Alaska’s Wild Kingdom
(Mik’s e-mailed description to his work on our last day in Denali)
On our last day we were enjoying our last breakfast of oatmeal and wild blueberries in our little homestead cabin/outhouse about 90 miles inside Denali National Park. While we had a great time we were feeling a little gypped because we didn't see "the big four" in the park all week (Grizzlies, Caribou, Moose & Dall Sheep [rams]). We saw the first 2 but were hoping to see all 4 plus the elusive Arctic Wolf. So we start driving out of the park on our last day thinking we may see another lousy caribou or something. Well we do see some of those and finally we see some Moose so we were happy. We drive for about another hour and finally see three Dall Sheep a short ways down below us in a wide river bed. Bingo, got all 4. Drove a little further and we see a pack of 4 Arctic Wolves. At this point we were happy and figured the trip was complete so we start heading out. Then we see one of the sheep dart down the river bed, top speed, with one of the wolves right on his little white tail. The wolf takes him down in a hurry. Of course now it hits us...we just saw the wolves stalking the sheep, duh. I then grab my video camera and start filming. A pro videographer pulls up next to us and whips out his camera and starts setting it up. But before he gets set up, we see another sheep rippin’ down the river bed with 2 wolves right on his tail. They take him down right on the riverbank. So the wolves are enjoying their 2 kills that are about 100 ft apart. The videographer is asking me if I got the 2nd kill on video because he’d really like a copy. He tells me he's been filming every year in Denali for 18 years and this is only the 2nd time he's seen something like this (he sells his stuff for big $ to National Geographic and BBC).
But wait there's more action. A few minutes later a big mama grizzly and her two older cubs that we had seen 15 minutes earlier come running down the river bed to take their place at the top of the food chain. Mama chases the wolves away from one carcass and leaves the cubs to feast while she runs to the other to scare the wolf off that one too. Of course she's successful but then the wolves go back and harass the cubs so she runs back leaving the first sheep unguarded. This goes on for probably 30 minutes until another player enters the field. A big male grizzly comes out of the woods to see if he can get some lunch as well. He has no problem intimidating the wolves but gets backed down by the mama in a hurry. Of course while she’s distracted the wolves are right back to the sheep and trying to harass the cubs again. So mama goes back and actually pounces on top of one of the wolves and looks like she’s ripping him to shreds. Somehow the wolf emerges but looks quite beat up. While this is going on the male grizz tries to get a piece of sheep from the cubs and one cub actually takes after the big male backing him down (learned well from mama).
So this round-robin goes on like this for well over and hour until the big male finally gets hold of one of the carcasses and drags it into the shrubs out of our view. All the critters were getting little bits here and there but mama and the cubs got the majority. With a lull in the action I turn my camera off and exchange info with the videographer. He gives me a DVD of the one other experience he had like this a few years ago that involved a moose. As we prepare to leave we see 2 more grizzlies (brother and sister team) heading down to the hunting grounds. I quickly turn my camera back on which is now almost out of juice and tape. Mama senses the new bears’ presence and tears after the male with full force, both now standing, and giving him a face full of teeth and fangs, battin’ him around pretty good with some loud grizzly growling to complete the intimidation. He backs off and gets nothing. The rest of the time we just see the mama and cubs with their butts up in the air finishing off the one sheep, leaving scraps for the lesser mammals and birds. So inside this couple of hours we saw 6 grizzlies doing battle with 3 wolves (and of course the 2 unlucky sheep that sacrificed themselves for the show). Almost guaranteed to be one of those once in a lifetime experiences. It was like watching Wild Kingdom without commercials.
No comments:
Post a Comment