Wolves in the Northern Kawarthas?

[trexellunge]

I was a bit surprised to hear what I perceived to be wolf howls while staying at Jack Lake in the Northern Kawartha region. I'm definitely no wolf expert, but they sure as heck didn't sound like coyotes....it seemed like they were calling from a good distance away from different directions,
deep in the woods at around 1 AM (full moon to boot). Maybe you Ontario "Home Boys" hear wolves all the time, but for a NJ Boy, it raised the hair on my neck. It was pretty neat. I know there are wolves in Frontenac and Algonquin Parks, and further north, but was I imagining things at Jack Lake? Maybe wolves are more widespread than I thought.

[wolfe]

trexellunge,

I've read that there is (or at least was) a modest sized pack in Frontenac Provincial Park. I've heard the coyotes yap from the hills around Wolfe Lake, but that's it.

I saw evidence of wolves while canoeing/portaging in Algonquin Park, where I'm fairly certain they reside. Their pawprints were all over one beach in particular.

I wish I could get a glimpse of one in the wild. It's a coincidence that my tag name here is Wolfe, but they truly are my favorite animal. Ultimate predator, but also impressively intelligent and socially complex within their pack.

W.

[TheFishstick]

I can vouch for the fact that there are wolves in Algonquin park. On the last night of a canoe camping trip our camp site was surrounded by a pack. At first the howls where distant until gradually they kept getting closer and closer till they seemed to be only a couple hundred meters from us. They howled at us all night. It was quite the experience. I'll never forget it.

[RJ]

I've got a good sized pack of coyotes in my area....I hear them yelping and howling every night.....pretty cool!

RJ

[BBRich]

I saw a pack of wolves way down here in late December! Probably 30 ft away from myself and Sleded. I knew they weren't just dogs or coyotes when they were easily 5ft high and had a very odd black/brown tinge. Not like a German Shepherd as I first thought. Then I thought great danes because of their size but since when is there wild great danes?! Not to mention they were bigger than even the biggest great dane I've ever seen. Then I heard from some MNR guys that there are some roaming wolves between here and Long Point in the winter time, and that they were looking for food! Yowsas, close call.. a little too close for me. Good thing I didn't have any fish on me!

[Mick]

BBR,

I saw a TV show not too long ago about MNR people tracking and trapping bears down your way, better watch out for them too, I hear they like fish. It was a pretty cool show actually.

Mick

[fishforfun]

BBR these are timber wolves, probably 30" at the shoulder, coyotes are usually smaller, now wild dogs in your area quite probable. Did they look like this or lighter in colouration? I did hunt them at one time so I have seen them close up.

[Hoser]

We are 20 minutes west of Ottawa and have plenty of both varieties. The deer population has exploded in our county and the predators follow suit. (MNR issued 6 tags per hunter this year to lower the deer/car collisions) Beautiful animals......I was upwind and had one come within 20 feet of me before I waved my arms to show him I was there. Very cool

[Wall-I-Guy]

There are most certainly wolves in and around Algonquin Park. They've also been spotted around the Ottawa area occassionally I haven't made it to a Wolf howl at Algonquin Park yet, maybe someday

[iankrzyzanowski]

I have seen wolves roam our campsite years back in algonquin park at Big Cedar Lake!!

Awsome sites!

[lostchild]

This is a map of the regions of wolves in Ontario...
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[Duker]

I did'nt take to much time to check out all the post but when i was in school in lindsay there was a teacher who saw a wolve not 20 minutes NE of Fenolen Falls (which is in the lower kawarthas) And there has also been other sightings in the area. It is kinda cool to see wildlife in areas where they are not used to being seen.

Duke

[wolfe]

fishforfun,

I have had that SAME postcard in one of my photo albums for several years! Funny! (Told you I loved wolves.)

Keep in mind, all, that their color variations can range from the common grayish with white & tan points like the postcard shows, but also black and near white.

Those of you who have spotted one in the wild, consider yourself lucky. More times than not, they have spotted or scented you first and will stay out of your view.

W.

[R.U. Ketchinenny]

I grew up in the thriving metropolis of Havelock, ON and did a lot of hunting in the Apsley/Hwy 504 corridor. Our deer camp was there, as a matter of fact. I will tell you that the predominant canine in the area is definitely the coyote, but wolves, especially in the winter have made their presence known.

They had gone silent for a few years, just before I left the area. But maybe with the health of the Algonquin packs and the boom in deer populations they're spreading out again.

Either way, they are a wonderful species.

We used to call them at night from the cabin (never hunted wolves, personally, just called them) and the record we got was four different responses.

'Home Boy' or not, if the call of a pack of wolves on a moonlit winter night doesn't stir something inside of you, well... something's missing!

Now I'm itchy to go winter camping again.

Well, when it warms up a little.

[wolfe]

RUK, I'm with you. Something that prickles the hairs on your neck when you hear wolves -- and the same with loons, particularly wailing at night. I tried "calling" them in Algonquin, but wasn't lucky enough to a response.

Hope this pic I took at our local zoo comes over so everyone can see yet another color variation. Gorgeous...

(PS: those cycles of population fluctuations with the deer & wolves are boom and bust cycles. I learned a lot about this in Ecology and it's wild the way one species ties so critically in with another.)



W.