Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Wolverines

This may sound silly to those who know, but I have no experience with these animals.. I have several friends that have shot them on trips, but nothing beyond that.. I many Alaska and Canadian articles and books I have read they seemed no more than a big pest.. Very clever, smart, but not as dangers as I see TV making them out to be.. I am sure any animal can be dangerous if cornered, but a couple of these have given the impression they are death waiting to happen.. Mostly I took that to be drama for the show.. But lately another show commented on how deadly they are... This one has been pretty realistic until that point.. So what is the case with these animals..???

My (very) limited experience with them has indicated that they're just a big badger. Tough on traps when caught and very rare to see at random (which I guess isn't too much like a badger). If they're not in a foothold trap or body caught by a snare, they're of no danger to people at all.

Their tracks look like little bear tracks to me, but in deeper snow their tail often leaves drag marks.

I am sure (hope) someone with more experience can give more and better info as I'd like to know more too.

Thanks T, That was kind of my impression but you know how TV is even the best shows...

Pound for pound, the toughest critter out there.
It’s said.

You probably won't see one...unless you have two broken legs and are unarmed in the Wilderness.

That's one of the animals I would really like to see in the wild. My sis saw one while walking her dog in Anchorage.

When we open up our deer camp in Montana we expect to get rid of some critters like pack rats, but did not expect to run into a Wolverine. When we pulled up with the truck it came bursting out from underneath the cabin snarling and off into the breaks. A few days later we were woke up by snarling and a ruckus under the cabin. We stomped on the floor boards to end it, but the ruckus continued, A couple of us went outside with shotguns and headlamps. Ol Luke had enough and shot a couple rounds into the floor with his 44 Mag Ruger Redhawk and out come three Wolverines so fast nobody got a shot off. They left an awful stink that lingered for days.

They are nasty if still alive in a trap but the concept of an unanchored one being a problem is laughable. I would have loved having any of the few I have seen hang around long enough to get a shot at them. Because fur prices are very low they are getting far more common than in the past.

Yeah, retrieving one alive from a leg-hold trap is a rodeo I do not want.

Would love to run a trapline with someone on the chance one was there, though. That would be cool.

Encountered the critters occasionally in Alaska wilderness settings. Oddly enough, the closest two instances were when I woke up in cabins with a wolverine on the roof. First time I wondered what was making all the noise and when I went outside the Wolverine jumped down from the roof and ran away. Second time, I woke up to noise, looked out the window and saw him climb down a makeshift ladder propped up against the cabin. In both instances, the animals hurried right off but didn’t seem particularly disturbed by my presence. Fun memories!

I've caught dozens of them in footholds, bodygrips, snares, and shot a few more. Every year our trapping clients catch a few as well. There's more myths about wolverines than any other animal. They are tough, but not dangerous to people.

Thanks, that is what I figured.. TV drama...

Ok,,,,, in your part of the world, you might have the Fisher-Cats, as they are closely related to the Wolverine, I know they are in Western Montana, and the Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness, had one in my Tent back in the 90's, on the Selway River Elk Hunting,,,,,
Lj

WyoCoyoteHunter;
Good evening to you sir, I trust the first week of December treated you acceptably and this finds you well.

With the understanding that I've never seen a wolverine in the flesh here in our part of BC or anywhere else, a hunting mentor of mine told me the following tale.

In the '30's or '40's north of Ft. St. John where he lived and farmed, he'd killed a caribou and was packing it down a mountain in extremely heavy fog.

Somehow he heard or sensed something coming up on him and as he told it, he more or less shot a wolverine point blank, from the hip with his .30-40 95 Winchester.

He maintained that it must have smelled the blood more than him and that's why it was approaching as it did, as he said he'd never had that happen before or since.

Jake was a Mennonite farmer/hunter not prone to exaggeration generally so I'm going to believe him as he told it, but that's the only wolverine story I have to share.

All the best to you all as we head into winter.

Dwayne

By "breaks" I'm guessing you mean the Missouri River Breaks? Have hunted them a lot over the decades, and haven't seen any wolverine tracks, much less a wolverine, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible.HAVE seen what were definitely wolf tracks, long before they started drifting back into Montana from Canada, and were transplanted in Yellowstone.

