One Sunday afternoon in the first week of January, 1992, I had a memorable wildlife encounter. I had hiked up the mountain slope across the road from our house to the rock bluffs. There was very little snow on the ground, so I didn’t need snowshoes. As I climbed up the slope I happened upon three deer that scrambled away, so that seemed like my hike was already worthwhile, and I continued with my climb not expecting to see any more wildlife.
When I got to the edge of the forest, at the foot of the rock slide which is scattered beneath the bluffs, I was astounded to see, calmly laying upon the snow-covered moss on the top of a kitchen table-sized boulder, a black timber wolf. It looked like a black German Shepherd dog. It was about 25 meters away. I stood there amazed, frozen, and stunned at seeing the wild predator. It got up from its prone resting position, and stretched, while never taking its yellow eyes off of me.
Neither of us panicked, we just stood frozen, staring at each other for probably five minutes. Then, not wanting to engage or appear threatening to the wolf, I slowly began to back away from it. I did finally turn my back on the wolf and began slowly hiking back down the hill, but not without periodically taking a cautionary glance behind me.
It was an unforgettable first encounter I had with a timber wolf, an animal I had never seen before in the wild, although I knew they were around. I was thrilled at my unexpected meeting of one of the legendary northern wild predators on the slope just across the road from our house.
Timber wolves are rarely seen, and sadly I didn’t have my camera along when I met the timber wolf. I took the photo above decades later, when I saw this wolf in the snow, down by the river.
View my paintings at: davidmarchant2.ca
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