Wolf tracking in Minnesota's wilderness
On snowshoes and in aircraft, they pick up the trail of the celebrated predator as part of a wildlife retreat.
from the April 14, 2008 edition
Page 3 of 3
I make it without a hitch, then fall on my face trying to take off my snowshoes. No wolves but I agree with myself that if we don't see a wild one during the rest of the program I'll settle for just that beautiful walk.
Actually, wolf movements are tracked these days not on foot but by air. Small planes with portable antennae search for wolves that have been captured and fitted with radio collars.
The next morning we set out to do some aerial surveying of our own. We divide into two groups and weigh who's best equipped to be the "copilots" on the four-seat Cessna. It comes down to a test. One person carries a telemetry box and another waves an antennae, trying to find where Jess has hidden two radio collars.
My group waxes the other. We find our collar – and theirs. Our "copilot" gets the first student seat.
At the airport, though, we discover there won't be as much of a chance to use the fancy equipment. An instructor flight before us has already found a pack of wolves gathered around a fresh deer kill. The snow is dark with blood.
Once airborne, our telemetry box quickly picks up the signal from the scene. The pilot descends and begins a tight circle.
He tips the wing downward to reveal the primal tableau we've all seen on film but is now starkly real below us: wolves in the wild, a part of the rhythm of these woods for centuries, certainly way before man began eavesdropping from the sky.
At that night's session, a bit of melancholy seems to set in. We all know we're heading back toward our routines the next day. One of the duffers has already taken an early flight home.
The other duffer and I hope to blunt the transition, or at least prolong it, by taking in another Minnesota ritual – attending a hockey game, in Duluth. It's the first round of the "Frozen Four," the women's NCAA championship. Besides, we find out that Jess will be there.
Maybe she can help us preserve the whole adventure a bit longer.
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