Have seen fresh wolverine tracks in the wilderness in and surrounding the Bob Marshall in western Montana, but the only two I've personally seen were in Alaska just north of Iliamna Lake close to 20 years ago, during a spring bear hunt, and one in Canada's Northwest Territories during a caribou hunt a couple years later. Happened to have a wolverine tag on the NWT hunt, and spotted it far enough away (500 yards?) to make a stalk within 200 yards. It was an ancient male with semi-broken teeth that may not have made it through the winter.

I had an old timer in AK tell me if you ever see one kill it because they like to follow people back to camp and then tear the hell out of the camp after you’ve gone out again.

I have no doubt of their strength or tenacity, but have never felt them a threat to humans.

They are rarely seen. Closest I’ve been was about 20 yards near the peak of a mountain. I was sheep hunting in the Alaskan Range (in AK). He was rolling in a snow patch and had no idea we were there. It was one day before season...

We seen a good number on the south side of the Brooks Range. We had killed a sheep and had crossed back over a river. When we looked back down, there was three wolverine on the carcass. I think we seen 3 or 4 other wolverine that trip.

Cool critters!

I've only ever seen one in the wild, here on the Kenai Peninsula, tracks of another in snow going up Crow Creek Trail across from Alyeska ski resort.
We only went as far as the pass, the tracks continued down toward Eagle River.


I had made an attempted interseption of a cow caribou in August. Arriving where I had last seen her, I dropped my backpack for a polk-around, and was tying a bright strip of flagging to it so I could find it again. (learned the hard way! :)) Seeing movement out of the corner of my eye, I turned to look and there was this humungous wolverine standing on his hind legs looking at me from about 40 feet away. So I looked back at him through the 9X binoculars. We had a stare down for maybe 90 seconds before he humped away on his business. I did have my .280 in hand.

What a beautiful animal.

A friend later said the animal wasn't deciding whether he COULD take me, but IF he wanted to take me.

I did have that feeling.

Fishers are neat critters and fairly common in the Selway, but wolverines are there too.
Montana had a limited season up until just a few years ago with a quota of I believe 5, statewide. I know a few trappers that have snared them on the Montana side of the Selway Wilderness. It was quite the deal when you got one.

I know of at least one Wolverine in the Bitterroot Valley in the last couple years that bayed up due to lion hounds tracking a cat, then crossed and started on the fresher wolverine track. That's the kind of trash catch I want...

Only saw one in the wild, from a helicopter in the tundra, maybe 100 miles SE of Bethel. We all commented on how rare it was to see one in that place, on that terrain. We also lamented F&G laws on hunting them from the air, since I probably could've gotten it with my personally carried SKS in my ruck (didn't carry the door M-60's unless training or 9/11 while in AK).

There is a small population of fisher here and they are occasionally trapped. They are not native.

This past spring Riley dragged a black bear away from his bait site and downloaded the pictures on the card before leaving. When they got home they had pictures of a wolverine on their bait while they were less than 200 yards away dealing with the bear.

Love those SKSs...especially older ones.

Mine is a paratrooper carbine with a foldable stock, imported in the early 80's. As a 19 year old GI, it was all I could afford at the time ( I paid $100 for it). AR's and other semis were unafordable for me at the time (mid-nineties).

While hunting Dall Sheep between Delta Junction and Tok AK myself and hunting partner crested a rise and came upon three wolverines in a chute loaded with snow. The chute was 200 yards away at the most, it appeared that the larger one of the three was the mother and her two just slightly smaller cubs. They were acting just like bear cubs, running up the snow chute, flipping over on their backside and sliding/sledding down the chute. We watched them for approximately an hour, while the two smaller ones did the majority of the sliding, the larger one also partook of the festivities. Saying that, she appeared to be the "target" for the two smaller ones, they slid into her several times and then they all went flying pell mell. The only break to this activity was when a coyote came by at the bottom of the chute, the wolverines stopped and watched him, coyote wisely moved on. Wolverines are in the weasel family, simply look at how ferocious they can be when needed. They are also a relative to "Honey Badgers", look them up on you-tube , honey badger don't care/give a shart!

Here in Yukon hunters can take one on their hunting license, no tag required. Even nonresidents. In some areas they are seen quite often. I have called them in with a predator call before. A few years back I called a couple of two year olds into bow range.

watched 2 black and white wolverines take apart a caribou carcass in nunavik, they cracked open the bones and ate the marrow, when they where full
they ran around hiding all the bones they had not crushed and eaten. i would not want to get between them and there meal !!!

