Hunting dog lost to wolf
MINOCQUA, Wis. — A northern Wisconsin bear hunter recently lost a hunting dog to a wolf attack, according to a report in a Minocqua newspaper.
The Lakeland Times reported this week that the circumstances surrounding a Sept. 19 incident, in which a dog was killed in Price County, are unusual when compared to other wolf attacks, according to dog owner Bill Schmidt of Merrill, Wis.
Schmidt was hunting bear with his son, Daniel, and Don Engel of Minocqua in the Chequamegon National Forest between Minocqua and Phillips.
“The dogs had the bear bayed up on the ground and the wolves came in and attacked the one dog with the bear right there,” Schmidt told the newspaper.
Schmidt’s son was about 100 yards from the dogs and bear when the dogs went quiet. Later, when the group realized the dogs had been attacked, Daniel Schmidt realized the dogs were quiet because they scattered when the wolves arrived.
It was after Schmidt collected his dogs that he realized one of the dogs, Sparky, was missing. He was able to pick up the dog’s collar signal on a tracking box and follow it back to where his son had almost closed on the bear and dogs the first time around.
There he found the dog’s carcass, more than half eaten.
“I had never seen this before,” Schmidt told the Times. “It’s a gruesome sight. In less than an hour, they ate just about the whole dog and then came after the rest.”
Engel has made many appearances at meetings related to Wisconsin’s wolf management plan and is familiar with the USDA Wildlife Services program and staff who respond to wolf damage problems.
Schmidt contacted Engel on the radio, related the incident and then stayed with the carcass so evidence needed by Wildlife Services to verify the kill would not be destroyed.
According to Schmidt, the kill was confirmed by Wildlife Services trapper Ed Zydzik of Phillips.
“This has been kind of a safe area,” Schmidt said. “I don’t know what changed. We try to hunt where there are no wolves, but you tell me where you can go in Wisconsin and not find wolves.”
Schmidt likens the problem to a more human problem.
“If you get killed doing something you like doing, at least you died doing something you love,” Schmidt said. “If you get killed by a drunk driver, that’s a tragedy. To me, wolves are the drunk driver in the bear hunting and farming community.
“I don’t want the (damage) money. I want my dog back. You can’t find dogs like Sparky very easily. You just can’t replace a dog like that.”