Finding The Secretive Wolf In The Sawtooth Mountains | Our World

[Music] wow fantastic country this is idaho i'm here to track wolves one of the most elusive of all mammals and i think this is possibly going to be one of the toughest things i have ever done wolves can travel huge distances and they're incredibly secretive for generations legends have portrayed the war as a bloodthirsty icon of evil a wolf pack may be a formidable hunting machine but i want to find out if these highly social predators really deserve to be demonized very soon wolves will be taken off the endangered species list in idaho people will be allowed to hunt them so this could be my last chance to track wolves here [Music] idaho's glacial valleys and wilderness areas are perfect wolf habitat so beautiful with over 80 000 square miles the state is larger than great britain and most of it is completely unspoilt i'm heading for the town of stanley at the foot of the magnificent sawtooth mountains a well-known center of wolf activity helping me film this quest is one of the world's finest wildlife crews shane moore isaac babcock and his brother gabe gabe great you must be good nice to meet you fantastic coming the coffee's on all right straight off the bat the pressure's on we've needed a a real tracker ray yeah yeah you don't know where we could find a real tracker we tried the yellow pages that didn't work [Music] dawn and it's minus 10 degrees celsius at 7 000 feet above sea level stanley is living up to its reputation as one of the coldest places in the us [Laughter] [Music] but spring is on the way and the area is already teeming with wildlife rodents like ground squirrels are coming out to feed and otters are mating [Music] bluebirds and cranes are migrating in and all of them are leaving their marks in these parts the wolf's principal prey is elk they're much larger than deer in the uk they usually move around in herds and tend to search out open ground to make it as hard as possible for wolves to ambush them the thing that concerns me is it's the changing season so the ground conditions are changing hourly not just day by day one minute can be snowing that means next minute could be sunny for trekking it's going to be really challenging we should have started off with rabbits [Music] the crew are out early shane has been filming wildlife for over 20 years and isaac is an expert on wolf behaviour even with their specialist knowledge we're still looking for a needle in a haystack which is where my skills have to come in i'm going to be out all day looking at tracks today so i need to take some things with me some water some food a good warm jacket nice and light and wherever i go now i'm also going to be carrying with me some special track casting plaster i've been really looking forward to this my first day tracking [Music] i'm on the hunt for anything that indicates wolf presence there are several steep valleys around stanley and i'm going to start by heading for the ones to the north beautiful country stunning lots of ridges little gullies excellent country for wolves to hide up really good predator country [Music] i've stopped here because i've got this nice track going off into the country some sandy ground and it's a likely place to to look for a track this is a truly vast landscape so i need a good strategy what i want to do first is locate the wolf's prey so i'm looking for elk tracks or possibly moose prey animals are more numerous so they'll be easier to find where there's prey they'll be predators i can see some marks here plus elk that's what i'm after now i need to determine how fresh that sign is one of the easiest ways to do that is to make a mark beside it with my thumb the ground's very hard i can't make a dent in it that track was made when the ground was moist and soft so elk have been here certainly before the ground froze this is promising i'm going to make a cast of the track because that can reveal a lot about the animal that left it and while it sets i want to find out where the elk was heading having a look at the ground i'm reading a story here this area has had snow on it until maybe a week or so ago not very long there are a few tender young green plants coming up over there and running up through this gully there's a well-established game trail probably herds of elk following the line of the snow melt feeding on the new shoots and here on the ground i've got a variety of elk droppings of different ages and there's fresh droppings that's very fresh that means the elk have been here for a little while and perhaps the most exciting thing of all i feel as i'm being watched and that's something i learned a long while ago while tracking foxes to never ignore i feel i'm being watched from up there somewhere you may think this is a bit odd but i do believe in a kind of sixth sense maybe it's my subconscious reading signs before i can work them out more rationally but i can imagine wolves prowling up there their presence alone intimidating the elk into moving to just where they want them so the question is where are they now looking at this i get a sense of the size and scale of the animal it's a pretty big animal here and that's interesting because hunting these creatures for wolves is a very dangerous business one kick from a foot that large could do an awful lot of damage the ground around the game trail is covered in heather-like sagebrush which makes prince very difficult to spot got another set of interesting tracks coming down through here and this ground is much softer and here there is an outline only it's just the outside edge of the foot and that's why you have to pay really close attention to the shapes of tracks because that's a wharf track perfect [Music] it's difficult to see how recently it's been but it's certainly no older than 12 hours i think it's probably less than that well that's fantastic that's the needle in the haystack that's the first wolf track we've got elk tracks here the