Did someone say Wolf? - September 9th 2011

After a little time to explore the local town of Tofino it was time to mobilize for our first Black Bear viewing trip. At this time of the year the bears in the area of Clayoquot Sound are generally found along various inlets and they make use of low tides to feed on clams in order to obtain essential protein ready for the winter ahead. This meant that would would again be back on the zodiac boat to try and find the bears by scouting along the shoreline. Apart from a brief sighting on a trip to Sequoia National Park (USA) ten years ago this would be our first time in seeing bears, so we were well and truly excited about the prospect of seeing a Black Bear in the wild. 

The weather was glorious, very hot with clear skies, which at this time of year is unusual for this area. So far the autumn gear we had brought had stayed unworn and lets hope its stays that way!

Sharing the zodiac with 10 other passengers we headed off at 4:30pm toward Mears Island, the scenery breathtaking and the dramatic green carpeted mountains reflecting in the water, which in contrast to the morning was much calmer. 

An impressive Bald Eagle fed on a recent kill on an open mud flat. Gulls and crows soared above, their cries echoing through the various channels that we passed through. Around 20 minutes later, still in awe of how amazing this scenery was we arrived to the back of Mears Island. Slowly we cruised around 100 metres off the shore, looking for the tell tale black shape that would signal we had found our bears! 

Well, we did not have to wait long! There it was, a deep black shape moving along the edge of the shoreline in the distance, our first proper sighting of a Black Bear. As we moved in much closer it appeared to be a young adult, small in size and the guide finding this one hard to tell if it was male or female. Generally it is not always that easy to sex the bears. Males tending to be larger with flatter faces, females smaller with more pointed snouts. 

Totally un-phased by our presence and the cameras clicking from all over the boat he/she went about its business of sourcing food. Effortlessly moving large boulders to discover if there was a bounty of clams underneath. Focused on one thing only it sniffed its way around the shore, its coat shone in the sun and its wet nose glistened. As expected both Andy and I struggled to hold the cameras steady, of course we blamed it on the movement of the boat. However, in truth it was more likely the fact that we were so excited about seeing our first bear! 

We stayed with the little bear for around 15 minutes or so before the guide wanted to head off and look for other bears. Just as we moved off we sighted a mother and one cub, along the next small cove. These bears were much more nervous, perhaps the sound of starting the Zodiac engine had spooked them as we saw just enough to see it was adult and young before they ran back into the thick woodland and by the rustle of the tress above must have hot footed it up a tree. 

As we moved slowly looking for other bears the guide started talking to another nearby boat over the radio. It was then we heard the word ‘Wolf’. He stopped the Zodiac and explained to us all that a guest on a nearby boat had thought they may have just seen a Wolf run in the forest so if all guests we are happy bear viewing was paused and off to see if we could see what the guest had observed. We were not going to argue with this idea! So at this point I (Sarah) became ‘Mrs sceptical’, we knew Wolves were around the area, but the ‘area’ was huge, wolves very transient and incredibly illusive, could it really have been a wolf? We moved back toward the area of the other boat that our guide had communicated with, following the shoreline closely in the area that the possible sighting had occurred. Nothing, just crows, thick forest and the faint sound of the previous bear still rolling rocks over. 

However, ‘nothing’ did not last long as then, to everyones amazement out came a lone wolf! Ok, so this was a Wolf, a real Wolf, a Wolf in the wild!!! Everyone gasped, this was unbelievable and neither Andy or I thought we would honestly see a wolf, even though of course in the back of our minds we had always hoped we would.

It was tall and leggy with a nice rounded stomach, looking the picture of health. The guide then explained that other wolves had been seen earlier that day by a passing boat, having hunted a Black bear nearby to where we were. We looked back to where the other bear had been (both the young bear and mother and cub) and they had vanished. Not surprising given that Wolves were a threat to bears. Their acute sense of smell must have warned them of its presence. the wolf moved with speed along the rocks, sometimes disappearing back into the woods and then back onto the shore again briefly. It was really hard to get shots as we continued to move with the Wolf. It was certainly on a mission. Having followed it for around 10 minutes we then knew we would soon lose it as the shoreline ended which would force it in tall grassy area leading to the forest. 

Managing to get one or two shots it was time to absorb this amazing creature as it moved with amazing agility over the difficult rocky and slippery terrain of the shoreline, jumping up and over fallen trees.

Just at the point where we knew we would lose it in the long grass suddenly another shape became visible, a black shape and then all of a sudden two smaller grey shapes, the size of a medium size dog moving in the long grass. Just as you were trying to digest what this was in the grass the guide excitedly advises that it was MORE Wolves and not only more Wolves but at least two pups and a black Wolf. We saw them for just a few seconds as the lone Wolf we had followed joined them. As the Wolf joined them it picked something up off the ground, it was practically impossible to see what was going on given the grass and distance but just long enough to see that it had a bears paw in its mouth! So these must have been the same wolves that had reportedly hunted a Bear. We wish we could tell you that we got some shots of this happening, the pups and the black Wolf. Sadly not, the grass was too high, the boat was rocking and then they all disappeared behind a large mound and out of sight for good. We managed just a few seconds on video. Fortunately we knew we had got a couple of images of the Lone Gray Wolf (although how sharp they would be was dubious!) We knew these would not be great images but we did our best given we were on a small moving boat.

Wow, what a sighting!!!! not just bears but Wolves, seriously Wolves in the wild. AWESOME!. Feeling almost exhausted after this ten minutes of sheer excitement we had expected the guide to say we were heading back, but no...our bear mission was to continue! 

Shortly after, we came across another bear, this time a much larger bear and by its shape and size looked to be a large adult female. She was very obliging, moving across the shore again, like the other bears feeding with intent and picking up rocks as if they were made of balsa! This was all far too much excitement but at least at this point we managed to get a couple of nice shots. Heading off again, thinking at this point we were surely heading back to the dock we then came across a mum and two cubs. This was by now sheer craziness!! We were not able to get that close to these guys, firstly as mum and cubs can often be a little more nervous and secondly as the shoreline prevented us from approaching. 

Andy I by this point were ‘beared out’! we had hoped to see at least one bear, and never even entertained the idea that on our first Bear viewing excursion that we would see 7 bears, let alone a wolf!!

The 2.5 hour trip had exceeded all of our expectations, we had been very lucky and felt incredibly privileged (although to be fair we came to Canada with the expectation that any sighting is a bonus and as with all wildlife nothing is guaranteed!).

Now it really was time to head back......what a day! Time to check the images we had captured. Although knowing that we should prepare ourselves for some frustration that some would not be in focus due to all the boat movement, but in truth hoping we had got at least one good shot of the Wolf and of course the bears.

Black Bear

Momma Bear and Two Cubs

Gray Wolf