The Surprising Relationship Between Wolves & Bears
It may come as a surprise to many that wolves eat bears. This is a problem that seems to be growing anywhere the two species overlap.
By Bernie Barringer
My 18-year-old son Dawson sat in a stand beside me as we watched a medium sized bear feed at the bait. It was the first day of my bear hunt in Ontario a few years ago, and Dawson was filming the hunt for me as he often did. The bear was not one I would consider shooting on the first day of the hunt. Suddenly, the bear stood up and looked into the bush, then spun around and rocketed out of the area as if he had been shot out of a canon.
Dawson reached for the camera and turned it on. He’s filmed enough bear hunts to know that when the small bear leaves in a hurry, there’s a good chance a bigger bear is about to make an appearance. But I was conflicted as I watched the bear streak out of the area. I’d seen a lot of bears around baits and I had never seen one leave in such a state of total panic.
M2E37L122-123R399B307
A moment later, the issue came into clear focus as a timber wolf trotted in and looked over the area. He sniffed around a little, made a half circle around the bait site, then left on the trail of that 200-pound bear. It wasn’t my first introduction to the fear that wolves put into bears, but it was a graphic one.
As wolf numbers have increased across North America in the last couple decades, their effect on deer populations has generated a lot of attention among sportsman’s groups and in the media. No doubt there are a lot of teeth in the woods, and wolves have significantly reduced deer numbers in many areas, but there are other animals suffering at the rise in wolf populations and they haven’t been getting the attention they deserve. The black bear is a prime example. Many bear hunters, guides and outfitters are getting a wake-up call about how the high numbers of wolves and low numbers of deer are affecting the amount of predation on black bears.
On my bear baits in Minnesota, I have seen active bear baits go completely dead when wolves move into the area. Wolves will eat some types of bear bait, but that’s not the real reason they hang around. Wolves eat bears. And what better place to find a bear than the high-percentage area in the vicinity of a bear bait?
Wolves hang around bear baits not just for the bait, but because they know it’s a high-odds place to get a meal of black bear meat. Once the wolves arrive, baits often go dead as the bears abandon them.
I have long suspected that wolves could be a real problem for bear populations, in fact I have seen wolf scat full of bear fur on several occasions, but in speaking with biologists, none could verify that it’s common for wolves to kill and eat bears. In fact, most biologists are very reluctant to say anything that would cast wolves in a bad light. Considering the emotionally-charged political climate surrounding wolves, many people within the game departments of states where wolf populations are at issue just seem to avoid the subject.
Woodsmen, trappers, hunters and outfitters in areas with high bear-wolf interactions aren’t so inhibited. Mike Foss, a long time bear hunting outfitter in Northern Wisconsin is frustrated by the lack of understanding about how much effect wolves have on bear populations. He has come across the remains of bears killed by wolves in the forests and he feels the problem is increasing. “Not only is our deer population having a difficult time rebounding from dismal numbers caused in part by wolf predation over the past decade,” he says, “but some bear guides, including me, believe our great bear population is literally under attack, specifically cubs and younger, immature bears.”
He claims that much of the predation takes place in the winter where wolves pull bears out of the dens and eat them. He cites a fellow guide who found evidence of wolf predation at three bear dens late last winter.
And he’s not alone. Tom Ainsworth, long-time bear outfitter in the Duck Mountains of western Manitoba says it’s common in his area as well. He puts out bear bait on snow machine in late winter and he’s noted where wolves have killed bears on several occasions. He says wolves will kill bears whenever they have the right opportunity. One of his guides is a veteran wolf trapper who claims to have come across many cases where wolves have caught bears in their dens, drug them out and killed them. Wolves will also target cubs all year whenever they are far enough from a climbable tree.
Here a hunter examines a bear mostly eaten by wolves.
In that part of Manitoba, trappers and hunters target wolves all winter which helps keep the problem somewhat under control. But in Wisconsin, the lack of opportunities to control wolf populations along with mild winters has created a perfect storm for high predation rates and many bear enthusiasts are becoming alarmed.
There are more cameras in the woods than at any time in the past, and instances of interactions between bears and wolves are on the rise. The advent of phones with cameras has added to the documentation of wolf predation on bears. Blogs, social media and YouTube have examples with photos and videos show evidence of bears being pulled from the dens and eaten by wolves.