prey species i'm within 15 feet of them a wolf track i think elk are moving down this natural corridor the huge salmon river valley and wolves are trailing them so i'm heading for the thawed pastures further down the river [Music] it turns out that's exactly where a herd of elk are grazing wonderful they're big animals adults like these are at least five feet tall but despite that wolves have no trouble taking them down just one could feed a whole pack for days [Music] if the herds anxious they'll probably retreat into the river where the water makes it much harder for wolves to attack them they'll also react if they catch any scent on the breeze which right now is blowing away from me always just like human beings stalk into the wind so if if there was going to be a wolf arrive here to hunt these animals it's most likely they'd come from that direction beautiful animals they also look very tasty gotta start thinking like a wolf no one just caught our wind there just got that look nose came out i spook them not a wolf as pack animals wolves try to corral their prey into tight spots because they prefer hunting over short distances further back up the river isaac also found elk but these were behaving very strangely they were all trapped on a steep snowy bank as though something had driven them there after a chase elk are often weak and stiff the adrenaline rush can leave them almost arthritic exhausted and confused they're clearly terrified [Music] the elk were all balled up in the river right there and it was cold you could see them icing up on their hair and just up the road before we got to them we found wet spots where wolves had gotten out and left their tracks running across the road and up the bank on the other side the elk must have been really scared they were pretty nervous yeah the elk are desperate to leave this vulnerable spot but their hooves sink deeply into the snow to try and make their passage easier they follow in each other's footsteps they're hungry and want to return to the open pasture across the river but fear is holding them back [Music] [Music] [Music] i think the uh the the rear most of the young calves there was limping with its rear right foot any weakness like that is exactly what a wolf will look for any sign of weakness and if the animal gets up and runs when challenged it's all over isaac suspects this elk may in fact have just fought off an attack the lame one had a really bad back right leg somewhere in the hip pelvis not quite sure but it was it wasn't moving rainbow at all wolves tend to pick off the old and sick in the long run that can actually strengthen a herd but right now i'm convinced that the lay milk will be targeted before long the herd are staying by the water gradually edging closer to a meadow opposite lower stanley so this is where i'm going to station the crew this is where i think we'll get our first sighting of the mysterious secretive ghost in the forest that is the wolf i'm in the spectacular wilderness state of idaho tracking walls these secretive predators were almost hunted to extinction but in 1995 a program to reintroduce them to central idaho was begun one of its pioneers was ecologist curt mack this is really the cradle of where wolf recovery happened here in the state of idaho it all started right here in the stanley basin there's a total of 35 walls that were originally released and they were just released right over this hill here and they came in in january it was 20 below zero in the middle of the night and the roads were icy and slippery and we had a whole team of volunteers waiting for us but we all made it there about about five o'clock in the morning we lined up the wolves up one by one we opened the cage up and it was just amazing [Music] so how did you feel after all of that drama seeing these animals just filter away into the wilderness uh i think it was a little bittersweet uh we'd worked uh for a lot of years worked very hard for that one moment and we all just were in awe i think we just very quiet we all kind of looked at each other and the big question all of our minds was what now now what's going to happen those original 35 formed several packs and thrived some were collared to help scientists monitor their progress and there are now about 850 walls all across this enormous state ironically the increasing wolf population means they're about to be taken off idaho's endangered species list the wolf's hunting prowess was revered by our ancestors but as soon as people began farming livestock problems began to simply survive the wolf has to kill and now its predatory nature is again bringing it into direct conflict with people such as idaho's sheep rancher john faulkner have you seen an increase in water tax since the mid 90s well i'll tell you down on bennett mountain we lost 26 there in two nights they just killed them and left them that was my worst experience and it just kind of makes you sick to see those nice big lambs there chewed up the guts out i respect the wolf but i expect him to respect me too and we can live with them we're not happy with them but we're going to protect their flock and that's all there is to it it disturbs me that in just seven days time wolves will no longer be a protected species here and could be hunted biologists believe that wolves are programmed to kill surplus prey farming sheep puts hundreds of prey animals in one spot so it's hardly surprising that the wolves instincts take over the crew have been waiting for elk at the meadow since dawn it's 6 30 a.m and there's something happening every now and then we just get a little glimpse of them yeah you might try to look at the skyline none of the elk we've been watching are on the meadow not even the lame one but something else most certainly is there's the wolf fantastic that's fantastic absolutely fantastic it's quite extraordinary to be seeing such a shy animal out in the open like this so near the town and actually there are two of them