Wolverines aren’t often spotted in the wild, but trail cams, sometimes associated with bait stations, are one way to get photos of the species. (BJORN DIHLE)
we identified it as a wolverine and, instead of attacking us, it ran over a hill and vanished. After that I began wondering if a lot of what I’d read was written by armchair mountain men with little to no rapport with the actual animal. I had more encounters and realized, as often is the case, that the truth is more fascinating than fiction.
SOMETIMES YOU FEEL LIKE A NUT Wolverines are incredibly tough and intrepid, but they also possess a nutty side that at times leaves the layman, like myself, baffled. I’ve seen tracks deep in the Juneau Icefield in early April and encountered tracks high on the Kaskawulsh Glacier in the Yukon’s Kluane Mountain Range in March. The Kaskawulsh wolverine tracks disappeared up into a giant glaciated valley towards a crevasse-etched pass that led to the Gulf of Alaska. Wolverines have an affinity for desolate country – they’ll go anywhere, during any season, and seem all the happier for it. They’re the first large mammal (a big male might go 50 pounds) to frequent a landscape after a glacier has receded. One of my odder encounters occurred mid-April on the north side of the Brooks Range. Hundreds of caribou were milling nearby, perhaps starting to think of making their northward migration to their calving grounds near the Beaufort Sea. One morning I was sitting near my tent, watching caribou and not wanting to be anywhere else on Earth, 158
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when a large wolverine came loping across the snow-covered tundra. Having three caribou buried in snow nearby and a wolverine heading towards a year’s worth of meat, I wondered if things were about to get interesting. The wolverine snatched a ground squirrel that had recently emerged from hibernation, then ran to the next hummock and grabbed another. Soon it had three in its mouth and, carrying them intact, ran right past the caribou without pausing. All of the wolverines I’ve encountered – or at least the ones that knew I was present – have run away, often as fast as it could. Sure, the animal may be fierce if cornered, but so is a chipmunk. One of my more bizarre incidents illustrating the skittishness of a wolverine occurred during a mountain goat hunt in western Lynn Canal. I was with my older brother and a good friend, Mike, 100 yards above a small herd of nannies. We were hoping one would magically turn into a billy when Mike gestured up above. A wolverine was rapidly glissading down a snow slope toward the goats. Once it slid off the snow onto rocks near the herd, it looked at them for a few seconds, then tucked tail and ran the opposite direction. A trapper in 40-Mile country showed me a photograph of a lynx that had a terrified snowshoe hare pinned
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against a log with one paw and its other raised above a snarling wolverine. The two had been so intent fighting over the rabbit that the man had taken the picture from just a few feet away. The outcome of the conflict was not what I expected. Apparently, the lynx tore out the wolverine’s eye and feasted on rabbit for lunch.
MEET AND GREET One of my favorite encounters occurred a few years back on the John River in the southern Brooks Range. It had been four days since I’d skied out of Bettles, a tiny community on the Koyokuk River, and I’d seen no animals other than a giant golden eagle that had winged over me at dusk. The frozen, snow-covered taiga, tundra, mountains and valleys felt lifeless. A northerly wind howled, a half-eaten moose lay on the river ice and the aurora danced green during nights when the clouds cleared. I was skiing around the bend of the river when a large wolverine came loping from the opposite direction. Not more than 10 yards separated us. I dropped my pack, irritated I’d buried my camera so deep, as the wolverine turned and ran. Watching it disappear into the mountains, I felt its presence had brought the desolation to life. I skied on, feeling lucky and less alone. ASJ
The author says “wolverines have an affinity for desolate country,” which in the vast spaces of Alaska makes them an intriguing mystery creature. (BJORN DIHLE)