I'm heading out finally to get some lynx sets out down in the mountains, winter has been a long time coming. I've got a few marten sets out around home but I've been wanting to go a little harder.

Looks good bushman.

Off topic question, do u drive a pre-99 Chevy ext cab pickup?

357 - Nope but i am a GM guy

I've been involved in all things wolverine for five winter now. Both filming and research. Our filming wrapped up 2 weeks ago and is now in edit for Broadcast this spring. I'm pretty sure we've captured the best footage on wild wolverines ever captured. We have a couple new born kits, two males fighting, inter-species interactions, and tons of solo wolverine footage.

But what make the documentary the most interesting to me is the research findings we reveal. The research is a partnership between the Alberta Trappers Association, University of Alberta, and Alberta Conservation Association. This is our latest ACA update:[b]

"This winter we have 34 trappers participating in the runpole program of which 12 are new to the project.
When you include the five sites that ACA will manage over the winter, we have a grand total of 65 runpoles, 130 trail cameras, 650 SD cards, 1560 lithium batteries and a mountain of dedication and perseverance unravelling the status of Alberta's wolverine population.
We are not only detecting wolverine when using the runpole technique, we are also gathering a stockpile of other furbearer information, so please remember that all photos and hair samples are important.
Data Recap
Over the past four winters, we have identified 59 unique wolverines (13 males,12 females, 34 unknown) on runpoles across the Rocky Mountains and Boreal Forest.
Last winter, 22 trappers and ACA staff operated 59 sites in the Boreal.
Wolverines visited 45 percent of the sites during 2013/14 and 31percent of the sites during 2014/15 in the Boreal. Note: the number and location of sites differed between years.
Last winter, we got 4.6 images of wolverines per trap night, which was similar to lynx (4.2 images/trap night).
Move over wolverine, make room for the fisher! Last winter, we logged fishers spending 20,000+ minutes at runpoles and collected a total of 45,000+ images of them. Fishers visited nearly half of last year's sites.
Lynx also appear to be quite common, visiting 48 percent of sites in 2014/15, which was similar to previous winter (53 percent).
Is the second camera at each site worth the hassle? Yes! We are finding big differences in what the cameras detect depending on species. The second camera has helped detect more wolverine, lynx, and wolves: shy animals that don't always approach runpole. "

Genetic Results

We submitted our DNA samples from winter 2012/13 and 2013/14 to a genetics lab in Montana. The DNA for individual and sex identification was obtained from 39 of the 50 samples tested (78 percent). Twenty-seven unique individuals (13 females and 14 males) were identified from these samples. Haplotypes, a DNA signature, was identified for these samples.

The results indicated that Banff and Grande Cache areas had similar haplotypes, primarily "L", but Grande Cache also has some similarity to the Boreal, having some haplotypes "A" in both areas. In the Boreal, haplotype "C" and "F" were the most common. As Mike Jokinen says, "Maybe we should call Grande Cache the wolverine land bridge of Alberta."

The haplotypes observed in Alberta wolverines have also been documented through other studies in the western U.S. and Canada and really show how connected populations are. For example: in the U.S., the dominant haplotype is "A" from 300+ wolverines tested. However, the wolverines from the Cascade Range in northern Washington and southernmost British Columbia were haplotype "C," The nearest wolverines with haplotype "C" are in the Boreal Forest of Alberta, indicating long-distance movement between these populations. [/b]


The trappers contribution to this project in field days and equipment is over $300,000... so we've made a real contribution. We also have a lot of wolverines radio collared and are getting some interesting data. One of the things that we do is back-track on cluster sites. These are areas where the real time satellite signal shows the wolverines are spending a lot of time at. Of the 70 cluster sites backrapped so far the majority of them show signs of wolverines hunting beavers and hares. Very little ungulate scavenging. Another piece of info is the collar data shows the wolverines returning to sites that they had been hunting beavers at this spring and summer. They cached beaver at these sites and are now returning. Which illustrates how long a beaver carcass will last when buried in the sphagnum moss.



This is an interesting image showing collar data off one male for a three year period.

