PORT ANGELES — The first people, two of them Port Angeles brothers, to see an unrecorded wolf pack in eastern Washington were given the privilege of naming it.
In September, Bob and Scott Jensen of Port Angeles and Craig Goodman of Spokane received notice from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife that the pack they discovered during a Pend Oreille County hunting trip last year has been named the “Goodman Meadows Pack.”
“It’s a real honor to do this,” Scott Jensen said.
The Port Angeles brothers had been introduced to the Colville National Forest hunting grounds by Goodman about 15 or 20 years ago and had been hunting there with their friend annually ever since, Scott said.
The Jensen brothers said that while there was evidence of wolves in the meadows, they had never seen any in the area.
Wolves are very good at not being noticed, Scott said, and the wolves are more likely to see and watch hunters than hunters are to see the wolves.
But, while scouting for moose at Bunchgrass Meadows, the trio noticed animals crossing the field.
“At first we thought they were coyotes,” Scott said.
“They turned out to be wolves.”
The three men counted 10 wolves going after the remains of an elk that had been killed and slaughtered by another hunter, he said.
Bob and Goodman remained about 150 yards from the pack, but Scott got to within about 60 yards.
“I went closer to them, good idea or not,” he said.
Bob said that one of the wolves was watching a moose and her calf.
So was Scott.
The wolf began watching Scott.
Eventually, the wolves decided he wasn’t a threat and relaxed enough to take their turn to feed.
“I made sure they knew I was there,” he said.
“You don’t want to startle them,” he said.
The three hunters watched the wolf pack for about 45 minutes until they left the elk carcass and returned to the timber and disappeared.
“It’s a very humbling experience standing in front of these perfect predators,” Scott said.
Scott said it has been clear the wolves in the area have reduced the size of elk herds in the area.
The more solitary deer are harder for the pack to hunt, he added, saying that deer numbers seem to be holding steady.
When the Jensens returned home from the trip, they notified Fish and Wildlife of their find.
As the first to see the pack, they had the right to name it, according to the department policy.
Because Goodman is the one who first led the brothers to the Bunchgrass Meadows hunting site, they decided to honor their friend with becoming the namesake for the pack.
A few months later, wildlife biologists located the pack but found only eight wolves.
Scott said he was sure there were 10 wolves at the time he was there.
“We had two different views, and we each counted 10 wolves,” he said.
The fate of the two missing wolves was unknown.
A member of the pack was collared by Fish and Wildlife for tracking and the pack was placed on the state’s wolf map.
Currently, there are too few wolves in Washington state to allow wolf hunting, according to Fish and Wildlife.
At least 15 breeding pairs must be confirmed in the state’s three Wolf Recovery Regions before state endangered species protections will allow wolf hunts.
With the addition of the Goodman Meadows Pack, there are 14 confirmed and three suspected packs in the Northern Cascades Region and Eastern Washington Region, wildlife officials have said.
There have been none identified in the Southern Cascades and Northwest Coast Region.
A wolf pack is defined as two wolves of either sex traveling together. Most wolf packs have 5-10 wolves.
When the numbers increase and hunters can take a wolf, Scott said he plans to return to Bunchgrass Meadows.
“One day I would like to harvest a wolf out of that pack,” he said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
