WOLVES – Are They Dangerous? By Ralph Bice

From Wednesday, November 23, 1977

Anyone old enough to have gone to school away back in the first part of this century will remember the story about the sleigh load of people being chased by a huge pack of wolves.

The horses, besides being excited by the howling of the wolves, had run so far and as fast as they could began to tire and it was evident that the wolves would soon catch the sleigh though they were getting close to a house and safety. So the hero jumped off the sleigh, fought with the animals as long as he could, and the result was a hasty meal for the hungry, ferocious wild animals.

I believe this was taught in the Third Book which would now make it grade six or seven. As if it was actual fact.

About the same period there was a book called Glengarry’s School Days written by Charles Gordon, a minister who had his parish in a county of that name. He chose to write under the pseudonym Ralph Connor. Apparently Connor was supposed to be ‘Can’ for Canada and ‘nor’ for the north but the publisher mistook the first ‘a’ for an ‘o’ and so it became ‘Connor’. Ultimately he penned about 13 books.

During one episode the hero and the minister’s wife were returning from a meeting when they were chased by a pack of wolves. It was evident that the wolves could out run the horses even though they were not far from home. However, the wolves were scared off by the howling of a dog tied up at the farmhouse.

These two stories stuck in my mind. Where we lived was well back in the woods. No one ever heard of a wolf attacking a human although one man told how his grandfather had been treed by a pack of wolves. The book “Never Cry Wolf” by Farley Mowat, known to some as Farley hardly-know-it, was about two seasons he had spent in the Northwest Territories studying wolves. This book is well written but it is strictly fiction. He did spend time near the area he wrote about but it was 14 years before he wrote the book. He makes no mention of wolves being dangerous. Many remember the late Sandy McGregor who was badly mauled by a wolf east of Sundridge. That wolf was shot and on examination was shown to be rabid.

I have been close to wolves many times. Once on Daisy Lake my son Fred and I were fishing. We were working at Rain Lake cutting ice for one of the cottages. We thought we should have at least one afternoon fishing. Going to our favourite spot on the lake we were just about to start cutting holes when we noticed a wolf come around the point perhaps 150 yards away. Then two or three others came into view. The wind was in our favour so we stood perfectly still and watched. At about 100 yards the wolf stopped as did the others. Then it would advance a few yards and look again. Finally the wolf was about 50 yards away when it decided all was not right. She stopped, put her muzzle in the air, gave a little bark, then turned and took off back the way she had come from. In a few seconds all were out of sight.

Once three of us were just finishing lunch on the Tim River when a pack of wolves chased a deer within feet of us. We were in a small clearing and when the wolves came to the edge and saw us they stopped at once disappearing into the bush. We counted five; there may have been more. But their hunt stopped as soon as they saw humans.

A wolf in a trap is a very cowardly animal. In the days when we were using leg hold traps it was not uncommon to find an animal, mink, marten or fisher alive in a trap. They all showed fight, even weasel and squirrels. But not a wolf.

A wolf in a trap will if possible hide its head. Twice in the years I have been trapping I have had to dispatch a wolf, one in a snare the other in a trap. I did not have a rifle. Does not sound nice to say but I used a club. The second time I felt more guilty than if I had clubbed my own dog. If they had shown just a little bit of fight. It has been told when they were capturing wolves and putting those radio collars on them that it was no bother at all; just a forked stick would hold them while the collar was put on their neck and the trap removed.

So many stories about wolves being dangerous. Yet at the research station when you could reach and scratch their heads it seemed they were not the same type that we know do so much destruction to our deer, moose, beaver and other game.

Note: Charles William Gordon, aka Ralph Connor, was a minister of the Presbyterian, then United church. He was born September 13, 1860 in Glengarry County, Ontario and died October 31, 1937 in Winnipeg. He attended Knox College at the University of Toronto. His grandchildren include journalist/humourist Charles Gordon of Ottawa and sportswriter/mystery novelist Alison Gordon of Toronto. He penned 13 novels.

ALSO – For the Record – Friend Peggy Sochasky (nee Margaret Bice) provided me with the articles written by her father, Ralph Bice, for me to publish.

For another perspective on wolves read “Of Wolves” elsewhere on this website.