But are the cameras just catching what has been common all along, or are the numbers of bears being killed by wolves on the rise? Mike Foss feels that wolves are targeting bears more and more. “Is there now such a predator-prey imbalance—not helped by federal judicial protection of the wolf—that deer numbers can’t recover and other prey, including the black bear, is providing an alternative food source? I believe that is probable.”
It’s difficult to quantify just how big this problem is. There haven’t been any studies done on it, and considering the political climate surrounding the topic of wolves, don’t expect one anytime soon. But as more and more voices are being raised, it’s clear the problem is growing.
One of the most simple solutions of course would be to harvest more wolves and bring their population back into balance. But it’s not that easy. In the western US, that move is underway as wolf hunting is a growing sport. But in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, the states’ ability to manage the wolf population has been hampered by court decisions that prevent hunting and trapping by preventing the delisting of wolves from the Endangered Species Act. The ESA was designed to bring threatened species back from the brink of extinction, and it has obviously worked in the cases of some animals. The wolf and the bald eagle are perfect examples of how the ESA can be effective. However, animal extremists are using the ESA as a political weapon. The black bears and the people who rely on them for food and recreation are suffering because of it.
In areas of Canada where hunting and trapping of wolves is legal, residents target them for their fur, as trophies and as a way to give the prey species some much-needed relief. There is a growing number of people from the states who are interested in a wolf hunt, but the cost and success rates have been a hindrance. Wolf pelts are at their most impressive in the early winter, and at that time a bunch of other hunting seasons compete for their attention.
John Palson, my outfitter on that Ontario baited bear hunt mentioned earlier, is working to see the price of nonresident wolf tags lowered, which he believes will give incentive to bear hunters to have a wolf tag in their pocket when bear hunting. He believes this will help him reduce his wolf population. But it remains to be seen how many bear hunters will shoot a wolf during the August and September bear seasons when their pelt is substandard.
Another option would be for outfitters to offer wolf hunts later in the fall when the wolf skins are more desirable for mounts and rugs. Some are already doing that. The wolves can be hunted at the bear bait sites by using meat scraps, roadkills, or game animal bones and trimmings after the bear hunters are gone, then placing hunters at those locations for a wolf hunt. Others will chop a hole in a frozen lake within shooting distance of a blind on the shore, then dump in butcher trimmings. As the trimmings freeze into the surface of the lake, the wolves much claw and chew at them. The time it takes the wolves to clean up the goodies offers multiple opportunities for hunters to make a kill.
Reducing wolf numbers seems to be the key, but it can’t be done in all the problem areas. So there are no easy answers to this problem. Mike Foss believes hunting and human interaction are some of the keys to giving the bears a much-needed break. “Wolves are still present in the agriculture lands, but they have much more human contact and a better deer population to sustain them over the winter months— leaving the slumbering bears alone to awaken to another spring.” He adds, “The wolf knows only that eating means survival. Without the proper balance of predator and prey, we are in trouble.
SIDEBAR: Wolves and Hounds
In many areas where hunters pursue bears with hounds, the increase in wolf numbers has created extreme hardship and both emotional and financial pain. That romantic howl of a good treeing hound on the trail of a bear stirs a place deep in the soul of the hunter, but to the wolf, it’s nothing more than a dinner bell.
Hound dogs are no match for a wolf, and when the wolf packs attack, there are seldom any survivors among the hounds. It’s common for the wolves to consume most of the dog before moving on, and it happens so fast that it’s rare for the hunters to be able to arrive in time to stop the carnage. Two hotbeds of this problem have been Idaho and Wisconsin, where hound hunting for bears are traditions that run deep in the bear hunting culture.
A reduction in the artificially high wolf populations in these areas would help reduce occurrences, but realistically, this is a new normal that hound hunters must always have in the back of their minds, and adapt to the changing landscape by altering the way they hunt to minimize losses to wolves.
