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#15486658 12/04/20
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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..???


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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.



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


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


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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.


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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.


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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.


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


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


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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!

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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.

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


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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,,,,, grin
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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.

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Originally Posted by roundoak
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.


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.




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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!


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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. smile


Last edited by las; 12/04/20.

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Originally Posted by AK375DGR
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,,,,, grin
Lj cool



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...



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