Wolverine couple in Glacier NP

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hotlum

climber

Oregon

Aug 12, 2012 - 03:29pm PT

Saw one within 66' while cruising timber in the Targhee N.F. outside Afton, WY about 6 weeks ago. There have to be WAY more than what wikipedia states in the northern Rocky Mtns. Encountered a 175+ lbs cougar in the same area last fall.

yeahman

Mountain climber

Montana

Aug 13, 2012 - 02:43pm PT

If you are really into wolverines, you might want to check out "The Wolverine Way" by Doug Chadwick. Based on his time spent studying the creatures in Glacier, the book gives a lot of insights into wolverine behavior (such as how they like to summit Glacier's highest peaks in winter, no big deal, just because they are on their way to the other side.)

http://www.amazon.com/Wolverine-Way-Douglas-Chadwick/dp/0980122740/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344883042&sr=1-1&keywords=the+wolverine+way

Roadie

Trad climber

Bishop, Ca

Aug 13, 2012 - 09:30pm PT

Thank you Chewy! Amazing day for you I'm sure. I lived in northern Wyoming for many years and met many critters who might just kill me out of spite: grizz, moose, lions (mom and two cubs) at dusk with a fresh kill... but I never got that lucky! Cherish those moments. Roadie

matty

Trad climber

under the sea

Aug 13, 2012 - 09:50pm PT

SWEET!!! Bonus that you had your camera.

donini

Trad climber

Ouray, Colorado

Aug 13, 2012 - 09:51pm PT

Saw fresh Wolverine tracks in the Bob Marshall a couple of weeks ago.

Trad climber

Aug 13, 2012 - 10:09pm PT

Awesome encounter.

mike m

Trad climber

black hills

Oct 17, 2012 - 08:12pm PT

I am watching a documentary on Wolverines and they said that a Woverine climbed Mt. Clevland in 90 minutes in January no less. That is 4900ft of vertical. I wish I were a wolverine.

telemon01

Trad climber

Montana

Oct 17, 2012 - 08:39pm PT

I missed this thread the first time around.

Chewy, my family and I were skiing in that same area on the fourth of July, and while on the ridge, we watched a wolverine run across the base of the snowfield. It was an awesome sighting, made our day.

Great photos and video.

GNP- gotta love it.

Hey Mike, I think I have a contender for your 5.8 thread.

hooblie

climber

from out where the anecdotes roam

Oct 18, 2012 - 01:06am PT

the wolverine documentary aired tonight and can be seen online at the nature site here:

http://video.pbs.org/video/1642358743

grover

climber

Northern Mexico

Oct 18, 2012 - 01:31am PT

Nice score indeed!

Have only seen tracks once, in the Valhallas.

Anyone remember the movie 'Red Dawn'?

WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!!!

hossjulia

Social climber

Eastside (of the Tetons)

Oct 18, 2012 - 04:13am PT

Saw one cross the road coming out of Mammoth 2-3 years ago. Unmistakable gait and coloring.

Patrick Sawyer

climber

Originally California now Ireland

Oct 18, 2012 - 07:12am PT

I understand that Michigan is full of Wolverines.

Chewybacca, great pix.

dee ee

Mountain climber

citizen of planet Earth

Oct 18, 2012 - 12:26pm PT

Rad! You are lucky.

Chewybacca

Trad climber

Montana, Whitefish

Topic Author's Reply - Oct 18, 2012 - 05:33pm PT

Thanks for all the fresh comments everyone. It's good to see so many people interested in these awesome creatures.

The Wiki data I posted earlier was wayyy off. After talking with some local biologists a more accurate population estimate would be around 300-400 individuals in the three states and up to 50 in Glacier NP. So much for Wiki-facts.

Here is a recent article about wolverine trapping.

http://www.flatheadnewsgroup.com/hungryhorsenews/outdoors/article_fe339628-1868-11e2-b6ec-001a4bcf887a.html

feynman

Trad climber

chossberta

Oct 19, 2012 - 12:20am PT

This probably doesn't fit in too well with the thread, but I'll pass it along anyway...

Back in the 30's when my grandfather was surviving by working a trapline with some of the last old time mountain men, his partner, Levi, found a wolverine in one of their traps. After putting it out of its misery, the old timer strung it on the back of his pack and started snowshoeing back to the cabin. Apparently the .22 bounced off the animal's skull rather than killing it. It woke up strapped to Levi's relatively empty trapper nelson pack.