The yellow dots are from when the wolverine was dispersing from it's parents territory. He travelled all over looking for unclaimed territory. The purple clusters show the past years movements. As you can see he has now established a territory and spends most of his time there. But you can also see he wandered outside of his new territory a few times. Collar data on other young males seems to show that they will return at least once annually to their natal territory. There is some thought that they may be checking on the status of the dominant male ( their father ) and could at some point claim the territory. The females often end up sharing a portion of their mothers territory and have been seen travelling in groups of three generations.

I applaud your efforts and look forward to seeing the documentary.

Very interesting Brian, thanks for keeping us up-dated

Why are the movements oriented east and west?

compass is broke?

Boo - I believe the wolverine movement is mainly influenced by the waterways. I also would think the young males would avoid territories held by other males.

Brian why do you suspect young males would avoid territories held by other males? I know some bios hold this view on grizzly bears as well but I have not found it to be the case....bears are where the food is. Many times I have seen 2 big boars in the same berry patch. One year we killed 3 large adult boars in the same spot over a 3-three period...the regional biologist found it hard to believe. This past Nov. i caught 4 male wolverine in a very small area and there were others present. Just wondering what you have seen to come to that conclusion. They do follow water ways on my trapline as well.

Bushman ... good luck with the lynx !
Miss seeing those great remote camera photos you use to post !

Very interesting stuff for sure!! I've always had a thing for wolverines, even though I've never seen one!

Chicken - Stand by, I'm heading out tomorrow to pick up some cameras I haven't been able to access for last 4 months. Hopefully I can make it.

Yukon - Here's my thoughts on why wolverines are different. Radio collars and remote cameras are sure turning out to be valuable tools for revealing information we had no idea about. I agree with you about grizzly bears and really any Bio who thinks that about bears doesn't know nature. Bears have shown great tolerance for each other as long as the feed supply is greater than the demand. Hence areas like McNeil River.

Wolverines are much more like wolves... where territory is everything. The multiple wolverines you saw together are almost for sure interrelated. In one territory you can have the dominant male, two breeding females, possibly four juveniles that are young of the year, and even some young females from the previous years litter. Plus the odd nervous young male transient looking for new territory.

Wolverines spend a lot of time scent posting and will leave a bait pile about every 2-3 days to freshen up their scent posts. It also looks like dominant males may slip into the neighbouring dominant males territory to check out his competitions scent posts to make sure he's still there. To a wolverine scent posting is a way of life.

Do wolverines have a belly gland like marten to mark their home range or do they use their musk gland.

We've seen two behaviours Boco. One where the wolverine comes up to the tree and makes a quick motion almost like it's humping the tree. It's the belly making contact. The most common shots I have ( and a lot of them) are wolverines scent posting by squatting

So you think they are very territorial? I mean, the males do not "cross the line", type thing?
The studies I have had the opportunity to review shows what appears to be, at best, seasonal "territories", but are loose, at best, and certainly no real boundaries.
That said, (these are Audrey's studies south of me, and the Berners Bay studies, which are right under my nose).

I have seen sign, and captures of what appear to be YOY litter-mates running together well into the winter, but the males, especially older, mature ones, seem hard to pin down. Here, they seem to run Willy-Nilly.
Some will be regulars, visitation-wise, others, well. Hi, Bye. Gone for good.
I'm sure you saw the information on the wolverine, (male), that was captured by ADFG very near my trap line, that was caught in a trap in the Stikine headwaters a year later. I think it was nearly 300 miles, as the crow flys. Probably 2000, as the gulo gallops.

Good stuff Brian. So do they urinate on the scent posts? I know they check out any place wolves are using as pee posts.

AV I met Audrey this fall and she's a real sweety. To say she was impressed with our results is an understatement. Yes I believe almost all the collar work in North America shows dominate male and female stay with an established territory as long as they can maintain it. Juveniles and displaced Alphas will definitely cover the miles though. Yukon- They urinate so much they should have two kidneys. But there is a musk as well. Perhaps the musk is important for breeding purposes while the urine marks territory. I'm off the the line for couple days.

It was good to be back on the trapline but the river wasn't looking so good.




I had to cross some shaky new ice so i put a sheet of plywood down




And got across no problem

I headed up river to set lynx sets and lots of sign. Lots of bunnies too so i think this year might be top of cycle here. funny how Lynx cycle ripples through North America. Only downside was all the overhanging trees. Wet heavy snow at some point.



But after cutting at least a 100 of these I made it up to my cameras. Len you'd be proud of me as i used a machete to cut these.