No personal experience, but my bet is that they are a lot like covid.
All just exaggerated made up hype.....until one bites you personally in the ass.

In 4 decades of hunting each fall in Alaska I've seen three. Got this one with my recurve a few years ago:

I did not know that. Tell us more.

In early 70's while looking for a dropped sling load on bench land between Hope airport and Wolf Creek along Resurection Trail, we found dozens of porcupine pelts, belly up. Just the pelts, everything else had been eaten. I know Fishers do this, but there were not supposed to be any on the Kenai, or in Alaska, so we figured lynx.

Never did find the gear.

I agree with you, anything is possible.

My people settled outside Winifred Mt after World War II, first hired out on ranches in the Judith River area, then purchased their own spreads near the Missouri Breaks. Never heard them speak of Wolverine sightings, until the 1970s. Big rain storm hit the area in 1973, lightning hit the Methodist Church and it burned down. A neighbor, last name was Peterson, went to check cattle after the storm and he came across a Wolverine scavenging one of the dead cows that drowned in one of the washes. Fish and Wildlife out of Lewiston was called to verify what he saw was a Wolverine. Tracks in the mud confirmed. Since then I can recall some news relayed a few years ago to me that a Wolverine was killed by a car on Hwy 87 between Great Falls and Fort Benton.

I will bore you with one more story. While celebrating success of a hunter on a nice Mule deer in a bar in Winifred the conversation with some locals lead to talking about the Big Horn Sheep now found in the breaks. One guy said there are other critters he had not seen before. He and another guy were fishing on the Missouri and they saw a critter swimming and motored over to it. It looked like a small bear. They kept their distance and followed it to shore and when it got out of the water they realized it was no bear. Surmised it was a Wolverine after looking at pictures on the internet.

Ok I googled fishers in Alaska. Apparently a few down in SE near Juneau. Probably not introduced, according to that piece - Taku drainage, etc.

Wolverine could also have been our porky killer, and to my mind, more likely than lynx in the pelt numbers we saw.

Someone found a good deal and had taken advantage of it, for sure. Expertly!

The wolverine I saw in headwaters of Caribou Creek, and the site of the porky killings a few years before were in the same drainage - Resurection Creek - just a few miles apart.

I saw a fisher on a moose carcass a few years ago. It was in the Wrangells

Wolverines are my favorite critter to catch in a trap.

Interesting. I am pretty familiar with that country, since my paternal grandparents homesteaded near Roy right after WWI, and after selling the homestead my grandmother lived in Lewistown until she passed away in 1960. I also lived in Hobson for four years in the late 1980s, partly due to exploring my "roots." Have hunted quite a bit through that part of the Breaks, including canoe hunts on down to Fred Robinson Bridge. Last time I was up there was last year, and saw one of the biggest mule deer bucks have seen in many years--of course on private ground that couldn't be hunted, not too far south of Winifred.

Wolverine populations (not just individual sightings) have been documented in Montana in the north end of the Little Belts in Judith Basin County, with confirmations in the past five years, and older confirmations a little farther north. There have also been scattered individuals confirmed along the Hiline north of the Missouri River, some pretty recent, but those are generally assumed to have drifted down from Canada.

The only place I've seen wolverine tracks fresh and clear enough to confirm them was in the Scapegoat Wilderness north of Ovando in the mid-80s, during a drop-camp elk hunt, but the population is supposed to be about as high there as any place in the state. Also ran across fresh grizzly tracks on the same path...

The only fisher population ADF&G knows about is on the Kenai...

That is not to say they do not wander...

They catch some by Juneau too.

That is very close to the known headquarters, ...a type of wrench...

No way Kenai penn critters got to SE... without human transport.

Just saying, I know guys that have caught them near Juneau and they had to turn them in because there was no open season on them. Must have came from somewhere, transported by humans I highly doubt.

People are big on moving critters around and have been doing it for many years. The ones local are not protected and the trappers keep them legally.

Straight off F&G website

"In January 1997, a Juneau trapper brought Fish and Game a fisher caught in a trap set for marten, about 20 miles northwest of Juneau in the Eagle River area, the first documented fisher in Alaska. Between 1997 and 2009, three more fishers were trapped in that same area, and another just south of that area on Montana Creek. The fifth was trapped on the north side of the lower Taku River just south of Juneau.

