Wednesday 26 March 2014

I saw a wolf in the back forty!

Yes, I was staring out at a deer, she stood panting beside the bird feeder. The story unfolded when the wolf appeared. Daisy and I tracked the deer's path yesterday. It was easy to spot the drops of bright red on the snow. The wild turkeys tried, but couldn't obscure the path! Their tracks were everywhere.
It was snowy, and Daisy was a trooper!

The wolf in hot pursuit, skirted the forest, hiding in the trees. Thankfully, he was afraid to come up onto the lawn. 'Lawn', meaning snowy lawn.

He paced back and forth, then disappeared by the time I got the videocam. I was safely on the upper deck!

Down we went, me an' my buddy, to where we spotted him. Daisy and I followed the deer and wolf tracks to the beginning of the bloody tracks (X marks the spot).

They are fascinated with Daisy
The deer was first wounded on the point, then ran around there, up towards the meadow, and skirted the property around the lawn, behind the shed. Then, the deer skirted the backyard into the gully, and back up the hill into the yard. She wisely ran up to the bird feeder where she felt safe. Heckuva run! What I find amazing is that these deer, who can outrun a wolf, are afraid of my wee daisy!


coyote track (there seemed to be two of them!

One big, hungry wolf!
She was huffing and puffing, but the deer
was faster than the wolf!

backyard wolf from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
I looked out into the backyard while waiting for the stove to preheat. There was a doe, panting heavily, staring at the back forty. I looked again, and saw a wolf amble by way at the back. Ran and grabbed the videocam, coats, and boots. Daisy was on the side fence and I quietly called her in. You can see that the wolf had clipped the deer, there was blood on her hind leg, and blood on the ground near the feeder. She took off into the forest with her buddy. I just missed photographing the wolf!

My literate readers: Alfred Lord Tennyson!

Who trusted God was love indeed 

   And love Creation’s final law- 
   Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw 
With ravine, shriek’d against his creed-

14 comments:

Hilary said...

As much as I enjoy seeing the wolves (only once, so far) and understand the needs of nature, I would have hated to see one get one of "my" lovelies. Great capture. I hope her injury heals quickly. I hope the wolf finds an alternate food source. Sigh. I'm too Disneyfied for this. ;)

Jenn Jilks said...

It's true, Hilary! The wolf cleaned up a carcass we had before, but it has been a tough winter. Usually, there is road kill in the ditches, but they'd be so buried in snow.
I know everything has to eat, but, yes, Bambified!

eileeninmd said...

Wow, what a sighting..I hope your kitty is safe..

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

That's so cool!

Olga said...

That was quite the sighting--the cycle of life, but thankfully not in gory detail there on camera.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
wow - I miss a day and as usual Jenn has been busy!!! Loving the unit in Hubby's office, read the book review with interest and adore all the vids. I guess living among nature as closely as you do, accepting her harsher side is part of the deal. But it is nice to know that this one escaped! YAM xx

Powell River Books said...

Life away from the big city is so rewarding. - Margy

Anonymous said...

"Nature red in tooth and claw" ... not always easy, but part of life.

Kay L. Davies said...

Scared me, Jenn.
"Daisy was on the side fence and I quietly called her in. You can see that the wolf had clipped her, there was blood on her hind leg"...very scary, until I realized you meant the deer. I hope the smell of blood doesn't attract the wolf to her again.
Tell Daisy that Auntie Kay says "Hide in the linen closet and don't come out until summer."
Luv, K
PS—Did I tell you we'll be away for 10 days? Fret not, we shall return with new news and new pix.

Christine said...

meanwhile there is a hungry wolf out there....life is not easy, the deer must've been really stressed.

Roan said...

What an amazing encounter. Enjoyed watching the video!

Red said...

You are one of the few people to witness such an event. I'm surprised you have wolves in a settled area. Wolves here are usually in the boonies. There's also a criminal plan to poison wolves here.

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

I've seen lots of coyote's but never a wolf in the wild.

Jenn Jilks said...

I think we only have the one wolf, Red, but we are in the middle of a wetland. We have 16 acres, but the neighbour has 35 - all wild forest. He hunts there, but there is no house. Our neighbour beyond him, has 600 acres, as does Ian Millar on the other side. We are deliciously remote, really.
The wolf has lucked in with deer roadkill, too. I'm sure he picks off the turkeys, too!