Wolves on Drummond Island

[deacon]

Beware of wolves on Drummond Island. Just returned and wanted to let folks know that a wolf killed one of my beagles wed. on the island. We had 3 dogs running late Tuesday and managed to catch 2 of them at dark. When we were nearly out of the woods we heard a wolf howl not far from the truck. Next morning tracking box indicated she was still way back in so we tried a different road to get closer. Got out of truck and had strong signal, then we heard her running about 200 yds. away. Then she started squelling and I said to my buddy Russ that doesn't sound right. The tracking signal suddenly became much weaker and we didn't here any more barking. This all happened in about 2 min.Turned dogs loose to see if she would come in to them. Found her dead 2 hours later. From what we could tell the wolf had grabbed her across the chest as there was only one set of teeth marks on her chest and into the ribs, the length and width of the teeth marks were much larger than a coyote. Not much bleeding from teeth marks but much blood from mouth. No other marks that we could tell. The wolf had carried her about 300 yds. before dropping her. She had been killed right in front of us.Has any one else had any problems? The dog I lost was my Jazz female. She had just made Little Pack Rabbit Champion.

[LR Patch]

Sorry for your loss. Do wolves kill just for killing? Just tring to figure why they or it left the beagle behind,I figured they would make a meal from the kill.

[TurnLeftBeagles]

Rick,

Sorry to hear about the loss of your Jazz female, she was a nice young dog.

Adam

[Catfish]

That just makes me sick Rick. Jazz was a really nice dog. Sorry to hear about that.

Catfish:

[NorWester]

Sorry for your loss. Do wolves kill just for killing? Just tring to figure why they or it left the beagle behind,I figured they would make a meal from the kill.

In most instances wolves will not tolerate an outside canine intruder thru their territory, whether its dogs, coyotes or even an outsider wolf. In my opinion the big mistake in this instance was leaving the hound out for the nite in wolf country. Gives the wolf or wolves the entire evening to access the intruder and figure out there isnt any direct human involvment.

[merv]

I WONDER IF IT WAS A WOLF FOR SURE. MY BUDDY KILLED A 45 POUND FEMALE COYOTE A COUPLE OF YEARS A GO. SHE WAS SO BIG WE REALLY COULDNT TELL IF IT WAS A WOLF OR A YOTE. WE SHOWED THE PIC TO SOME LOCALS AND THEY VERIFIED THAT IT WAS A YOTE. I HOPE IT WASNT A WOLF. ITS BAD ENOUGH WORRYING ABOUT YOTES LET ALONE WOLVES KILLING YOUR DOGS ON DRUMMOND.

[S.R.Patch]

Our hunt on Drummond found us looking for a lone lost hound 3 evenings, 3 diferent hounds. We always tried to catch-up at least an hour before dark just incase any had become seperated on their own hare. All hounds made it through the night and were picked up the next day at some point, but we learned an important lesson at one loss, "DO NOT TRY TO BRING IN YOUR HOUND, BY USING ANOTHER TO CRY IT IN AT DARK OR AT NIGHT".
We had a male way back in the swamp to the SW running, took a split and had his own game. The tracker told us where he was but as it got to the evening shadows, he went silent, but we still had a signal on the tracker. We would move and he would move, it seemed like we were playing cat and mouse with him. We went back out to the truck and I said, "lets tie his kennel mate out and let her cry him in", so we tied her to a small tree just off the side of the two track, she didn't bark so we pulled the truck down around the corner out of sight and kept quite, in about 2min's she begain to howl and bark, the signal on the tracker got a little stronger, but not much, then it happened, we heard coyotes sound off and they were coming in fast. Mike yelled, " there coming in to kill my bitch!!!", so I tell you, I never drove backwards so fast in my life... ... We got to the bitch and put her in the truck, I said, "this dog is hiding for his life, lets leave him be and come back in the morning to see if he's made it through,... to keep him moving may only get him killed, so we laid out a couple of Mike's shirts, and went back to the cabin till morning.
The next morning, we went back and did the same thing with another bitch of mine, that throws a fit if she thinks your not taking her hunting with you. In the daylight, it worked just as planned, the hound barked and threw her fit, and the signal on the tracker just kept getting stronger. Finally, we heard the howl/bark of a lost hound down where the timber met the swamp, I said, "Mike, there's your hound barking lost looking for you, Well, he took off a run'un given out those La. war whoops of his and he said he met the hound run'un, a com'in hard to him. Well, when he walked out of that woods with that little hound in his arms, he never put him down all the way back to the truck.
All this was on the last day we had to hunt and were suppose to be leaving the morning we ended up finding the hound, so this was hard on the nerves for sure. Mike said, if I hadn't got his hound back, he wasn't coming back up to hunt again, for the swamp and the wind can swallow up hounds like a hungry ghost, I said, "Well, lets just be glad they spit yours back out...
All these hounds went silent at dark, for I think they sensed or smelt the coyotes on the hunt, and took to hiding and laying low for the night, anyway, I've no doubt had they kept running track and barking, they would have been coyote supper...
Steve and Marshall said they had saw a VERY big dog track along the two track road, and I saw two piles of bear scat, so you have to know the danger to hounds and be aware of your surroundings...
Sorry your hound was killed...

