across several ski trails heading west.  The new prints, Two Toes and his partner, seemed bolder, having entered the trail just a few hundred yards from the ski chalet.  Again, they seemed content to follow the packed snow, venturing off from time to time to mark or take scent of something unknown to me.  My ski workout now turned into more tracking, and I found that to be just as valuable a use of my time. 

Tracks on West Levis

 In the low light of the afternoon, it was easy to follow the line of tracks ahead-they created a deep shadows pressed into the snow.  Finally, they left the trail and ascended Levis Mound only to return a few clicks down the trail-another chance to follow them.  For a time, I wondered if they were just ahead and might offer me a glimpse-that would have been exciting, for I've only seen one in the wild, last year while grooming these very trails.  They had other ideas and again went off track and headed west.  The skis would take me out and around a few more trails and I eventually did cut the pair's tracks again, along with another lone male who lives in the area.  They headed toward a deer carcass I'd found, but just short of reaching it, something stopped them and they retreated into deeper woods.

Two Toes and Partner- Pine Run

 For some around here, the social carrying capacity of wolves is zero.  There are no shortage of "No Wolves" stickers on the tailgates of pick-ups  parked at the supper club and bar down the road from my home.  There is distain because the wolf is seen as a competitor by some, frustration because wolves will not tolerate other canines and will protect their territories.  I view it as they have a place in our outdoors and as a hunter I am nothing more than a predator as they are, except their life depends on hunting.  Maybe they deserve the harvest more than I?  Like Leopold, I doubt a land with fewer wolves would be a paradise, but rather something less.  I do  know that when I see those tracks, when I know they, and other wild creatures are there, that I am in their domain, it makes my world richer.

Tracks in Tracks

"Their paw prints lead you along trails of discovery and insight.  To look in their eyes forever imprints your heart.  To hear their howl forever marks your soul.  To connect with them, forever bonds your spirits" -Unknown

The Trow Wolf Track

Deer Carcass on Moundbounder

Photography isn't always pretty.  Nature isn't either...some would say.  But it's the way of things and it's the reality of how life works.  One of the things I love about snow, and grooming snow, is in the early morning hours, when the sun brightens the woods, the stories of the dark hours begins to emerge.  It's the same when I see tracks, and I wonder what happened before I stumbled across them and what happened after.  On this morning, some of the story was left on the ski trail.

Within the first mile of grooming, I quickly cut a lone wolf track, which seemed content to just follow the powdered surface of the trail heading west.  The meandering tracks were easy to see-sunk deeply into the base getting wiped out by the ski trail groomer passing over them.  I stopped a few times just to get a closer look.  They soon veered off on an ungroomed trail, so I decided this day was the one to catch up and get it in skiing condition...besides, the tracks pulled me that way.  A short trip and we merged onto the Moundbounder trail, the name implies a lot of hills and it does deliver.  At the top of the first climb, the lone track melted into a mass of packed snow-canine tracks everywhere, like a wolf party zone.  It stopped me in my...err, tracks.  I couldn't believe, or understand why everything was tore up. I could see more tracks cascading off the ridge line above me onto this spot.  Further below, something lay in the trail.  The deer skull and spine, with snapped off ribs, had been dragged, pulled and wrestled with from the top of the ridge to the spot where it rested.  That much of the story was now clear.  I may have even disrupted the tug of war or the feeding frenzy that had taken place.

Drag lines and Rib Patterns

In hind sight, I was probably right.  After completing my first pass, I discovered fresh wolf prints in the newly groomed snow.  They were still here, closeby.  I had moved the carcass off the trail and on my return trip, ravens and a immature bald eagle stood watch in the trees above- a sure sign they were aware the deer's body had been there and the wolfs feeding earlier had not gone unnoticed.

There were several places along the trail where earlier in the day or previous night, the wolves had taken advantage of the packed snow to wrestle, play or frolic, (if wolves do that) evidenced by the hundreds of tracks, "skid" marks and body slams in the snow.  I wondered what this must look like live.  The three (it appeared to be three wolves together at several tracking points) didn't appear to be fighting over scraps of food at those places-there was no blood or bone there, just a free for all as they loped along here and there.  I'd seen this behavior last winter while grooming in fresh snow, seeing the imprint of their bodies and heads in the snow.  They also appear to love snow "baths"-something our golden retriever would do, rolling around in the snow back and forth.

Tracks of Wolf and Sue J.

Fellow skier and trail worker Sue had been skiing the evening before and said she felt like wolves were stalking her.  She cut tracks several times during her ski, and as observed, some of her ski tracks lie on theirs, some the other way around.  I don't think it was stalking in any way, she was just skiing in their house.  On one pass, I stopped again and clammored up the sidehill where they had slid down and quickly found three beds directly on the Hermosa singletrack.  They'd slept here and at some point returned to the carcass below, which Sue had dragged off trail.  Apparently, they preferred it back where it'd been.

Tracks on Corduroy-Second Pass

The hours on the fourwheeler continued on and at several places, where I finished up my second pass, I'd cut new tracks...they were still here, and I'd strain to catch a glimpse of their shadows back in the trees and brush somewhere.  A similar scenario played out last year while grooming-two sets of tracks, then one and finally they went off trail.  I stopped and followed the line up hill, below the Sidewinder trail, and "he" stood there-unmistakable large dark shape, peering down at me.  My first wolf sighting.  The moment passed quickly and he bounded up to the ridgeline and was gone.  Unlike some, I feel wolves have a place in our natural environment, so for me, it was thrill.  Should there be a balance?  sure there does...I am a hunter, but I'll share with a creature who has lived here far longer than I, and maybe belongs here more than I.  At the moment I saw him, and when I see their evidence and know they are here, I feel a bit more alive, that I am a part of something bigger than myself and that's worth witnessing as often as possible.