With the colder weather, all of the animals are coming down into the Valley from waaaay up in the mountains. That means that we've been experiencing a little bit of the Call of the Wild around here.
This morning at 6:30, I was awakened by a coyote pack's excited yipping. They had killed something in the closest horse pasture, right by the cabins. All of the dogs and horses are accounted for, and we're not sure exactly what they killed yet. I'm not sure if you've ever heard something like that up close and personal, but it's loud and creepy!
Then, yesterday, JW and Chad made the ride up the Deer Creek (aka Widow Maker) trail to pack up and carry out the hunting camp. At the top, they encountered fresh snow that reached up to the horses bellies, and Chad's horse Geronimo went to it's knees in the snow at the edge of the cliff. Everybody's okay. However, on the way back, they found themselves following some fresh blood spatter. Then they started to see sporadic canine paw prints about 4 times the size of Indy's. (If you're squeamish, you may just want to stop here.) They came around a bend in the trail and found a pack of wolves tearing apart an Elk that was still alive. The wolves scattered, they road through to a safe distance, and then JW came back to kill the Elk. When he got back the wolves were back on the Elk and it was finally dead. That's National Geographic stuff, right there.
So you see what I mean? The Call of the Wild!
Creepy!!!! I would freak out if I heard that! Poor elk :(
ReplyDeleteI know... it's sad about the Elk, but it's sort of the way of the wild. At least it was wild and free and not cooped up in a pen. But yeah... that's the sort of thing that gets the local hunters all up in arms about the wolf population - it's a big deal here. They want to be able to hunt the wolves, too, since the wolves are decimating the elk, moose and sheep populations.
ReplyDeleteMiss you, Solangey!