In 2013 an open season was created for fishers, in part to encourage reporting. Between 2013 and 2018, trappers reported catching 18 fishers on the northern Southeast Alaska mainland. In 2017 it became apparent for the first time that fisher were moving south of the Taku River; four of the five fishers sealed in 2017 were caught south of the Taku River. One fisher from 2018 represents the northernmost fisher trapped to date, and was harvested in Berner's Bay."

Hunting NW of Lake Clark several years back a Fisher came into camp while we were some yards away. Climbed over our dome tent passing between the rain fly and actual tent. Left cat like claw marks in the fabric. Also saw one in the headlights somewhere west of Tok.

A few badgers here, but have never heard of them taking on anything. They seem to flee or turn and bury themselves in short order.

Thank you for that. Very different from what I have been told and I will have to check. I have personally seen them from the Kenai...

I’ve only seen one in the wild here in MT, near Lincoln. Timely thread, as I took my deer hide to the tannery here last week. They are always really cool in there and I asked if they had anything neat to look at. The lady pulled out some bear hides that were done and ready to ship, some lynxes, and had a Wolverine hide that was done too. Man that was a cool hide.

BillGoatGruff,

Yeah, they're very interesting hides!

A few years ago I watched a fisher run two big NE coyotes off a deer carcass in Rensselaer County NY. Helluva racket and worse smell (the carcass was frozen). He got past one of the doggies and inside the deer and they couldn't get him out, and just gave up after a half hour or so of growls and hisses and snapping jaws and teeth. This from a critter not that much larger than a jumbo barn cat!

I got lucky and saw a wolverine on an Alaskan bear hunt about 50 miles NE of St Michael in 2005, It was at a distance and near a clear area along a river. I guess they have some in Yellowstone but I would think they stay far from the roads. A buddy in Wisconsin has already filled his Fisher tag this year, cool animals that according to him are on the increase ther.

I saw a wolverine in 2000 about a hundred miles outside of Bethel also in the kilbuks, caribou hunting out of Cinnabar camp. It was the first week of September and one went loping below me about 600 yards out. I gave my rabbit In distress call a try hoping he would come back. He stopped and stood up and looked around. I don’t think he saw me And just kept going. I would have really liked to of made a fur trimming for my parka hood. That was the first one I had seen and after having read stories about them as a kid I thought it was amazing. Like load clear, I was very surprised to see them out in the rolling tundra/low, open mountains like that.

In 2004 IIRC out of the same camp I watched two of them. This was a week before the season opened so had to just watch. In 2005 I saw another one about 30 miles out of Delta Junction. I was sleeping in a bivy sack on the open ground during a sheep hunt. I watched it for quite a while on its back playing with bones kind like a sea otter does with a shell. It did cross my mind once or twice about one getting me in my sleep And latching on my face like a hyena :-)

2007 snowmobiling in Island Park Idaho south of Yellowstone a friend and I followed what looked exactly like wolverine tracks for several miles hoping to catch a glimpse But the terrain was too rough and heavily timbered.

I know logically that Wolverines aren’t a real threat but when I was a kid there was a story in our textbook about one following a trapper. Something about it being like a devil. Pretty neat animals and that video link above shows just how tenacious they can be.

Regarding fishers, I am pretty sure I saw one run across Highway 28 between salmon and north fork in the mid 90s.

I never saw one the interior that wasn't caught in a trap or that had already been peeled out.


I've seen severa out here in Aleutian Hell and even held the light while one of the guys I worked with whacked one with a rifle. We even took three within a 10 day period from the same cubby set and a nasty-ast pollock thrown in the back of the bucket. They tend to cruise the beaches quite a bit, which is where I see them most times.

I think the difference is that thick woods tend to hide a lot things where the beaches and open country of the lower AKPEN and Aleutians tend to reveal more when critters are moving.

Huh! So those porky pelts south of Hope in the late 60's early 70s may have been fisher doings after all! Sure did look like it. We estimated we saw 200-300 porky pelts along that 6 miles or so of bench land, most of it only a few hundred yards wide.. That's only what we saw (we weren't exactly keeping track....we were concentrating on finding our sling load, which had quite a bit of our personal gear in it), and not what was assuredly out there. Something(s) had found a target rich hunting ground over the previous winter.