What surprising relationship? Wolves eat everybody period, the cougar population is down 50% in the high concentration areas too. DELIST the grey wolf they are not endangered never was,they are world wide. No one says a word about them wiping out the pure timber wolves that we had when these morons were dumped out. The only reason these were dumped was it was part if Clintions plan to turn our Federal Parks into expanded UN controled parks.Clinton/ UN did get several European countries to dump them out too.They are suffering with the carnage just like us.
connollysk8hard@aol.com
The only good hunters is a dead.hunter
How very racist of you
You wouldn’t say that if something happened and you could not go to a grocery store and buy food, then you and the rest of the pussywillows would be begging us hunters to help you get food and because most hunters are good people, we would probably help you out, besides, the last thing us hunters need is another know it all running around in the woods !!
Right on there is alot of ignorance these days because most people live in cities and don’t understand the natural order of life. I wonder where they think the meat comes from in the grocery store? We are dealing with a new culture of folks who believe they are smart however don’t begin to realize how much they don’t know. Everyone should have to live off the land for a season to understand and appreciate hunters!!
But it’s ok for asswipes like you to purchase wrapped meat from a store
the only good hunter is the dead hunter. May every one of those retarded dumbass idiots who protects the idea of killing wolves die in fear and agony and their whole families with them. You idiots have no idea what you are talking about, claiming wolves break the ecosystem when they maintain it, which is proven by actual scientists who do massive researches instead of simply going in the woods to shoot at animals cause you are cowards hiding behind guns. May you and your whole families be shot to death.
Normally I don’t approve this kind of ignorance and hate, but I’m going to approve this just so everyone can see what an idiot you are.
I would punch you in the mouth if you ever said that somewhere I could reach you and not hiding behind your screen like the coward you are.
Wolves fuck up sheep and domestic animals. Sure, you citydwellers will never run into them, and you dont understand how the forest works either. If there is mild winters and enough food the wolves will grow in numbers. That means that they search for new territories. Meaning roaming wolf packs that get braver and braver each day because of hunger or just being used to the sight and smell of humans. Suddenly you have wolf cunts in the suburbs.
They are not big dogs. They are wild animals. They are dangerous.
If you ever decide to step away from the concrete and into the wild I bet you would like a gun to hide behind too. I doubt 5 hungry wolves would fight you with their fists.
YOU MORON????‼
I WAS>SPEAKING TO THOMAS WHO MADE THE MORONIC ????COMMENT THAT “THE ONLY HUNTERS WERE DEAD HUNTERS”????
It is amazing how stupid people are. I suppose all your morons that want the wolf killed think you know better than mother nature herself? The wolf has every right to be in our forest since they were put there for a reason. Long before you morons were running around shooting everything in the woods because you call it a sport they were there. The balance nature had between the wolf, deer, coyote and bear existed for thousands of years before European arrived. Europeans destroyed their natural environment and if it wasn’t for the smarter biologist in America it would be in the same situation. May be the zombie deer virus will wipe all your idiots out and nature will fix the issue with human rednecks.
It’s amazing when stupid people call others stupid. You are obviously clueless about this issue and probably have shoes that never leave concrete.
Mother nature does not deal in balances. She deals in extremes. The population among large prey animals pendulums between over-population and under-population due to weather and habitat loss from fire and other natural disasters. Should this pendulum swing too far we get extinction. The wolf was never meant to survive the ice age because there was a new apex predator on the scene. Man. The dire wolf, and the steppe wolf, except those that partnered with man and became dogs, didn’t survive the ice age. The grey wolf adapted and ate small animals to survive. The wolf pack is like an amoeba, it gets so big and the splits. The new pack and the old pack split and on and on. The only way to control wolf populations is through starvation, not practical, or by hunting. These animals can not share the same territory as man.
You have no clue what you’re talking about dumbass! I live Montana and what you read in this article is the pure reality out here. I get out there in the woods about 200 days a year(maybe more) and wolves are literally a real problem on these lands, and is alarmingly increasing every year. I found a place where they’ve treed a mountain lion for a long time and when the lion came down they killed and ate it. Also found a place where they dragged this grizz out of the den and killed and ate it. Unfortunately, even if all the hunters here would kill their 5 wolves limit it still wouldn’t be enough to put a dent in their population. Idiots like you that just have an opinion without knowing what they are talking about should better sit in their recliners, eat junk food, drink beer, and watch tv because you know better anyways.
