That looks like a great area! Nice work.

So out of the 14 120s that I set in the new creek I picked up 9 mink and a martin. Every box that had a catch also had both mink and martin tracks that were made after the catch. Looks like I will be liking this new line. Couple wolverines hanging around the line and the wolves came back but haven't investigated any sets yet. I'll keep trapping mink as long as the carcasses are worth $25 for research purposes. The lynx continue to have zero interest in bait.

Awesome!

Nice pics Ryan. Thanks for sharing.

Seems my new line is overrun with mink! Picked up 7 plus 3 martin again out of 14 traps. Also picked up a fluffy pale lynx. After the short blizzard we had it was sure nice to dig out some frozen catches in the 120s. Going to do a bit of skinning tonight. LOTS of overflow now in the delta, deep too!

The creeks up Husky are like glaciers so much overflow. Two otter now maybe get a second hoodie for King of the creeks?

Couple spots around my camp had water from shore to shore. 550 would've gotten stuck, luckily I bought a new skidoo last summer. I guess we're tied for king of the cricks then musky. Lots of wide open holes too. I seen where a lone wolf was walking on crusty snow then fell through into the water, looks like he got soaked. There's a monster lynx hanging around this one lake, he's a mink eater. There's also a lot of knocked over trees, luckily none fell across my trails.

Ryan he is a mink eater use a skinned out mink for bait I know you need them for research but 1 mink spent might save you three or four eaten plus you will have the lynx to sell. Make sure and cut the glands so the lynx knows he is there but not till you set and deffinatley not in the house

The mink eater ran away when I was pulling up last trip and left a half eaten mink so I used that along with a small piece of rabbit fur for bait. I'll post a picture if I catch him. He sure leaves some massive tracks.

Got one of these coming in the mail for backup to my mtsl which has to be sent to the Gravel agency for repairs. Picked up 3 martin, 2 mink, a lynx, and a fox last trip.

awesome!

A few years back I was out for a ride with my cousin Butterhead to John Martin Creek. We were going to look for rabbits and maybe see some fur to shoot. Things were going good and the weather was nice so we took our time and enjoyed the day. As we pulled up to a good patch of willows I looked back and seen Butters taking his gun out to shoot some ptarmigan, I had no interest in birds that day so I took the opportunity to stop and pour some gas into my machine. Just before I stopped I noticed a quick flash of dark fur in the willows and just figured it was a moose, which were plentiful at the time. I could hear some shots as I emptied the jerry can and kept looking for the moose that I thought I had seen. As I raised my head again I nearly jumped out of my boots as a black wolf slowly walked out of the willow patch. I quickly put the can down, started the 550 and sped off to "position" myself for a shot. As I pulled up almost close enough to shoot I grabbed my gun which was in a case between my left leg and my seat, as I grabbed the gun, my 550 shut off. I could still hear shooting and I started yelling at the top of my lungs "FREDDY, WOLF! WOLF!" I heard his machine start and I knew he heard me well because he started up and pinned it to where I stood, cursing my machine for shutting off for no obvious reason. As Fred was getting closer I just pointed at the tracks and waved my arm for him to keep going after the wolf, which was now just cresting the hill. I continued cursing my machine as I started inspecting for what caused me to lose the wolf, but I was happy that my apprentice was hot on the tracks. The 550 could turn over, but still no life. I figured I would be getting towed home so I started getting things ready starting with putting my gun back in the case. The bottom of the gun case was sitting on the ground and as I lifted it, I seen something that made my heart start racing...the stupid key!! I guessed it fell out when I pulled my gun off! Within a minute I was back in the cha...er.."positioning process" and could see my young cousin right behind the wolf which didn't look right for some reason. I wanted that wolf too but since Freddy was already there I watched and decided if he missed once, the wolf was fair game. He missed an inch or two below the wolf as it ran down hill into a deep creek, I was young with less foresight so I took a chance and followed, finding a way down the steep creek. I pulled up and shot the big black with my 223 and waited for Butterhead to make his way down to me. Once he got there we looked the wolf over and it had some of the thickest hair I've ever seen, aaaaaaand a swollen face full of porcupine quills! Man did that ever look painful. His lips were swollen to at least 4 times what they should be and when skinning it out I ended up with a pretty big pile of quills. Another time I was heading home after a long day of looking for wolves and decided to follow a familiar ridge where I've seen wolves many times. At last light I noticed something out of place in the willow flat below me and even from a distance I could make out the big ears of a wolf, also a black. This one too looked out of the ordinary. I was still about 200 yards away from him and he took about 2-3 big leaps and then layed down. He did this a couple more times as I slowly pulled up and shot him with my 223. I was very happy to get him and as I checked him over I could see that all 4 feet were covered in a ball of ice! Skinning him out I found a few quills in the lips and face but what surprised me was the amount of quills in his ribs! They were starting to poke into his lungs and had a lot of blood jelly like a bloodshot animal would have. I just wanted to share that to show that animals have a lot worse ways to die than being shot or trapped and I felt like both were put out of their misery before they froze or starved to death. I'm positive the second wolf was going to die that night. I've got a lot of wolf stories and just wanted to give some reading material for your morning coffee.

