Wolf in Morinville Area
 

I always hear different stories so I take them with a grain of salt. This year though, three different people have seen a wolf or his tracks. First it was tracks NE of Legal, then a sighting NW of Legal and finally last week I was talking to a fella who used to trap and his house faces a field and patch of bush who swears that he saw a wolf very clearly one night.

Last week I decided to call the Wildlife Specialist at F&W in Barrhead to see if it was plausible. He told me that he had no reports but to him it was entirely possible. There has been a small pack in the Onoway area (confirmed) and there is a pack in the Rochester area and I don't think that's all that far for a wolf to travel from those locations to the Morinville area.

So what say ye.......possible or legend?

Highly possible and most likely. Lots of moose in the area so it's natural for wolves to be there.

BW

Only possible on a "super moon"

I don't doubt for a moment that there are wolves in the Mornville area. I'd like to see you get one in one of your coyote sets


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I know Id sure like to see one in mine , $500 bounty here . We see the odd one out here on the prairie and tracks occasionally but few and far between .

I second that, HunterDave!

We saw one not far from my house about two years ago so I definitely wouldn't be surprised.

We have wolves by Wabamun Lake, they can travel 50 miles in a night with good packed snow conditions. If you have deer and moose in your area you will have wolves.

Dave you know were I live.
I have seen tracks but never a wolf in the body.
The tracks have always been a lone one. Had one travel into a bait site but never got lucky and caught it. It never came back so I would say it was just traveling thru.
So yes it is possible but I have been called out on a wolf sighting only to find it was a big dog as well.
TEH

I know of the pack that moved into the Onoway area a couple of years ago and I actually saw trail cam pictures of them. I doesn't surprise me in the least that there would be wolves in the Wab area. There was a cougar watch for the Onoway area last summer as well. I've lived in Morinville since '96 and this is the first that I've heard of wolves in the area. The darned thing must be lost!

TEH, Although you don't live all that far from me I think that the habitat around you is a little better for wolves than the farmland around Morinville and Legal. I've heard that there were fisher and marten in your area as well. Not sure of the truth behind that.

I caught one Just 10 miles out of Sherwood Park a couple years ago. For sure there are wolves around Sangudo. There are wolves at Pigeon lake. Wolves along the river at Devon. Not hard to believe they wouldn't be there Dave

Dave yes there is fisher around I seen one hit on highway 651 just west Legal with wide open field on either side of the road. Had to turn around and check to make sure I was not seeing things.
As well a few years ago I posted picture of one a caught in a skunk trap that was eating the neighbour's cat food.

Marten I have not seen any sign but I'm sure young ones travel thru. Our trapline is not a great marten line with us catching 4 to 8 a year. It is north and west of Barrhead.

I had a Fisher by cooking late eating my coyote bait. Talked to a local lady who her daughter works for Fish and Wildlife. When I told her about the fisher she said there were 15 total or 15 of them that had monitoring devices on them and can't remember which it was but it gives you an idea of it is totally possible in your area Dave. Fisher love Farmland type habitat I have learned. More rabbits I guess. Marten not so much.

Nube don't forget the porcupines they love them. There was lots of porkies a few years ago around old farm yards. I have noticed that this is not the case anymore in a few places, Fisher?

Interesting observation, TEH! I'll have to keep an eye out for tracks when I'm at the aunt's farm next time.

There are still plenty of porkies around here, just ask any farmer that has to deal with removing quills from their dogs.....lol. Where I'm snaring coyotes I've never seen any sign of marten or fisher but the smaller pockets of bush aren't exactly the best habit for them. I wouldn't have to travel too far north to regularly find both marten and fisher, maybe 50 to 100 kms. Unfortunately, the zones there don't allow for Resident Trappers to trap marten and the season is closed to us. Plenty of wolves up that way and one year I may target them on a Rancher's land who would like to see them thinned out.

Go towards the North Saskatchewan River Dave they will be there I am sure.
I never knew about the Porcupines Thunder. I have heard that before though. I am surprised they can even get at them. I don't have many porcupine on my line but I don't have much for fisher either. Good for 1 or 2 a year it seems.
The oddest thing I have seen on my line was a skunk that died next to the cabin for some reason. Imagine that a skunk out in the middle of some swamp land muskeg hole infested place. Strange

They are around the Onoway country and have been there for some time. I had one follow me through the bush west of Sandy Lake 30 yrs ago while I was tracking a big whitetail, never saw it but they were around. The old predator control guy said he knew that there were wolves in the area and that they never really howled.
Around Morinville the farmers have shot cougar and black bears over the last 10 yrs so the farmland does hold large predators.

RJ

Nube when you see a porcupine skin and nothing else, bone etc gone that in most cases is a fisher. Fisher seem to love eating them and the quills don't react to the fisher like other animals. Just about every fisher we get has quills in it, we don't take that many 4 to 6 a year. All 4 this year had quills. We get most of our fisher on out edge of our line next to the farm land were there is a good rabbit population.

Targeting wolves is fun Dave.
If you are trapping 508 you can put out marten sets on a Resident trappers licence. Not saying you will get any but you can set them out. We have one spot on the line that is not great marten habitat and surrounded by farm land. Never seen a track there just the spot where a live spruce blew down on a 45 degree angle. Yet every couple of years we get one or two young ones and it seems that if you get one another one will be there within 2 weeks.
They must follow each other.

Good luck on the wolves

TEH

Wolves are addicting is an understatement lol Once trapped a little they are dang right fun and hard. It's one of the most satisfying things for me to catch when I walk up to a set with a wolf laying there. Pure rush!! I wish I had better luck with catching decent fured wolves though. They seem to be mangy a lot