[sgc]

Last time running in the U.P. I had a coyotte yipping in the distance & coming in closer as my dog was running a rabbit (solo). I picked up my dog & left as I didn't want to chance it. I really think it was calling in its pack mates or trying to call my dog to it. I've had what I would call 2 really close calls up there. I worry that its just a matter of time before I lose one. The problem is compounded because hare run so far that your dog can be way too far away to get to it when they do come in. I think I was just lucky this time. I've also seen a lot of wolf tracks up there. (Both single tracks & a pack of tracks). It really is a strong concern when you're running up there. They are all over up there & in the case of wolves, there's nothing you can do about them unless you want to face a federal offense.

[Emery]

I don't think that wolves just kill for fun. Had that been a wolf, then gathering from picutres I have seen your dog would have been picked clean with only fur on the head left. The rest would have just been a skeleton.

As for facing the feds, they have to catch me in the act... I will go do jail to save my hound's life.

Emery

[Dave Roop]

For what it's worth:
l had coyotes attack my Beagles 4 times in two years on Beaver Island 2002, and 2003.
l ordered some sleigh bells from Bill Boatman and never had a problem after that, on two of those attacks l had to take the dogs to the vet for stitches, l have heard of approximately eight beagles killed by coyotes on Beaver the last few years, l was ot with my buddy denny Pung, and a coyote killed a good female dog of his, we found her the next A.M., and back in he 80's l lost a young beagle to the coyotes and one of my old dogs Little Bit got attacked that reqire stitches,
Now whether the bells really worked is the big question l ran for two more years on Beaver without an attack.
So, that is my story.

[bill (flint river )]

i can tell u this, there isnt one local up there that will take take a wolf out. i am sorry but this is when the dnr need to go in and trap the wolfs and move them to the center of the up. drummond needs the cash flow from the hounds men to get through the winter.

[briarycreek]

I had friends that lost two dogs on Drummond that was very mysterious.
Both were lost while the pack was running as I understood them to say.
One of the dogs I was familiar with and he didn't stay gone long. They
were running close to Papin's Resort when this happened and it was on
two different days. They hated to loose there hounds and I would and
if this is a growing problem on Drummond it might be a place we might
not want to go back to. I have really enjoyed the hunting up there but
not enough to risk loosing a hound to a pack of wolves or coyotes. I
was told that they weren't that much of a problem up there but it seems
like they might be worse than local think.

[deacon]

Just wanted to let you know that my dog did have a bell on and it was still on when we found her. I have had coyotes get into my dogs and the bites have been in the back end or around the head and ears. Never had a fatal coyote incident thank goodness. If you would have seen the size of the bite marks you would know that no coyote bit her. Also we never did hear any coyotes but we did hear the wolf howl.

[merv]

DEACON WHERE ON THE ISLAND WERE YOU RUNNING?

[deacon]

On the plaines.