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Saturday, March 22, 2008
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The Howling It's eerie and it's haunting - and it's what draws us to wolves in Minnesota
ELY - The novice wolf-callers stopped and listened in the darkness. Soon, from the not-so-distant distance, an eerie howl pierced the silence. Then another. And another.
It was unmistakable. And undeniable.
We were not welcome here.
So what brought this group of nine intruders into the wilderness about 10 miles outside Ely on a recent winter night?
The howls.
But, initially, for many, it was the food.
On the evening of March 15, the International Wolf Center offered a pair of educational programs involving its favorite canine.
First, attendees of "What's for Dinner?" - about 20 of us - learned about wolves' hunting and feeding behaviors and watched a feeding of the center's resident pack - two Great Plains and two Arctic subspecies of the gray wolf - in their 1 1/4-acre wilderness enclosure just outside Ely. We had a front-row seat to the feeding, watching through a wall of windows overlooking the wolves' lair.
J.R. Gilness, the center's program director, said the wolves are fed only once a week and, in that feeding, can eat about 20 percent of their body weight. The biggest of the four wolves - a Great Plains subspecies named Grizzer - weighs about 100 pounds, Gilness said, meaning it could eat about 20 pounds of food in that feeding.
What: International Wolf Center.
Where: 1396 Highway 169, Ely. About a 3 1/2-hour drive from Brainerd, it makes for a good day trip or overnighter.
When: Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily through May 14. Special programs Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m., and Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
Admission: Adults, $8.50; seniors, $7.50; children 3-12, $4.50; children under 3 and members free.
Special fee programs: "What's for Dinner?" - 6:30 p.m. Saturdays, $6 adults, $3.50 youths; "Wolf Communication" - 8 p.m. Saturdays, $8.50 adults, $5 youths. (This is an off-site field trip. Children must be accompanied by a paid adult. Not suitable for children under 6.) Those wishing to attend special fee programs should register in advance of arrival at the center to ensure space availability.
Phone: (800) ELY-WOLF, ext. 25, or (218) 365-4695
Web site: www.wolf.org.
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The wolves are fed a combination of donated road kill - mostly deer - and blocks of venison/beef, according to Gilness. They seemed well aware of the fact that feeding time was near, anxiously patrolling the fenced doorway from which their food was to be carted out.
But when the food came, it wasn't the feeding frenzy I expected. The four would come and go from the pile of venison/beef, but spent most of the time stashing pieces of venison for later in the week.
With dinner all but over and darkness falling, Gilness turned to the evening program - "Wolf Communication," which explained the hows and whys of howling and other wolf vocalizations.
As if on cue, the resident wolves lifted their heads to the heavens and howled into the waning daylight. Gilness said it may have been prompted by the sound of a distant pack - a sound humans can't detect.
Or, more than likely, he said, it was a siren.
Regardless, it was still quite a sight - and sound. And after the classroom portion of the program, Gilness drove eight of us into the Ely wilderness in the center's mini bus to try our hand at howling in an attempt to get a response from one of the dozen or so local wild packs.
More than anything, a reply is the pack's way of saying, "This is our territory - go away," according to Gilness. But, he cautioned, the chances of getting a response are slim. Wolves have keen hearing, he said. They can detect humans crunching through the snow or quietly conversing from miles away. With that, they know it's not another pack, and even the most dead-on howls won't elicit a response.
Also, you need to catch wolves when they're out and about - hunting under a clear, well-lit sky, for instance. On this night, it was fairly clear, with a half moon or so. Decent conditions to get a reply.
We tried our hand at howling - it was a bit embarrassing at first, but we became more comfortable with it as we went along - at two rural spots Gilness said were within earshot of local wild wolf packs. But nothing.
Should we try one more spot, he asked? Sure, we said. With that, we piled into the mini bus for a winding trip over the back roads about 10 miles east of Ely.
Packs in Minnesota average three to seven animals, according to Gilness, but it's often hard to gauge numbers as wolves howl in circles, so to speak, giving the impression of a larger pack so as to deter other wolves from trespassing.
Quietly, we exited the bus on the last stop, surrounded by forest and overlooking a basin of sorts. We howled in unison for a minute or so, the yelps echoing in the cold darkness. Then dead silence.
Nothing.
So we tried again.
Once again, dead silence.
Then, slowly, the sound rose from deep in the forest. A haunting, eerie sound. But it was ever so faint, and short-lived. So we tried again.
After a short silence, this time, it was unmistakable - first one wolf, then another, and another. The pack was a mile - maybe as close as a half-mile - away, Gilness guessed.
One last time we howled. And again, they answered.
Go away.
We basked together under the stars, if only for a moment, quietly boarded the mini bus, and obliged.
BRIAN S. PETERSON, outdoors editor, may be reached at brian.peterson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5864.
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