maybe they've been looking for a real possibility and had no luck yeah that is fantastic but really really good the larger one with the dark stripe down its side looks like a male a fully grown solidly built adult that's taking the lead he could be the alpha male you can make out the pupils of his eyes it's really yeah you could really see the expression on those first they're very expressive animals they are wow that's something it is it's a privilege isn't it it really is you've been following these animals right now yeah how many years 12 years 13 years yeah but you still it's no magic now oh it's always magic yeah i mean you just don't get to see him that often those pictures better be in focus in fact this can't be the alpha male he's taking a pee squatting if he was the alpha he'd [ __ ] his leg the smaller one with the more hairy back and slender muzzle is probably a female it must be because she pees squatting even lower she could be his younger sister or perhaps they're marking their territory she's very intent it looks like she's looking for small rodents wolves are incredibly adaptable animals they can eat a whole range of things from the tiniest food sources to the largest [Music] in winter small rodents like voles are hidden under the snow but with the thaw they're suddenly exposed i guess for the wolves it's like a massive plate of free dinner there's a real drama unfolding because clearly the rodents are moving under the cover of the grass and snow there almost poised to have a pounce thing isn't it yes counts [Music] did you think it'd go on [Music] yeah it had gone brilliantly got one it's really fascinating watching their technique there but they're still very intent you know quite the opposite of the ferocity you'd imagine it's more like watching a ballet [Music] wolves are mainly active around dusk and dawn the male seems ready to leave that nip tells her exactly what he's thinking i suppose there's a moment like this there's a conflict you know you've got the you've got the packed hierarchy the young ones saying stay here and at the same time the lights coming up and it's like this isn't a good place for me to be so it's quite quite difficult decisions wolves communicate physically constantly reinforcing their rank as the female rolls on her back she's being submissive telling him she'll toe the line and head off [Music] you think just just a few years ago this was an impossible sight because there were no warps in either it's a wonderful thing to see such an amazing creature loose in the wild living as it should wonderful [Music] wolves usually stay in the same pack even as adults permanently outranked by the alpha because they hunt together there's a fair chance the rest of this pack aren't far away the youngsters disappear over the ridge i need to follow their tracks but the land is owned by a local hunter brett woolley how do you feel about the wolves uh it's been quite an experience it's a huge waste of money it's hurting me it's hurting down as it hasn't people won't go hiking people won't take their dogs out now horses won't leave their pens because the wolves are living right there and i mean they're coming down in the backyards yeah and and they don't belong here my fear is they'll start poisoning again yeah you know when the wolves did show up one day they were walking across the bridge god only knows why you know if i shot over the top of them yeah you know that's what we were instructed to do back then so pretty soon we've got to shoot over the top of them we can hang them on our wall i knew wolves would be hard to find but i didn't expect to find that people are their biggest problem it seems that as soon as wolves come off the endangered species list people will be lining up to shoot them now i'm even more determined to find the rest of the pack before it's too late while i track the pair over the ridge i'm sending shane and isaac further up the valley well this is the trail this is the trail there's hardly anything left can you see the staining in the snow here that is our track up there you see it again what's interesting is what has caused this staining it could be soil transferred from here into the snow i think that's the most likely thing but also you get that color sometimes from blood as well so if there are blood on on the feet it could be causing that the trouble is the tracks are simply too faint to follow any further the snow's been melting during the day getting small you can see it's like like sugar now it's horrible wet snow and it's just not holding any detail for me it's a bit frustrating to be honest this is a wonderful wolf trail and i've got no more i feel like we're definitely inside the pax territory now but if one's got blood on its paws what does that mean has there been a kill [Music] tracking isn't just about looking at the ground birds can be useful indicators i need to keep an eye on ravens they often follow wolves closely waiting for the opportunity to scavenge the remains of a hunt hey shane where are you at uh make some kick road just [ __ ] retract you've just seen two wolves up there on the ridge line underneath the tree the right between you and me so we may have a better view than we do right we got them thanks this is an incredible sight two new wolves two larger females they're in no hurry calmly using the high ridges not just for easy access around their territory but also because they're the best vantage point to watch elk from we found some cars i'm guessing that they made a kill that i think i could see blood on the lips of one as they walk through i got some wolves on film so that's great news i think they went up the ridge i'm thinking they have full bellies i don't think they went too far so now we'll start watching for birds see if we can't locate the kill and hopefully catch some more later in this evening that's great the two walls stick together all night at first light they're still together and they finally join up