Good read! Thanks for sharing!

awesome read!

Thanks Ryan, things like this happen every day and some of us are just lucky enough to be out there in the wilds to enjoy it. Good luck and be safe.

Well said Jr

Thanks guys, and you hit the nail on the head JR. We are lucky to have the opportunity to enjoy the land and see lots of cool and unusual things that we wouldn't see if we were sitting on the couch.

Another cool thing I seen one time:

Freddy and I were hauling abandoned fuel drums and ran into 7 wolves, which were all grey and all came home with us. There were 4 more sets of tracks ahead of the 7 but we were short on gas and had to return the next day to look for them. We seen that after we left the area the 4 wolves came back and left one side of a caribou antler on our trail. We followed the wolves and the tracks led us right to a single caribou. I shot the caribou from a distance and when we went to butcher it we were in shock wondering how could this poor thing still be alive! Its hooves were worn right down and had very little black left on them, it had teeth punctures everywhere, its marrow was like red water, I don't know why the wolves didn't just finish it. I always wonder why the wolves came back to leave an antler for us. Maybe they thought we would leave them alone if they showed us where their prey was. Hard to say. We didn't get the remaining 4 that day, but I did get 3 about a month later within 2 miles of where we got the caribou. The 3 were so preoccupied with some muskox backed up to a cliff that I shot 2 before they even knew I was there. The 3rd only made it 1/2 mile before I got him too. All this wolf talk has me itching to go tracking!

Ryan, I was guiding a big game hunter over here in AK a few years ago, sitting on a ridge line watching a average black bear vigorously feeding on blue berries. I was looking through my hunter's new binos when out of the corner of my eye, I catch movement. Over the top of the ridge came a pack of 14 wolves at a full run downwind of the unsuspecting black bear. The lead dog was a huge black wolf and everyone else followed behind in a V-formation kinda like a flock of geese. The Black bear didn't have a clue until the lead wolf was about ten feet away but it was too late. The big black wolf put his shoulder into the bear and sent him rolling down the blue berry bush covered hillside. As the bear regained his footing, he found himself surrounded by the entire pack of black and gray wolves. I am going crazy wishing I had a video camera but not wanting to miss the show. The wolves picked at the bear from every angle while he sat on his haunches and spun round and round trying to get a piece of the wolves. This went on for a couple minutes before the bear realized his dire situation and charged over the wolves and made a bolt down the hill for an alder choked draw directly below my hunter and I. We watched as the black bear sped into the alders and rolled into a defensive position with his back to the wall. The alder thicket was about 15 yards wide and ran down into the creek valley below. A few of wolves charged into the alders in pursuit of their former combatant while the others just milled around the outside seemingly playing awaiting the out come. The bear had a far better defensive position now and seemed to have the upper hand now. Some of the wolves ran in and would literally come flying out sideways from a swat from the 150# bears paw. Let me put this into perspective, We are sitting 400 yards above this whole show now at about a 30 degree angle above them in late September with no leaves on the trees or brush. This is like a big movie screen to us looking thru our binoculars. Back to the story, the battle continues for about 5 minutes before the wolves realized they were getting the worse end of this deal. They slowly pulled back and the whole pack of 13 came together licking and playing around like a bunch of punks who just beat up a homeless person. The bear just sat there in the alder patch holed up awaiting the second volley. The wolves rallied and howled. It was awesome. I was shaking with excitement as I watched the ragged black bear sneak down the alder draw to the valley below and to safety for now. Meanwhile the wolves seemingly happy with the bullying they'd just given to the bear, single filed back up the hill to the ridgeline above and continued on their way. That is when the spectators became participants and we took off after the wolves. Needless to say, we didn't connect on any wolves but the experience was well worth it. Now, I am going crazy at what we just witnessed and my hunter, a young rich man about the same age as me, has a look of confusion at my excitement. He would rather be out chasing moose or something. I explained to him that "This event is something happens every day in the wild and we were blessed and lucky enough to witness such a wild moment. Now if you were paying attention, there were 14 wolves that attacked the black bear initially and 13 single filed away after the fact. So the very next day we are sitting on the very same ridge watching the same now scruffy black bear eating on the same blue berry patch when a big black wolf charges out of the alders in ambush of the bear. The big wolf put his shoulder into the bear and sent it rolling again. This time he just rolled the bear and looked back at him as to say he got the last lick in and trotted up the ridge in the same directions as his pack the day before. He had a bit of a limp and looked back several times before going out of sight. Near as I could figure was the wolves were not hungry and just were worrying the black bear for sport.

Great stories guys. wish I could ride along to witness your adventures. Awesome reading your posts. Has to be awesome trapping the Wolves in the snow and snaring them also.