We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Blogging....

I was all set to write about our wonderful experience with the Gunflint Green Up activities, but that will have to wait a bit for some breaking news. Today, as some guests from Spruce cabin were checking out, they told me that they had just seen a wolf feeding on a deer, right out back of the workshop. I was so surprised--I'd been out just a couple of hours earlier to feed the donkeys, and hadn't seen anything then. They said, no, it had just happened, and that the wolf ran off when they came along. They added that the wolf had run just a short ways towards our back woods. As soon as they checked out, I went outside with them to scope it out, and to see if there was a good spot for me to camp out temporarily in order to try and get some photos. Luckily, the old Ford was parked about fifteen feet from the deer, with a clear view through the windshield.

I grabbed my camera, and climbed quietly into the truck. Past experience has indicated to me that a wolf will sometimes come back, and by golly, I didn't want to miss it. I fiddled with the camera, found a good spot for it on the dashboard, and then waited. And waited. I thought about all those excellent wildlife photographers out there, and had a hint of what it must be like for them much of the time. Still, I was going to wait. This was my chance.

About a half hour later, along came the wolf. I was so excited, but was able to get some steady shots, and to not alert the wolf to my presence.

I was hoping that the wolf had some buddies nearby, but they never showed up. This guy was in it alone, and he went for the meal. He started to pull on the hide, and sometimes had mouthfuls of skin and fur. Then he got into the meat of the hind quarter, and gobbled it up so fast I wondered if his mother ever taught him manners. Probably not in his world. He was quite intent on his catch, but he would pause and look around, keeping an ever-watchful eye and ear on his surroundings.

For a good hour or so, I alternated between watching him and waiting for him to return. He sometimes would grab chunks and haul them off. I don't know if he was eating elsewhere, or stashing food for when the moon is high. The crows were flying by some, but they didn't land. After they left the area, I heard and saw ravens. I thought for sure that they would land and get in on the meal, but they didn't either. In the winter, that is often a sure indication to us that something has been killed nearby. Occasionally we even see eagles land on deer carcasses. No eagles today, but this was an area that might not be so visible from the sky. When the deer first went down, it was right by the garden behind the workshop. The wolf dragged it a few yards down the hill, towards Spruce and White Pine cabins, but I still had a good view from the truck. But then it started to tug it to the other side of the roadway, and my view was blocked by some trees. In a bit of irony, it was the clump of birches that has a sign on it reading No Hunting. Hmm, I guess that doesn't mean wolves.

At that point, I got a little braver and decided to find a new post outside of the truck. While the wolf was in the woods away from the deer, I sneaked over to the stairs of the storage building that we refer to as the laundry building. I waited some more, and though it was windy and cold, the sun felt wonderful on my back. It took some more time, but the wolf rewarded me and came back to get some of his lunch. I got some more pictures. Then I decided that I wanted to get even closer, so I made a plan to get to the back of the laundry building. There is a porch on the back side that is higher up, and I figured that I could get a nice shot from right above the wolf...should he reward me and come back yet again.

So I quietly made my way to the porch, and took up a post at the corner of the railing, with my back against the door of the bunkhouse space. More waiting. This time it was in a dark, shady spot. I got colder and colder, and I tried not to move much, for fear of blowing my chance of seeing him again. This wait seemed like the longest of all. I kept thinking about statues, and stand-offs and staredowns, and how I didn't want to be the first one to give in. By then it was around two in the afternoon, and I had been watching and waiting on this wolf for about three hours. (Thank heavens that I didn't have anything pressing in my schedule today!)

Oh boy, did I get lucky....He did indeed come back in, and not only did I get some great photos, I was able to record a bit of video as well. A couple of cars pulled into the parking lot, and while he noticed them, he would only back off a bit, and then come back in. It was so exciting that I didn't want to stop the camera. But I knew that I needed to get back to the lodge, because I was supposed to be watching the front desk. So finally, I stopped the camera. Then I slapped my palm on the porch railing to indicate my presence. The wolf stopped, backed up a bit, but never looked up at me. He was going to eat some more, but I was so cold, I knew that I needed to go inside anyway, so I made a big production of noisily going down the stairway, and off he ran into the woods. Here is my best photo of the day:

It's a little gory watching something like this, but I felt a sense of privilege, too. It's rare to get an opportunity such as this, and I wanted to do my best with it. I have more photos, and so if you'd like to see some more shots of it, leave me a comment, and I will post some. And you know where I will be looking, first thing in the morning. I need to know the rest of the story.