Human rednecks lol, hunting has been and always will be a way of life for those of you that have been too busy hugging your tree to realize that civilizations would not exist if it weren’t for the “human rednecks”, some of y’all think it’s okay to eat beef and chicken and bacon but don’t stop and think where it comes from some of y’all would rather eat plant based burgers, human waste burgers and fake fish because you think you’re saving the environment, look around you at your local community and take note what y’all so called environmentalist are living in. Rednecks got it right they live off the land period they have enough respect for the environment not to try and change it. I love wolves and I love hunting, I am a predator and respect the rights of all predators to take down what they can to feed their packs, it’s the city folk who venture into the woods on your biking and hiking trails blasting your music and trashing the area not packing out what you packed in which creates a huge problem with the reproductive cycles and habits of all animals and then y’all go out to hunt them when you simply do not have the proper skillset to do so, those are the problems with the bear, Wolf, rabbit, deer and elk populations, y’all get excited and take poor shots and leave the animals to die because you are too lazy and stupid to track em and tag em. Don’t blame the Wolf don’t blame the bear don’t blame the”human rednecks” give credit where credits due and blame yourselves. The tree hugger back packing hiking and biking environmentalist, that think you know what you’re talking about when clearly you don’t, keep that trash in your city, human over population is the problem not the Wolf and Bear populations and definitely not the “human rednecks”. I’ll keep it Redneck and I’ll live along side the bears and wolves the way nature intended me to.
It only makes sense coyotes are also on the list, balance is necessary where are the biologists.?
Coyotes on what list? The Endangered Species list? Coyotes are so abundant that there is no closed season you can kill them anywhere at any time and we still can’t get ahead of them. The only times when coyotes have been effectively controlled is when their fur prices are high so hunters and trappers have more incentive to target them.
Clinton’s? really?
Nature has a way of balancing itself. When the prey populations dwindle, the predator populations have no choice but to do the same. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any species but us hunting things to extinction.
I’d also like to say that I’m not anti hunter, or anti hunting, but in this day and age, it’s nothing but sport. I’ve visited 45 of the states in this great country and the amount of people who could make an argument that they *need* to hunt for meat is infinitesimal. I’m not saying don’t hunt, but call it what it is. It’s a way to keep our natural predation instinct intact so our race doesn’t become too soft to survive. If you’re a man and you don’t have the stomach to kill if you need to, I pity you. At the same time, to get immense joy and fun out of killing, especially with guns, (even the city folk can shoot an animal) isn’t where it’s at. Getting joy out of the fact that you just provided yourself and your family and friends a much needed meal? Totally fine.
I think it’s kind of sad that the main reason presented in the article above for hunting more wolves is so that we can have more bears to hunt. I also think that the ESA laws should be more lax in areas with high wolf populations that are in no danger of extinction. I’m also aware that there are plenty of other reasons to keep them in check. Livestock, etc.
Also just want to state that I’ve seen no evidence of wolves attacking humans. I’m sure it’s happened, but it sure as hell is extremely far from common.
As for not being able to grocery shop, any dickhead can fish. And I’d personally be trapping instead of hunting if I was legitimately hungry.
It’s definitely a tough issue and I agree, the political climate towards wolves is decidedly pro wolf. The responsibility of changing that is up to the folks in those areas overpopulated by wolves. But when you start calling people names, people generally stop taking what you have to say seriously. If you’re going to try to educate anyone, especially stupid people, (which this whole coronavirus thing has proven to me are a hell of a lot more common than I originally suspected) one must do it with patience and a cool head, much like the attitude of a seasoned hunter after his prey. Things take time. I hope you folks out there in the boonies get it sorted.
Humans are part of nature and nature’s balance. We are stewards of our natural resources, so when you say nature has a way of balancing itself, we hunters have our place in that. That’s what North American model of conservation is all about. It involves control of predators and food harvest to reduce overpopulation that would bring on boom and bust cycles of disease and starvation. And you are wrong about no other animals hunting to extinction, it has happened a lot throughout history. Just recently on the eastern seaboard there is a major trapping program trying to catch every red fox they can catch and kill to protect nesting birds, Without the trapping of these fox, the birds would be extinct by now. Which brings up the question, should we interfere with survival of the fittest? Is it our place to keep the fox from destroying every last bird of an endangered species? As a society, we have decided it is our place which is why it’s being done.