Wolverines are not just woodland critters. A fair amount are caught in the Arctic, with little in the way of woods. Eskimo parkas (like mine) traditionally have wolverine ruffs because the frost from breath, etc. can be easily brushed off. Warm too. From a documentary I think, it seems wolverines are one of the few animals that can digest bone and get nourishment from it, not just the marrow. Also learned today is that they have a molar that faces inward or upward that helps them rend frozen flesh. That isn't quite clear to me, yet.
.
This thread lead me to do some basic research on wolverines, martin and fishers. I did not know marten of various species or sub-species had such a world-wide distributson, including India. Wolverines are wholearctic, fishers are NA only, both of which I knew.

For the record, I have seen only two live martin in all my years up here - one chasing a squirrel through the tree tops near Caribou Creek on the Kenai's Resurrection Trail, the other at around 10,000 feet in Colorado west of Ft. Collins. It came running along a log and passed within 10 feet of my wife and me.

That squirrel lost....

Assuming I have this straight, the Asian/African/Indonesian? honey badger is in it's own Genus and sub-Genus, but more closely related to the other badgers than to the wolverine, tho they do closely resemble each other. Form follows function, maybe.

I've been lucky enough to see three Wolverines in the wild - the first was on a small island in Prince William Sound, and he swam to shore and was gone. The second was while spring bear hunting on snowmachines, and it took a while to figure out what we were watching through the binos. Saw the third while glassing for bears up high while moose hunting. Should have probably gone after him, but it was a half day hike and I was pretty sure he wouldn't be there when I arrived. They can cover some ground.

I've seen two martens on the hoof - one down in Southeast while deer hunting, and another out the door of the cabin. Had I been quicker with the 22, I would have got the second one, but I'm pretty sure that I caught him in a trap a couple weeks later.

I've seen 3 wolverines in the 25+ years I've lived up here and all within the last 15. We ran across one in the Brooks one year while on a caribou float hunt on the Kurupa River, I was fly fishing for grayling when one came running down the bank on the other side of the river, it jumped in the water as I ran to grab my rifle, he took off like a bat out of hell and I never got a shot off. The others I saw down near Delta while I was sheep hunting and they were too far off to pursue.

We've got fishers back home in Maine and they can be pretty fierce if cornered and have a hell of a scream that'll make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

I saw a wolverine on Lake Nipigon at Ingall point 20 years ago—a buddy of mine got one last winter in a Marten cubby north of Beardmore.
Fishers are not numerous here but i hear about 3 or 4 being trapped every year. I treed several on the south shore of Lake Superior with my bear hounds during training season.
I have never seen one near as big as the one AK375 is holding in that picture.

Never seen a Fischer but had a good bit of fun chasing Wolverine around Montana and Alaska.

Never tease a Wolverine.....

My first caribou hunting trip to Alaska in 2014 I was fortunate to see five wolverines. Four of them were running together, I think a mother a three young, although they were all the same size. The fifth was by himself. Awesome animals.

Clearly, my favorite.

Quite the attitude!

That marten has nice color to him. No reddish or orange I can see. A couple more of those and you'll have the makings for a nice hat.

Go to Wikki to see a wide range of colorations from around the world

I was lucky enough to see two wolverines at close range, as they hunted marmots near the top of Wonder Pass near Mt Assiniboine many years ago. I watched them for a while, and they basically looked at me once and then ignored me as they continued to hunt.

I ran into a badger at close range once, at the head of Brownlee Reservoir in NE Oregon. The badger stood it's ground and made some some "mock" charges at me while growling and showing its teeth. I only had a fishing rod with me and backed off to watch it from a distance. I think if I had gotten really close it might have bitten me but I wasn't about to find out.

I've had garage attic squirrels (somewhat related to badgers and wolverines) charge my pellet gun...to no avail.

bowmanh,

In 1995 I was hunting mule deer in the Missouri Breaks with a couple friends. Was driving along a two-rut dirt road, per usual with telephoto lens camera on the pickup's seat beside me, when a big badger popped up behind a sagebrush maybe 20 yards away. When I stopped the pickup to take a photo the badger started loping off, so I jumped out and ran after it. Was in good shape and a pretty fast runner, even in hunting boots, so jumped out and started chasing the badger, hoping to make it turn and snarl at me.

