By Jordan Shearer
TENSTRIKE—A local hunter got a glimpse of something he didn’t necessarily expect wandering through his corner of the woods when he went out to hunt earlier this year.
Scott Anderson was in his deer stand in the Tenstrike area the Sunday of rifle opener when a pack of 11 wolves came wandering in front of him. Although he’d heard wolves howling in the area throughout the years hunting at the location, he’d never actually seen any.
“I saw the first one, thought it was neat, and then they just kept coming,” Anderson said. “I hadn’t seen a single one back there before.”
Anderson captured a short video of the wolves and posted it to YouTube.
Department of Natural Resources Area Wildlife Manager Dave Rave said that while the pack Anderson saw may have been larger than the average, wolves are not uncommon in the area. While they normally travel in packs of five to seven, their packs can include as many as 15 to 20 members.
“They’re almost never in downtown Bemidji, but if you go five miles outside the city, there’s packs of wolves around,” Rave said.
Wolves do not pose a threat to humans. However, Rave said wolves see dogs as other wolves and could attack them if given the opportunity since wolves are territorial. Because of that, he said it’s a good idea to keep hunting dogs within sight when hunting in areas where wolves could be located.
According to Anderson, there were deer passing through the area both before and after the wolf pack made its appearance. Along with Anderson, the pack may have been out on the hunt since deer are one of their food sources.
“We have lots of food in the Bemidji area because there’s lots of deer here,” Rave said. “Wolves are at a pretty good population right now. Typically when deer populations do well, wolf populations do well.”