Okay, I see your point. But if it has happened a lot throughout history and it’s not just us, then shouldn’t we just let it happen? Shouldn’t we hunt whatever species to extinction we please?
I’m also not of the mind that people are not part of nature. It really grinds my gears when people say things like, “I don’t want chemicals in my food”. All matter is chemical.
I fucking hate littering. At the same time, everything we create is natural. As natural as a wasp nest. As natural as honey. We’re part of nature. Everything we do is natural. Even if we’re literally an invasive alien species to this planet, we’re still natural. But this is all semantics.
The real question is, do we as a species want to harm our incredibly intricately balanced web of life? The one we depend on for survival? If we want to we’re doing a great job, by my definition of harm at least. I personally don’t want to. But how can we do that? At what point are you a greedy fuck who doesn’t give a shit about anything but yourself? Littering is a great example. But I mean, how much is necessary for the comfort of one human being? A teepee? A hut? A sleeping bag? Cardboard and an awning? A house with air conditioning? An apartment? A mansion? Where do you draw the line? Do we really need cars? We were fine before cars, I mean, fine enough to have enough time to think em up and make em….what does one really need? Three square meals a day? Two? One shitty meal? I’ve personally been comfortable living out of a backpack with some warm clothes and a sleeping bag.
Do I think everyone should live that way to protect the planet? Not sure. All I know is that aside from a natural catastrophe like an asteroid or Yellowstone erupting or some earthquake or serious geological shift, we’re the biggest threat to our own planet’’s ecosystem. I wish people would really look at what is necessary for them. Your car doesn’t need to be spotless. Why do you care what other people think about the way you dress? So you can get a better job in a better office and more money and more stuff so you can think other people think even better of you. If people cared more about how they saw themselves instead of how others viewed them, my god, how different the world could be. Ah hell. I’m getting off topic. Point is, where do you draw the line? Because it’s not going to matter in the long run if we kill some wolves. It’s a temporary solution. We as a species will continue to take away the habitat of other species. There won’t be much woods left to hunt in for very much longer if we keep doing what we’re doing. And every human alive in this country is guilty. Myself included. Have I littered before? Absolutely. Do I do it now? I try like hell not to, but sometimes I drop shit or I forget shit or I’ve got something particularly nasty that I can’t do anything with without it making my life less comfortable. Do I use gasoline? Yes. Could I not? Yes. Do I think it would make a difference? No. Because everyone is doing it. I honestly walk around and wonder why my pocket is full of my cigarette butts when I can’t go anywhere without seeing them. And what do we do with it anyway? Throw it in a pile and deal with it later. (We are coming up with some cool solutions, turning it into power and such) The point….the point is that most people just don’t care. As long as they have their AC and Car and Phone and TV and Computer and toilet paper and clothing and fridge full of food or takeout and a spot to be, their prescription or non prescription drugs of choice, alcohol tobacco pot opiates amphetamines caffeine….they just don’t care. Until it’s in their face they won’t deal with it. Sorry for ranting. And I know I’m off topic. It just seems that we can’t decide whether we care or not. Sometimes we do sometimes we don’t.
It’s frustrating. It seems that being complacent and not being passionate about anything and not having original thoughts and shying away from anything that makes you think harder than 2+2 is in style these days.
Thanks for your reply at least I learned something new today. I really didn’t know that other animals hunted their food sources to extinction, at least not as frequently as they do.
I will mention that most of the recorded examples we have are of invasive species that we introduced. Foxes and rabbits in Australia for example. But who knows what went on before us.
Also it would follow through the logic of depopulation that, WE are Invasive everywhere but the Fertile Crescent and maybe Australia….and we certainly aren’t helping animal populations a whole lot. And I don’t mean over hunting. We’re doing a lot worse than that just by going to work and coming home and buying gas and running our AC and nuclear power etc ad nauseam
I want to see permanent solutions to these problems but I can’t figure it out.
-E
So true!! Trying to get my students to write their essay about wolves!! It’s so awesome ( and gross) to see the food chain like that. Never knew wolves ate bears until now!!
the only good wolf is a dead wolf
That’s right!!!
