nmelktrout
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So, considering the usual excitement wolf postings cause around here I thouht I would share some of my family and friend's wolf sightings over the years in NorthWestern, Colorado. Despite the fact that I now live in NM, I was born and raised on a ranch in Routt County, Colorado, the fifth generation of my family to live in the Yampa Valley. I don't know about you guys but it seems to me from my family's experience that wolves have been dipping down into Colorado for quite some time now, in fact, long before the F&G admits to or knows of...and no, I'm not some green-behind the ears, tree and spotted owl hugging hippy. Just curious to see if there are any other stories out there from recent times or year's past. Let's just say the "dog" is out of the bag in Colorado so if you've got some time, here's my stories... I'm locked in my office for the day and got a little bored, sorry.
An individual in my hometown area of Yampa, Colorado photographed the collared female that hit on I-70 running with two males outside of Yampa 3 days before she was hit (over 40 miles N of where she was killed). And, my family and several family friends from the same area watched a pack of 5 dogs on Gore Pass between Kremling and Yampa for an entire summer two years ago. Called the F&G but we were told that they were already "aware" of them...seems one they didn't want anyone "harassing" them.
In fact, in the early and late eighties and again in the early nineties a couple of old ranching familys in our area had a bit of a problem with a certain pack of "dogs" killing calves and yearling stock. I saw these "dogs" a couple of times as a young kid one summer and fall (two of them in fact feeding on a calf carcass and one right before it was buried in garbage pit -and this was well over 20 years ago and no, my family and me sure as hell didn't kill it, but it did eat some poison way back when such things were legal for use on coyotes). Having seen my share of them over the years in Western Alaska, I sure as heck know that they weren't huskies... My uncle who outfitted in the Silver Creak Wilderness actually photographed a dark phase wolf in the Silver Creek Wilderness in the late eighties but was told by a biologist that it was most likely someone's lost dog...funny, considering he watched it and two others put a stalk on a herd of elk during an archery hunt. My grandfather and a few of the old boys (the third generation to live on and work these ranches) weren't surprised and told us it had been going on off-and-on since they could remember. As they explained it, they believed that every 10 or 15 years a pack would move into the neighborhood, coming down from Wyoming, and South through the Zirkel and Silver Creek Wilderness areas, generally spending a season or two in the area before disapearing. Another local rumor was that someone was secretly attempting to reintroduce them into the area but I don't know how much credence I put behind that story.
Anyway, sightings of these "dogs" were pretty much kept quiet by the few families that dealt with them as they were infrequent and in remote areas where the familys didn't want to call attention to themselves. Ironically, it was the fear of having biologists come in and micro-manage a rogue pack of wolves that ultimately kept this wandering group from ever being "discovered," i.e., reporting lost stock to the F&G as wolf kills and dealing with repurcussions of having an official pack of wolves in the area. Besides, the mentality was that it was easier to deal with these dogs and let them pass than it was to bring attention to one's self and operation.
Oh yeah, a couple of seasons ago we dropped a raghorn bull elk on the side of a steep slope in a remote canyon in the North end of the Zirkel Wilderness right at last night one evening. We gutted him, and opened him up to cool for the night. The next morning we came back to bone out and pack the elk out. But, when we got to the kill site there was nothing but a gut pile and bear track. Didn't take us long to see the drag marks, and after cautiously climbing and pulling ourselves a good 75 yards up the steep slope and through the thick scrub oak was our bull; half buried in leaves and dirt. I've seen blackies get into elk carcasses a couple of times, but from my experience they've never moved an entire elk carcass, much less that far or uphill. And, we measured the bear tracks and the back pads were well over 6" wide. That's one heck of a big and determined blackie if you ask me...(and no, I've never seen sasquatch)
If anybody else has got some good ones I'd love to hear them. And please, try to keep the sasquatch and yeti stories to a minimum. -Cody
An individual in my hometown area of Yampa, Colorado photographed the collared female that hit on I-70 running with two males outside of Yampa 3 days before she was hit (over 40 miles N of where she was killed). And, my family and several family friends from the same area watched a pack of 5 dogs on Gore Pass between Kremling and Yampa for an entire summer two years ago. Called the F&G but we were told that they were already "aware" of them...seems one they didn't want anyone "harassing" them.
In fact, in the early and late eighties and again in the early nineties a couple of old ranching familys in our area had a bit of a problem with a certain pack of "dogs" killing calves and yearling stock. I saw these "dogs" a couple of times as a young kid one summer and fall (two of them in fact feeding on a calf carcass and one right before it was buried in garbage pit -and this was well over 20 years ago and no, my family and me sure as hell didn't kill it, but it did eat some poison way back when such things were legal for use on coyotes). Having seen my share of them over the years in Western Alaska, I sure as heck know that they weren't huskies... My uncle who outfitted in the Silver Creak Wilderness actually photographed a dark phase wolf in the Silver Creek Wilderness in the late eighties but was told by a biologist that it was most likely someone's lost dog...funny, considering he watched it and two others put a stalk on a herd of elk during an archery hunt. My grandfather and a few of the old boys (the third generation to live on and work these ranches) weren't surprised and told us it had been going on off-and-on since they could remember. As they explained it, they believed that every 10 or 15 years a pack would move into the neighborhood, coming down from Wyoming, and South through the Zirkel and Silver Creek Wilderness areas, generally spending a season or two in the area before disapearing. Another local rumor was that someone was secretly attempting to reintroduce them into the area but I don't know how much credence I put behind that story.
Anyway, sightings of these "dogs" were pretty much kept quiet by the few families that dealt with them as they were infrequent and in remote areas where the familys didn't want to call attention to themselves. Ironically, it was the fear of having biologists come in and micro-manage a rogue pack of wolves that ultimately kept this wandering group from ever being "discovered," i.e., reporting lost stock to the F&G as wolf kills and dealing with repurcussions of having an official pack of wolves in the area. Besides, the mentality was that it was easier to deal with these dogs and let them pass than it was to bring attention to one's self and operation.
Oh yeah, a couple of seasons ago we dropped a raghorn bull elk on the side of a steep slope in a remote canyon in the North end of the Zirkel Wilderness right at last night one evening. We gutted him, and opened him up to cool for the night. The next morning we came back to bone out and pack the elk out. But, when we got to the kill site there was nothing but a gut pile and bear track. Didn't take us long to see the drag marks, and after cautiously climbing and pulling ourselves a good 75 yards up the steep slope and through the thick scrub oak was our bull; half buried in leaves and dirt. I've seen blackies get into elk carcasses a couple of times, but from my experience they've never moved an entire elk carcass, much less that far or uphill. And, we measured the bear tracks and the back pads were well over 6" wide. That's one heck of a big and determined blackie if you ask me...(and no, I've never seen sasquatch)
If anybody else has got some good ones I'd love to hear them. And please, try to keep the sasquatch and yeti stories to a minimum. -Cody
