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The Minnesota DNR estimates that about 3,000 Timber Wolves live in our state so the sighting of one is a rare occasion. I happened to see a wolf run in front of my car on Oak Point Road just a few days ago. You are more apt to see a wolf in the winter because their coloration contrasts with the white snow, plus you can occasionally see them cross the frozen lake.
While on the subject of wolves I have a true story of a deer stand called "Wolf Stand". In my blog of Sunday November 8th I wrote about the legend of the "Three Buck Stand", this story is equally famous. I have neighbors here on Oak Point named Sharon and Anthony that retired from the hectic life in the cities and built a beautiful home up here. She is Native, but he is not. She is one of the five daughters of Frieda Fairbanks who grew up here on Oak Point but never hunted until she got married. They now hunt deer, ducks, geese, and grouse. In the summer they fish and will soon start ice fishing. This is her story about the legend of the "Wolf Stand".
This happened a few years ago. It was opening day. The weather was warm, but not too warm. The first snow of the season occurred about two days prior and had already melted. The leaves were soft to walk on and hardly any noise was made by my falling feet. It was 5:10 am in the morning. It was very dark. My headlamp lit up the trail directly in front of me. My deer stand was about three quarters of a mile into the dark forest. It would take me about 10 to 15 minutes to walk there walking at a fairly even pace-not to fast to get too warm-but not too slow either.
I got there safely-no strange noises along the way to make me jump and make my heart race.
I climbed into my stand and settled in waiting for the light. I arranged my seat cushion, quietly put my headlamp away into my backpack, took out my book for reading later, and leaned back into the tree and promptly fell asleep until a seeping shill woke me. I was dawn-about 6:15 am and I became alert.
By 7:00 am it was very light out. But not a breaking branch could be heard anywhere near me. I heard very distance gunshots almost right away. But not a sound near me, not a chipmunk or a squirrel not a blue jay or a chickadee, and not a grouse. This was strange. Usually as soon as daylight comes, the smaller animals become active and noisy. But I never thought about it at that time that it was very strange.
By 8:00 am I was reading an excellent Alex Cross novel but keeping ears open and my eyes scanning the woods around me about every half a page. By 8:30 am I was wondering why it was so quiet. Where were all the forest animals! A few geese flew over me talking loudly to each other probably arguing about whether to head south now or later, their wings beating a whoosh, whoosh sound as they flew by.
All of a sudden , off to my left about 300 yards through the brush, pine, popple, and oak trees a huge doe cam running toward my woods but angling away from me at a horrific pace! Before I could blink, the biggest wolf I ever saw, I mean big and fat looking, ran between my stand and the doe. The wolf was only about 60 feet from me. And then, the doe and the wolf were gone in a blink of an eye and then came the second wolf flanking the doe on the other side of her running after the both of them. I don't know if they ever got her. Maybe they did. I don't know. I hope they didn't.
Needless to say, 4 years passed before I would walk to and from that stand in the dark! To this day, my husband and I call that stand the "Wolf Stand". And their hunting legends live on.
While on the subject of wolves I have a true story of a deer stand called "Wolf Stand". In my blog of Sunday November 8th I wrote about the legend of the "Three Buck Stand", this story is equally famous. I have neighbors here on Oak Point named Sharon and Anthony that retired from the hectic life in the cities and built a beautiful home up here. She is Native, but he is not. She is one of the five daughters of Frieda Fairbanks who grew up here on Oak Point but never hunted until she got married. They now hunt deer, ducks, geese, and grouse. In the summer they fish and will soon start ice fishing. This is her story about the legend of the "Wolf Stand".
This happened a few years ago. It was opening day. The weather was warm, but not too warm. The first snow of the season occurred about two days prior and had already melted. The leaves were soft to walk on and hardly any noise was made by my falling feet. It was 5:10 am in the morning. It was very dark. My headlamp lit up the trail directly in front of me. My deer stand was about three quarters of a mile into the dark forest. It would take me about 10 to 15 minutes to walk there walking at a fairly even pace-not to fast to get too warm-but not too slow either.
I got there safely-no strange noises along the way to make me jump and make my heart race.
I climbed into my stand and settled in waiting for the light. I arranged my seat cushion, quietly put my headlamp away into my backpack, took out my book for reading later, and leaned back into the tree and promptly fell asleep until a seeping shill woke me. I was dawn-about 6:15 am and I became alert.
By 7:00 am it was very light out. But not a breaking branch could be heard anywhere near me. I heard very distance gunshots almost right away. But not a sound near me, not a chipmunk or a squirrel not a blue jay or a chickadee, and not a grouse. This was strange. Usually as soon as daylight comes, the smaller animals become active and noisy. But I never thought about it at that time that it was very strange.
By 8:00 am I was reading an excellent Alex Cross novel but keeping ears open and my eyes scanning the woods around me about every half a page. By 8:30 am I was wondering why it was so quiet. Where were all the forest animals! A few geese flew over me talking loudly to each other probably arguing about whether to head south now or later, their wings beating a whoosh, whoosh sound as they flew by.
All of a sudden , off to my left about 300 yards through the brush, pine, popple, and oak trees a huge doe cam running toward my woods but angling away from me at a horrific pace! Before I could blink, the biggest wolf I ever saw, I mean big and fat looking, ran between my stand and the doe. The wolf was only about 60 feet from me. And then, the doe and the wolf were gone in a blink of an eye and then came the second wolf flanking the doe on the other side of her running after the both of them. I don't know if they ever got her. Maybe they did. I don't know. I hope they didn't.
Needless to say, 4 years passed before I would walk to and from that stand in the dark! To this day, my husband and I call that stand the "Wolf Stand". And their hunting legends live on.
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