with more wolves it's the whole pack an entire family of wolves all together on this ridge at least 10 of them out in the open now that one with a silver neck is a big wolf heavier set clearly a male it has to be the alpha the alpha male is central to the pack and controls its numbers and movements it's likely that all these other wolves are his offspring but why has he gathered them on this open ridge the elk are grazing on the ridge opposite waterside that's fantastic the lame one is with them looking weaker than ever for some reason there's no hunt but then the elk are exposed up here they can see all around maybe the wolves are holding off until the elk have moved on to more vulnerable terrain the silver necked alpha male leads his pack over the ridge but one of them is lagging behind really something's going on it could be a wolf in trouble his posture is all messed up that must be really hard on a wharf because you know they're such a mobile animal it's in pain but it's a lot of effort isn't it you can see in the eyes it's like it's like i want to hunt but i really don't feel well enough to it's bleeding and you can see that it uh it tries not to put the foot down and then any time the foot does go down you'll see half of a paw mark with blood in it perhaps it's been kicked by an elk or worse could it have been caught in a trout oh look at that limp are you agonized for it it is heart-wrenching you see anything in pain like that it you know it's tough isn't it yeah it really is it really isn't a lot of pain the female with the hairy back has come over to look out for the limping one that's really interesting because with most other species an injured animal would be abandoned well fascinating isaac and the lame one's making his way up at this time of year the war should be denning and it's quite likely that somewhere up in the hills here there's a den and what that means is that the pack is anchored to that spot if there's a female that's gone to ground in a den the pack will need to supply her with food wolves will follow their prey for miles but now they'll hunt as near to the den as they can if there's one wharf that's going to take the path of least resistance it's going to be the injured one if the pack have a den somewhere over this ridge i think that is where they're most likely to attack elk i'm in the beautiful natural wilderness of idaho where i'm tracking a wolf pack i think they may be about to hunt in the vicinity of their den trouble is that's likely to be very well concealed now that's really interesting look here's our wolf in fact i found the tracks of at least four animals coming up here going backwards and forwards old and new sign brilliant absolutely brilliant this is a huge print the alpha males i'd say that is the best cast i've ever made in my life and one of the most exciting [Music] there's so much sign here it means we're right in the heart of the pax territory the crew split up following the tracks in search of the den [Music] there's wolf tracks here too the place is full of mysterious burrows it looks more like a badgers hole and a disused wolf deck from previous years this is an old wolf den look how small the hole is boy i don't know how the heck a wolf fits down here dig this stuff out there's an atmosphere here there's an atmosphere that says there's a secret it's hard to explain other than that but you can sense it it's a magical feeling [Music] despite hours of searching the den site eludes us [Music] but at dusk isaac and shane spot the silver neck alpha male we saw a wolf up there and uh we came down here looked around and there's a old bull elk over there it looks like they've been feeding on it some this isn't a wolf kill the elk most likely drowned over the winter and is only just thawing out it's not what we expected but the alpha has led us to a feast he gorges away and then struggles up the hill it's likely that he's going back to the den to regurgitate food for the mother his belly can probably hold 20 pounds of flesh and he's certainly so bloated here that he can barely walk [Music] the alpha keeps coming back for more that's some sense of duty [Music] he also keeps signaling to this young female with a collar who is keeping lookout just above him [Music] eventually she joins in [Music] amazing she's regurgitating food for the dens occupants even though she's not the mother it makes me admire them all the more when they collaborate like this it's a very human-like characteristic [Music] they carry on tirelessly until the sun rises the young female is still on duty but she's looking [Music] they're very anxious you know people think they're these bloodthirsty killers but i mean they're they're shy and very afraid of time so now we think we know where the den is isaac and i climb the ridge this is a boneyard look look at that chewed on too so he's had the marrow out of it take a walk jaw to do that wouldn't it i read something 1500 pounds a square inch yeah that's some bite we need to be extremely careful not to disrupt the density so we're going to quietly observe it from about 400 meters away let's stick right over here there are now only three days until these wolves are off the endangered species list they could be haunted and i might never get this opportunity again [Music] tell me about the pups that might be in there at the moment they've probably been born just seven to ten days ago so they're still in the dead blind and helpless and relying on their mother to nurse them and keep them warm we watch for a few tense hours but there's no sign of any wolves in fact nothing happens at all until nature sends in a blizzard i can't believe it we've gone through all the effort of coming up here now i can't see a thing yeah it sucked in there this is pretty much a disaster the snow will wipe out every track in the stanley basin the whole place suddenly feels not just cold but like something's gone and i don't understand why it's incredibly frustrating