Little Wolf Pokes the Bear

COLORADO WOLF STORIES XVII

Photo by Clint McKnight

Note: This continuing story is a work of informed speculation. It tells the imagined experiences of a family of gray wolves who represent the 10 actual wolves captured in Oregon and released in Colorado in December 2023 as directed by a state voter initiative.

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Green-Eyes emerges from the trees and bounces happily over to her sister who is resting in the sunlight on a patch of packed snow. Greenie has a new toy which she shakes provocatively in Amber’s face. Then she play-bows and immediately jumps back up in a ready-for-action stance.

The item she holds in her mouth is a thick strap of black leather with a small electronic box attached. It is Mother Wolf’s radio tracking collar. Each of the adults was fitted with one of these after their capture and prior to their release last winter.

In the playful young canine’s inquisitive way, she began chewing on the collar earlier this morning. With clever patience on the part of her mother, and a tenacity unusual for Greenie, she stayed at it until the collar came off. Her effort has not only freed Mother Wolf from the mystifying minor annoyance, but produced a new “prize” that is soon to be greatly coveted among her siblings.

Green-Eyes again steps forward and “presents” the collar to her sister, then leaps away as Amber-Eyes takes the bait and jumps up. Greenie races off, Amber runs after her, and the two sisters are now a blur of motion, flying down the hillside and across the little valley that is the family’s winter home.

Nearby, Little Wolf has been gnawing on an old cattle bone that he dug out of the snow. He sees his sisters running and he springs to his feet to join them.

Brother is late to the game, however. As his sisters disappear among the junipers, his participation becomes half-hearted, distracted by the tracks left when a hare passed this way in the early morning hours. Little Wolf turns to follow the footprints which lead him up onto an open ridge above the valley.

Here, in a thick stand of sagebrush, he loses the scent, but now a stronger, much more intriguing one catches his interest.

Little Wolf’s nose twitches as he processes the information, trying to determine just what the scent is, what direction it comes from, and how far away the source might be.

For this young gray wolf, what may seem like empty air is a constant complex tapestry of odors, each one indicating something meaningful about the world around him. His remarkable ability to perceive and identify even the faintest whiffs of information—such as an old bone buried deep in the snow—is one of his species’ ancient secrets of success.

This sensory skill is vital when perceiving danger, but it is equally valuable when revealing opportunity in relation to food. At this moment, the odor indicates both, and so Little Wolf considers his conundrum.

An older, wiser wolf might pass on the situation, but curiosity is a powerful motivation for any young canine, and Little Wolf decides to investigate.

Moving through the trees, he pads along a track of melting snow and mud into an adjoining valley. He crosses another ridge, cautiously slows his pace, and finally sees confirmation of what he smells. A small group of noisy ravens have congregated in the trees. Below them, frozen in the shadowy snowbank of a deep arroyo, he can just see part of the carcass of a winter-killed bull elk. On top of the elk, powerfully clawing away at the ice, is the largest black bear Little Wolf has ever seen.

Bravery does not come instinctively to the yearling. Unlike his fearless big sister Amber-Eyes, or even his lost brother Black Pup, Little Wolf has often backed away from uncertain situations. With experience, however, he has come to find courage when it counts. After a few moments of consideration, Little Wolf approaches carefully, with measured steps, circling around behind the feeding bear, which so far seems oblivious to his presence.

Or maybe the bear simply doesn’t care. Despite emerging early from winter hibernation when the scent of the carcass became irresistible, the big bruin weighs close to 450 pounds, while Little Wolf is scarcely more than 100. This kind of weight difference is no deterrent for wolves seeking to bring down much larger elk, but it would be a different story entirely if those elk had sharp teeth and claws.

Little Wolf has dealt with bears before. Particularly during the fall, when their seasonal feeding frenzy inspired audacious attempts at stealing any kill the family made. Black Bear is a formidable predator, but Little Wolf is faster and more agile. He knows from experience that he can dodge or race away from an aggressive response, and if he can manage to drive the bear off, the frozen elk will be his.

As the bear continues to claw away at the ice-encrusted carcass with single-minded determination, Little Wolf approaches very close now. He rushes forward and bites him on the rear. Black Bear whirls around and lunges, sweeping a powerful paw at his antagonist, but Little Wolf easily jumps out of the way. The bear grunts with annoyance and returns to his feeding. After a moment, Little Wolf sneaks forward again.

Black Bear immediately spins around, roaring and charging with an explosive burst of speed. Little Wolf leaps away, just barely out of reach of the terrible claws. But this charge is no bluff, as the bruin continues racing after the now fleeing wolf, pursuing him across the brushy landscape into the ponderosa woods. Both animals disappear among the trees, and for a moment an unexpected stillness settles over the scene.

This is what the ravens have waited for. They descend in a feathery cloud, settling on the frozen elk and furiously scavenging what they can in the brief time available.

But that window closes quickly. Black Bear comes running back to the carcass, this time with Little Wolf in pursuit. The bear turns and again swipes at his tormentor with a swing that would crush the canine’s skull, but the agile wolf dances away yet again. Now Black Bear rises up on his back legs, huffing loudly and baring his teeth, roaring in displeasure.

Little Wolf wisely retreats and sits down.

The ravens scatter as the bear turns back to the carcass and resumes feeding in earnest. This pesky gray wolf is a distraction, but nothing the bruin can’t endure after a long, hungry hibernation.

Little Wolf simply watches now as Black Bear eats. He yawns in frustration at the stand-off, and scratches under his chin. He can recall a time when his family returned to a mule deer kill they had made the day before, only to find the remains being scavenged by a big female bear. The wolf pack had a numbers advantage that day. They surrounded the bear and took turns snapping at her from behind, staying just out of reach, and the pack was eventually able to drive her away.

By himself, Little Wolf has little chance to do the same, certainly not with a bear this big. Fighting with another predator over a food source, however, is as much a test of willpower as of strength. It is often simply a matter of who is hungriest. Even by that standard alone, Black Bear wins today.

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Little Wolf is returning to the family’s winter gathering place, following his previous path through the slushy snow.

Suddenly—he hears the sound of pounding feet rapidly approaching on the path behind him. Little Wolf instinctively knows that the angry bear is again on his heels. He prepares to run for his life, but it is not the big bruin coming toward him, it’s his sister Amber. She has the leather tracking collar in her mouth. She is running hard with a look of sheer delight in her eye, with the equally joyful Greenie chasing her closely behind.

Little Wolf barely steps aside in time to avoid a collision and let them race past. He hesitates for only a moment, a smile comes to his face, then he flies off after his sisters, across the cold snow, in hot pursuit of the latest coveted prize.