The ground was mostly open but slightly uphill. I chased that damn badger, at one point getting within 15-20 feet, but it never did stop, just kept running. Eventually I started running out of gas and he started pulling away, so I stopped and watched as he disappeared in the sage.

Apparently badgers differ in attitude, just like humans!

I have been forchanet enough to see a few Wolverine in the wild over the years. I spent many days hunting and trapping the buggers in SW Alaska as well as Montanas Bob Marshall Wildernesss prior to the 2012 trapping ban, that helped a lot.

A couple of the more memorable sightings kinda went like this.

I'd joined up with a packing buddy of mine for a early season ride crisscrossing Montanas Great Bear and Bob Marshall wilderness areas. It's alway nice to be first for the year in that country if you don't mind cutting endless amounts of blow down and pushing your stock over snowed in mountain passes.

We'd picked three destinations, starting from the middle fork of the Flathead river off highway 2 by Glacier Park with the next stop being Holland Lake lodge down in the Swan Valley to re-supply. We'd taken one pack animal each, one being dedicated to our stock loaded with grain and pellets, the other was a meager amount of camp gear and food. After Holland, our plan was to hit the North Fork of the Sun River on the east side of the Continental Divide then back to our stock truck off hwy 2 from there. We had no true route in mind, we just picked our way day by day.

One night, due to lack of planning, we found ourselves running out of daylight with nowhere to camp along the banks of Pendant Creek above Holland Lake, we settled on the middle of the saddle horse trail for the night since it was high country and everything else was still covered in deep snow. Pendant Creek is narrow, shallow and runs fast in early spring, it was loud.



We broke outta there at first light, we didn't want to suffer the embarrassment of being caught camping in the middle of the trail if anyone was to come trudging along and run into us there. Steaks and whiskey would be waiting for us at the lodge, we were motivated, we'd been riding for about a week at this point, our supplies had dwindled and we'd easily make the lodge by dark.

As we rode along Pendant creek we spotted a dead mule deer washed up on the opposite bank, something was moving there and it wasn't the dead deer. We couldn't quite tell exactly what we were seeing so we rode closer, the creek was only about 20ft wide and we were able to get directly across from the deer carcass with the noise our stock made being covered by the noisy fast running creek.
What we were seeing was the back half of a Wolverine that had bored a hole in the deer's gut and was busily feasting away.

We sat silently watching for a good two to three minutes before that sucker sensed something was wrong and pulled his blood soaked head out of the deer and looked our way. Talk about embarrassed, the look on his face was priceless, he hauled azz in a flash. Not often a Wolverine screws up like that....

Another time, I'll try and keep this short so I don't bore you to death with trivial details, even though it's a little late for that...:)

I had some Pine Marten traps set out in SW Alaskas Tikchik mountains, as I was running my trapline one morning I came across the craziest sight.

I'd set a little 1 1/2 victor trap on a leaning tree for Marten, I'd nailed a chunk of Chum to the tree above the trap. As I neared my trap set on my snow machine I could plainly see this Wolverine standing on the leaning tree. I hit the kill switch about 60 yards out and grabbed my beater 22 and took cover behind my machine. Using my seat for a rest I focused in for a long shot through the open sights.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing, he was holding one paw up and shaking it vigorously. Apparently he'd become interested in the salmon I'd used for bait and got his foot snapped in my tiny little trap.

I shot, he fell....

When I approached I found he had a single toe in my trap, I don't think he'd been there more that a minute or two before I arrived or he'd have torn loose.
His is the only hide and skull I ever kept, It was just a once in a lifetime kinda thing.




Then there was the Wolverine that tried to kill me but most of you guys already read about that.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...privileged-in-remote-alaska#Post14471900

yeah, i guess certain times of the year, in the middle of the night, they belt out an indescribable growling scream that sounds human-like...not sure i want to hear it.

did watch a digging badger once, 30 yds from my blind, moved a lot of dirt and sand in a hurry, which explains some of the mounds i've seen over the years

Good story, Jeff.

Forty plus years ago when lived up near Eureka, MT, a local trapper took 27 wolverines off one mountain in the upper Whitefish Range. Fish and Game didn't know that there were that many wolverines in the whole mountain range.