not to have seen anything at the den but the locals don't seem to care about the weather the elk have even moved on to the meadow right where the wolves were i have no choice but to wait until the sky is clear [Music] on the way back to the den site we find the lame elk is still alive do you think that's the engine i do it's interesting that it's chewing the card quite calmly and around the den there's still no sign of activity hoping we're not back to square one we split up and search every wolf highway we know of [Music] we've got real bad news we've just stumbled upon a dead wolf just laying there in the snow and i don't know what to make of it i think we should go take a look at her and see if see if she's lactating or not and if she is we've got big problems if she isn't still pretty unfortunate and we've still got some problems this isn't good it's a bad deal i don't know it's her that's that younger female boy she hasn't been dead very long sorry old girl [Music] how awful it's the young collared female that was working so tirelessly all last night carrying food back to the den isaac has to take her to the authorities we have some hunches but we don't know for sure there's nothing obvious there's no gunshot wounds is it looks like some internal bleeding and i'd say poisoning isn't out of the question rebecca known or something like that was it poison first of all but second of all did the rest of the pack get it too if they were eating on the same food source you're quite choked up about this honey angry basically if if that's if that's poisoning yeah that just makes me really mad curious frankly these were the last footprints left by the wharf that was found dead it's very sad i'm quite moved actually that this wolf will no longer leave tracks that i can follow and um well i suppose you're not supposed to get emotionally involved when you're tracking animals for films but you do very special indeed i'm extremely worried maybe someone laced the elk carcass with poison could the whole pack be dead my quest to track idaho's wild wolves has been beset by tragedy the young female we were watching only last night has been found dead and i'm terribly anxious about the rest of the pack this was the last time we saw her amazing how she closed at that steep ground but she's fitting well there outside [Music] they're the easiest thing in the world to poison you just have to leave a carcass out that's being laced if this was the case it's possible the whole pack might have been poisoned by feeding on the carcass the whole pack could be dead we should go out and see if we can find any fresh signs of wolf at the back of the meadows where we've seen the mousing okay i think that's the best place to start sounds like a plan how i hope the rest of the pack are still alive i'm dreading that they're not and only very fresh tracks will prove otherwise we're relying entirely on tracking skills and they'd better not let me down now anything i haven't seen anything nope nothing fresh anyway oh what's all this [Music] what's that it's a sheep for whoa actually looks like warfare the black dark tip that's woofer but that's a lot of her to lose in one place you know by that dead wolf it was signs of writhing around on the ground and just hope that's not connected to it this doesn't bode well could there be another victim on the other side of the meadow isaac doesn't find any recent signs of wolf life either look at that and here that's wolf trap is that a pad there and tells you yes cow packs dry on the surface and they'll be moist underneath the crust has been broken through here and that's still damp to the touch that's not very old i suspect this morning actually that's fantastic that's what we're looking for isaac what'd you find one absolutely fresh wolf track that's good news isn't it at least one wolf's alive here uh gotcha we'll be right there great there's a wolf very near stanley no time to lose oh that's lovely yeah that's a wolf it's a long way off i can't quite tell which one it is now i've never done this before i'm sure this is the same female that we saw bowling in the meadow we spotted two more in the distance it's fantastic news [Music] it's great to see the walls we're worried about what might have happened to them and uh really just lovely to see them in that landscape [Music] absolutely superb i'm so relieved they're all right i could watch these beautiful creatures for hours [Music] i think you're actually probably viewing what will be the last of this kind of opportunity i really do so this is a very special time in history really and i think we ought to be able to find a way to live with them it's it's ridiculous don't you think that ultimately that is the test of civilization is whether we can live alongside other creatures i feel passionately that we should be doing everything we can to protect these wolves to me there's no need to fear them look at this magnificent alpha male without him his family wouldn't survive all he's trying to do is keep his pack healthy and strong but every time i look at this i will think of the fact that many people here have already condemned this animal for simply living according to its nature i'm conscious that the day that i leave here is the day that these animals come off of the endangered list and then anyone will be able to go out and to hunt them i hope and i pray that my fellow hunters will treat these animals with the respect that they deserve because this animal is the spirit of the wilderness [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Our World

Views: 134,472

Keywords: wildlife, wildlife documentary, natural history, earth, environment, documentary, documentaries, animals, nature, animal documentary, full documentary, nature documentary, planet earth, our world, wild animals, global warming, climate change, natural habitats, our planet

Id: rmiCu3gXwJw

Length: 45min 36sec (2736 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 20 2022