It’s been happening up here in Alaska all along.
I’m sure it’s been happening everywhere all along, just more and more people are becoming aware of it.
The wolf population needs control everywhere right now. People forget why our great grand fathers reduced the population.
Yep. Why do we continually have to re-learn these lessons.
The best thing to do is to get your game warden department to start offering a 50.00 reward for every wolf that is killed. The requirement would be for the hunter to bring the dead wolf to a check in point so they can be counted. Let the hunter keep the pelt to be mounted or sold to fur buyers.some local counties would pay a bounty on these wolves because if a rancher or farmer has live stock. That is a very easy kill for a wolf. They will also snatch up a small child just like they would a dog or bear cub!
Thomass, would you like to play hunter with me?
I’m all for a harmonic balance between nature, animals, and us human’s. We as human’s will always be the dominant present and future in regard’s to everything else on earth. If mature tree’s are left to grow old and rot, what’s wrong with harvesting them for use and value, plus replant for a sustainable continuing future? Same with the Timber Wolf over populating area’s causing major damage to that harmonic balance among other wildlife, pets, and live stock. We human’s create War’s where killing of large number’s people are not that uncommon and like it or not it’s one way of a harmonic balance of the world’s human population. Truthfully the people in the “know” of the over population of the Timber Wolf in any area need to take care of population control of the Timber Wolf themselves. We can continue to complain, report, listen, read article’s/comment’s like this, obey law’s of our States/Providence’s and Federal governing bodies and dispute what Biologist think they know unless experiencing evidence first hand. Yes fine’s, loss of hunting rights, confiscation of personal asset’s and possible jail time is all one will face but the “key” is just don’t get caught and keep your Timber Wolf population control efforts to yourself and only to yourself!!!
I’m sorry that people think that wolves are such a problem. In my opinion humans are the problem, we keep invading their homes, their food source, their way of life. We throw cattle, sheep, goats out in fields and expect them not to kill and eat… Yeah okay. We sit in tree stands and bait bears and wolves to come to their slaughter. We chase bears with hounds, scare and terrify them, And yet wolves are the issue. I’m all for hunting if you’re going to use the meat, the wolf was out on this planet for a reason but we can not expect them to stay in an area that we keep shrinking because we want a new shopping center.
Get a life you tree hugger you don’t know what the he’ll you are taking about go eat a salad dum shit
Drop them folks from a heli in wolf country & after the wolves eat them Then kill and eat the wolves probably taste great
A long time ago they re-introduced wolves in those areas, they thought at first it helped control the deer population. I guess its an issue now.
Wolves have always been in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. They were introduced into Yellowstone park (only 26 of them I believe) in 1996 and populations from there have exploded throughout the west.
Yes, somewhere between 20 and 30 were originally reintroduced to Yellowstone. We the, and I hate to say it like this, obsessed over them. Wolf this, wolf that, wolf everything. However, that’s become the root of the problem.
The population humans should be worried about is humans. You’re trying to reduce numbers well humans are over populated. It’s not the wolves fault you’re taking all their homes and food. They need to eat, there’s no grocery stores, hospitals or locked doors for wolves. They need to show dominance in order to protect themselves. Humans learned from wolves, that’s how we have the society we do because we saw the loyalty in the wolves and created something similar. They were here before humans.
I hear this kind of nonsensical gibberish all the time. It’s always spoken by people who have no relationship to the land. We have real issues that won’t be solved by stupid sayings such as “they were here first” and other foolishness. This is not TV, this is the real world for those of us who spend time in the forests and interact with the creatures who live there with us.
Let Mother Nature do her job. She knows better than you. The earth has been around way before us. All we do is ruin it.
All people like YOU do is try to ruin it. Those of us who are hunter/conservationists have spent our lives helping the balance of nature. It is our responsibility as humans to be stewards of the earth and its natural resources. If it wasn’t for the hunters there wouldn’t be any habitat left and any animals to live in that habitat. The people who are trying to ruin it are the people who bash modern wildlife management and have no personal relationship with the land and the animals. We have to battle ignorant fools like you every day in our fight to conserve our natural resources.
EXACTLY????Bernie Barringer‼