I saw my first wolverine in the early '80s while hunting bighorn sheep in one of the Unlimited tag units near West Yellowstone, MT. My hunting partner and I stopped on a ridge for a lunch break. We had spotted 3 mule deer bucks bedded down on a small knob about 100 yards below us. As we watched the bucks, they all started looking at the hill below them. We looked below and saw a wolverine stalking up toward the bedded deer. Then the smallest buck, a 2x2 stood up and took a couple of steps toward the approaching wolverine. The wolverine then turned and loped away.

The only other wolverine that I've seen was in the late '90s when I was hunting a Dall ram in the Mackenzie Mountains in Canada's Northwest Territory. My guide and I were packing our camp and my ram down to the Super Cub pickup point when we spotted a wolverine working his way up the valley that we were in. I had bought a wolverine tag "just in case." He now has a spot on my trophy room wall.

Not to be messed with. If you leave them alone they will return the favor.

Saw two in Colorado back in 2016 & gave them wide berth.

cool

I noticed they wimped out of playing OSU this week!!!!

That is the only way Harbaugh can get one over on them.
Poor picked on Wolverines.

I spent a lot of time kickin around the upper Whitefish Range myself 40 years ago and still do today.

There was a abundant amount of game in that area in the earlier years.
Before they shut down the over snow winter travel it was a given you'd cut Wolverine tracks while touring around and the Lynx were as plentiful. There were enough Grouse and Snowshoe Hares to support plenty of predators.

To apply a accurate number of the total population would have been a challenge.

Then came the re-introduction of Wolves....

The competition for winter food alone the Wolf added helped clear most smaller predators out.

We took Elk, Deer and Moose out of there too, the best areas were above Red Meadow lake in the higher country. Link lake and the small chain of mountain lakes to the north of it were really strong.

I was back in that area just this past Fall.
The hike into Link Lake produced zero tracks of hooved animals.
The entire drive for 50 some odd miles through forested country it takes to get to Red Meadow Lake and back produced just a couple small deer, you're re more likely to see Bears and Wolves.

The decimation of the Moose population is particularly sad. They were managed well, tags were few but the Moose seemed plentiful prior to the Wolf population explosion.

A friend of mine was lucky enough to be drawn for a tag in that region and we literally went in there and picked out which bull he wanted.

The bull on the left in this photo came from above Red Meadow Lake.


These two mounts are currently for sale due to the recent sell of this home if anyone would be interested, both are very similar in size with the heads being turned left and one right for display as you see them. They were both mounted by Bruce Babcock.

They have been moved to storage in the last two weeks.

The one on the right is a Pope and Young bull scoring 156 0/8 typical that was taken on the upper Middle Fork of the Flathead. At the time of the kill (1981) it was #5 P&Y bull in state. There is less than one inch of deduction, it's a all but perfectly balanced bull.



PM me if you'd be interested in purchasing, the owner is quite hesitant of breaking up the pair.

I've never seen a wolverine but would love to. We have fishers on our lease in Pa - alot of them. I saw 2 this past week. I was within 30 feet of a female hunting. She knew I was there and had zero concern, even when I moved to 20 feet to take pics. She hunted up alongside a big log, jumped off the log, caught a mouse and sat there eating it in front of me. They are way cool animals and very bold.

My nephew videoed one this fall during archery season. It knew he was in a treestand. It came right up to the tree, sat up, looked him over, and started hunting mice. I told him it was sizing him up and trying to decide if he was going to come up the tree and eat my nephew.

My dad and nephews caught 4 last year in trapping season. They tried to let one of them go from a leg hold trap - I wish they would have videoed it...... needless to say they ended up killing it because no way was it going to get released alive. If Wolverines are like a giant fisher, I'd pay money to watch someone release one from a leg hold trap.

I had one run across the road in front of me once on a winter caribou hunt. Season was open and I grabbed my rifle and bailed out. Gone like a ghost into the puckerbrush, never glimpsed him again.

Had a buddy who killed one with his 44 revolver one time. He was sitting in a lawn chair nursing the effects of the night before’s celebration after killing a moose. Wolverine sauntered right up into camp and he snatched his pistol out of the holster hanging on the back of the chair and let him have it. Talk about luck.

JeffA, Nice looking room there and a couple of fine Moose.
Forty some years agoI had Bruce Babcock do my first mounts of Elk, Caribou, and Moose.

The true trophy there is one man being drawn twice in NW Montana and successfully taking two decent bulls.

Most apply for a lifetime and never get one tag.

Bruce was an amazing taxidermist, due to the quality of his work and continued cleaning and grooming these two mounts show no age.