Needless to say, it wasn't too happy. The claws quickly ripped through the pack, the jacket, the sweater and most of the ropes holding it on. Levi couldn't reach around to get his gun and was stuck running around in circles with his old 6 foot snow shoes on his feet yipping and hollering. He didn't want to drop the pack because he would have a free wolverine on his hands who would quickly kill him. But he couldn't keep it on his back as it was squirming up trying to get in his face to get the kill.

After a minute, the wolverine was getting pretty conscious, extremely agitated, and increasingly strong. Levi finally managed to throw his pack off and jump on it with his snowshoes before the wolverine had a chance to right itself.. This delayed the animal, but it managed to squirm around and start to quickly rip though Levi's snowshoes, shoes and feet. To get away from the claws he tried lifting his feet, but every time he did the wolverine started to squirm out of the snow.

Being old school, my grandfather watched from a safe distance, laughing at the conundrum. Plus, with all the jumping around, he figured he couldn't do anything without shooting Levi, who had already taken a round in his ankle back in Galipoli. He also mentioned something about revenge for getting treed by a moose for 4h earlier in the season while Levi stood by laughing.

The ending wasn't good for the wolverine. Levi managed to risk an arm and got his rifle out from next to the wolverine. Levi spent the rest of the season with ripped clothes and sole less boots. No money for any other kit. His back and feet healed in a few weeks, although a couple of cuts required some sewing thread.

This was up in the Kishenina in BC / Alberta

Roxy

Trad climber

CA Central Coast

Oct 19, 2012 - 12:33am PT

Beautiful eye kicks!!! Wow, such rad pictures!

...thanks hooblie for that link

Fritz

Trad climber

Choss Creek, ID

Oct 19, 2012 - 12:55am PT

Thank you for the photos and all the stories!

I've never seen a Wolverine or noticed tracks in the Idaho backcountry.

In the early 90's I visited with two U of Idaho reseachers with radio-tracking gear that I encountered along a ridge-road on the southern edge of the Frank Church Wilderness.

They were tracking radio-collared Wolverines in the area.

KabalaArch

Trad climber

Starlite, California

Oct 19, 2012 - 01:11am PT

Amazing, and a very lucky sighting.

You know, back in the '70s my partner slipped me a rumor that there were still a pair hanging out on the backside of Daff Dome. Which, of course, is pretty improbable.

Still, though, to this day I can't seem to rid myself of the notion of this pair living in the col between Daff and Cottage. There was a post not long ago about the "Monster of the Yawn." The OP described an large pod about half way up the 2nd pitch OW, which appeared as a bear den, except the alcove was too small to accommodate a bear.

I'd give it less than a 1% probability. On the other hand, we've seen quite a few Big Cats lurking within less than 1/4 mile from our house, and these sightings are considered to be pretty rare.

During the winter months, one of my nordic tours runs out our front door, and up to the apex of an alluvium which cliffs into an upstream gorge.

And speaking of gorge, right at the alluvium apex lay a fresh kill - a doe. Couldn't have been more than about 20 minutes fresh. Cslled the wife up to witness "life processes." Having done so, we were majorly out of there in just a few. Interrupting a cougar at his kill makes it, generally, not such a grand idea to linger too long.

Once I was leading an old SF buddy up the same draw,under a full moon bright enough to read a Victorian novel under, had we any such reading to catch up on during the short 5 mi R/t.

As we skiied through a minor bottleneck of cliffbands (with some caves), and pointed out some cat tracks in the snow. which were all over the place, usually on the spoor of some

couchmaster

climber

Jul 24, 2016 - 09:26pm PT

Wolverine bump. Sighting in Truckee. Same one they saw in 2008, in fact, the only one in Calif. How rare is that? Snapped a trail cam shot of it. http://www.sierrasun.com/news/22915169-113/rare-wolverine-turns-up-again-near-truckee-same

" The wolverine detected eight years ago (by graduate student Katie Moriarty in the Sagehen Creek Field Station) sent shockwaves through the scientific world, as it was the first such sighting in the state since the early 1920s. Simply put, prior to 2008, the wolverine’s existence in California had not been documented for 82 years, as fur trapping in the early 1900s wiped the species from the state. The 2008 wolverine — nicknamed “Buddy” — migrated to California’s Sierra Nevada from Sawtooth Range in Idaho, Stermer said in a recent interview with the Sierra Sun. "

Chewbacca, great shots man!