At times yes they are up top. A lot of wolverine spend their time in the alpine and go up and down the mountains in search of food. There have been some neat wolverine studies involving tracking collars.

I've found occasionally that some individual wolverines get quite good at hunting ptarmigan that are roosting in their little snow caves. Those wolverines spend a fair amount of time in the high alpine, around the last willow growth that the birds feed on.

Pete

Nice wolverine Rob!

Nice.Thanks

Here are a couple good reads on local Wolverine research.

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=692


https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=1075

Awesome! Living the dream in Gods country!

If you want to take a deep dive into wolverine studies, you can Google Audrey Magoun and try to unravel various sites and studies. A lot of the information is buried in ADFG archives, but with diligence can be found. She was a bit of a pioneer using cameras and hair traps to study wolverine. She did a fairly long study in southeast Alaska and brought a lot of new information and ideas regarding habitat usage, territory size and travel of individual animals.
Another source of really valuable information is another study conducted by ADFG in the northern southeast area by Kevin White, LaVerne Beier, and Ryan Scott in the Berners Bay area.
The information gathered by that study is amazing, and included some pretty incredible statistics on individual wolverine that gave me pause. I had access to anecdotal "evidence", as well as follow-up information not included in the study proper, and outside the study timeframe, including a "lost" collar that turned up 2, (or was it 3?), years later that originated on a male wolverine captured in Berners Bay, that travelled northwest almost to Skagway, returned to the bay, then went north over the ice fields, then south to the Taku River, went north again into British Columbia, crossing the Taku in winter, (and presumably crossed over ice), gaining access to the stupefyingly jagged Tracy Arm area. It then went northeast again, travelling an un-known path to the headwaters of the mighty Stikine River system. From there it followed the river downstream, toward the coast. On its way, near Prospect Creek, still in British Columbia, it encountered a set made by a trapper. That was the end of what I consider the most amazing, documented travel of a furbearer I ever had the privilege of confirming. I should add that I had un-feted access to those doing the study, including the biologists and pilots used during the study. That not only gave me "inside information" regarding locations, weather and geographic conditions, lures and baits tried, and, naturally, frustrations related to trapping wolverine in general, but also other information that came from those people that didn't constitute pertinent data for the dictates of the study but were very informational to a trapper.
To make it even more amazing is, that wolverine started his incredible journey, (and all the information gleaned from him), from my trapline of 13 years. In fact, the very spot of his capture, happened within 100 yards of another Tman member's line. He and I basically pursued the same population, and ADFG decided to join our party, if you will.
For me, at least, it was worth the knowledge gained from the study.

Thanks

The season is slowly going along. Decided to add a second section to the trapline and that’s been quite the experience. From the looks of things nobody has trapped this area in a long time. Seeing plenty of old sign from wolf snares, lynx pens/cubbies and wolverine sets. I thought the trail was a bit tight and was brushing it out here and there. Then Mother Nature stepped in and snowed-rained-snowed. Three days so far of cutting brush and trees and still not to the end I had previously broken in and set. 1.5 miles to go! Thankfully the main line is in the alpine and doesn’t have these issues.

Since we are not catching any critters I will share some scenery pics.

My nephew sure is getting an education this season. lol. Learning to ride sleds. Towing toboggans. Riding in the rain. Cutting miles of trail. Winching sleds up hills. Getting stuck in overflow.

I guess next I should take him on a river or creek bottom so one of us can drop a sled through some ice

Nice pictures

That all builds character Good to see you guys got snow!

Right on. Made me think of this scene from Napolean dynamite

Good luck

Ryan,

That is a classic! Thanks for the laugh.

Pete