I watched a wolverine run a young grizzly off a dead winter kill caribou on an open mountain side years ago. It was quite a sight.

I've probably seen 10-12 Wolverines over the years, they always amaze me and are the highlight over whatever trip I happen to be on at the time. One year sheep hunting solo, sleeping in a bivy sack, had a gulo walk up to about 10 feet from my legs in the dark. He ran off after I sent a "warning" shot over his head.

Another time, while guiding a sheep hunter, watched a wolf chasing a wolverine for about a mile. Every once in a while that wolverine would turn around and the two would have a Mexican standoff. Then the gulo would continue on with the wolf in hot pursuit.

Watched a wolverine chasing a ram up a mountain one time, and this year while guiding a sheep hunter, was able to video a wolverine lope along about 100 yards below our glassing perch.

They are cool animals, every interaction I've ever had with them is quite the treat.

Here’s one my buddy out in the chilcotin trapped, look close you’ll see where the snare from the year before got him, and his teeth ground down from chewin the cable... never seen one, but one of my favorite critters by far... very cool critters

sawmill club
chops diner wrightsboro nc menu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UfQuyQWhZ0

Ed Bilderback was the guide in the Fred Bear Alaska brown bear hunts posted earlier and this popped up. Would have been at least ten years before Fred's hunts.

I was fortunate enough to see several wolverines, at least one fisher and many marten when living in BC. On the Olympic Peninsula of WA State, authorities have released fisher live trapped in BC. We saw their tracks a lot several years ago but rarely now, so they have either dispersed widely or died off.

My first wolverine was in the Monashee Range. I drove over a rise to see a wolverine doing his humping run down the road ahead of me. I punched the Bronco and as I caught up with the wolverine, he angled to the edge of the road toward a pile of logs. I was sliding a bit in the gravel to stop, with the wolverine 3 feet from my driver side door, when he turned on me. He looked up into my face and was all teeth and tonsils, obviously snarling but I could not hear him with the vehicle noise and window up. Wish I could have heard that. He went into the logs and I never saw him again.

Wife and I saw a wolverine in the Silver Star ski resort parking lot one evening about 9 pm, 30 feet in front of our vehicle. Bright moonlight on snow, street lights and my headlights. He scrambled up a slope toward a cluster of cabins.

In northern BC hunting sheep we saw a wolverine just before dark 75 yards from us. We camped within 100 yards of where we had seen him. As we fell asleep we heard an animal shuffling in the gravelly soil outside the tent and snuffing his nose. We had grizzly on the brain but it turned out to be a wolverine. He took off before we got outside, too dark to see much but next morning his tracks showed within inches of the outside of our shelter.

Hunting lost cows early one winter, a friend and I came on where a wolverine had killed and eaten much of a mule deer button buck. The ten inch deep snow was churned and bloody over a 15x40 foot rectangle, with the little deer lying on his back at one edge of the carnage. With the deer on its back the wolverine had eaten much of the deer's body, straight down: sternum, ribs, internal organs and entrails, front legs and hams eaten from the inside out, though bones to the skin in places. The ribs were gnawed down to the spine. The tenderloins were untouched as was the outer strap. It was super fresh and we considered taking those best cuts, but didn't.

Had a few other encounters and had a wolverine come to a predator call once, but he didn't give me a shot.

I love reading all these stories

I guess there was one in ND a few years ago. It followed the Missouri River and was shot down by killdeer.

my buddy and I got to see one when we were in AK on a guided hunt back in 2004. At the moment we saw it, we didn't know if we could shoot it and our guide was sitting 100 yards away on the other side of the hill glassing. By the time we ran over and asked him if we could shoot it and then got back to where we saw it, it was gone. We went looking for it but never saw it again. Just vanished out in open tundra.

I may as well bump this back up....
I won't even pretend to know much about these things, nor understand their biology but I do know that I have now joined the ranks of those who have trapped one.
I spent an absurd amount of time researching various areas, spending gas money looking for where one was habitually hanging out, checking out GoogleEarth and whatever else I thought would help me find one.

It all paid off today.




The catch circle looked like those I have seen from wolves. That place was TORE UP.


Neat critters, no doubt.

You got a nice one too! Love that model 39! I have the Mountie model

Beauty! They are my favorite critter to trap.

Do they taste good?