Outdoor Oddities

Wolf Corner

Joe Beitler — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:38:20 +0000

As a young man travelling from League City to go to College Station to attend Texas A&M, my college buddies and I mainly traveled up Highway 290. At that time 290 was under construction and became a grade separated 2 lane back top around where the Beltway 8 crosses it today. On occasion, to bypass all the traffic from the construction, we’d travel up Highway 6 to where it intersected 290. That route crossed FM 529 — not too far from the intersection of Highway 6/FM 1960. At that point, invariably, the conversation would turn to Wolf Corner. It was great conversation topic and possessing knowledge of Wolf Corner was considered very chic.

Now this was in 1979. That intersection today is all retail. Highway 6 and FM 529 have both been widened. There is no remnants of the intersection as I knew it. But, in 1979, Wolf Corner still existed and was a very rural intersection of two black top roads.

Wolf Corner was the place you could go see actual wolf pelts. A local farmer/rancher Charles Grisbee shot wolves for bounty money. And in that time it was a greeted as a good thing as wolves were a menace to the local ranchers and farmers.

Charles Grisbee at Wolf Corner

Truth be told, I don’t recall seeing wolf pelts hanging on a fence. I think by then they were all taken down. We always tried to spy them, though.

I saw this article about Wolf Corner last year in the local newspaper and intended to blog about it back them. I forgot all about that article until recently when I was sent the photos of wolves taken in Idaho. I think those have been proven bogus by Snopes.com. Here is another discussion about Wolf Corner and Charles Grisbee with a republication of another article on him and his legacy.

Recently, I went to go see “The Grey”. That’s the movie with Liam Neeson where he plays a gunman hired to shoot wolves to protect oilfield worker lives.

The wolves in that movie are portrayed as aggressive hunters killing for sport. Most of what you think you know is incorrect about large gray wolves. Here is a fact sheet found on the movies’s web site that dispels some myths. For instance, wolves rarely kill and do not consume humans.

Wolf Fact Sheet

However, wolf attacks do occur. Read this about a jogger in Alaska that was attacked. The article tells of a pack that was exterminated when they became habituated near humans.

Here is a great blog post of wolves taking down a moose. And of course you can see the link to the right for other great posts concerning wolves.

Wolves Taken in Idaho

Joe Beitler — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:12:01 +0000

Just a few of the wolves killed this year with the Idaho wolf tag. They sure do look cuddly and cute. If you are going into the Blues, Cascades, or north of Spokane hiking, game scouting, mushroom hunting, or something else you better start carrying a side arm. Can you even imagine being out by yourself and having 8 to 12 of these monsters surround you! Think about what kind of appetite a dozen of these must have and remember they are the only predator in our nation that kills for fun along with for food. The amount of animals they take are just a partial portion of what they need to eat. When elk are calving they will kill the calves just for fun after they have had all they can eat and leave the rest to rot.

[[Show as slideshow]]

Over 2000 Ducks

Joe Beitler — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:18:45 +0000

Just some ducks.

I think his estimate is a little low.

Rabbit Letter Opener

Joe Beitler — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:53:19 +0000

Rabbit Letter Opener

82 Year Old Man Survives a Moose Stomping

Joe Beitler — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:35:35 +0000

I’ve always said that the toughest people in the word are babies and old folks.

Here’s a story of a man stomped on by a moose and survived! The crazy part of the story is that his 87-year-old wife saves him by grabbing a shovel and beating the moose. Wow.

Anchorage Daily News

Check out that wound on top of his head. Ouch.

Check out that Wound!

Rhino versus Warthog

Joe Beitler — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:38:22 +0000

I guess you shouldn’t get too close to a Rhino when it is eating. This warthog learned that lesson the hard way. Doesn’t appear that the warthog got up too quickly after this encounter.

One More Exotic Animal Park Picture

Joe Beitler — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:55:16 +0000

She's not having fun, at all.

Another Zebra Post

Joe Beitler — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:10:09 +0000

Reminds me of the time I visited a wild life animal park near Dallas Texas some many years ago. My wife and I purchased a cup full of animal feed to give to the animals. No warning was given by the seller. The very first animal was an Ostrich. The Ostrich plaid the role of the Zebra in this clip. It stuck its head in the window and went right for the cup of feed. Scared the bejabbers out of me. Had to speed off to get the ostrich’s head out of the car. It spilled the cup of feed all over the car and was intent on eating all of it. Freaked my wife out to no extent. We finished the drive through park with the windows up!

: Zebra Bites

Zebra!

Joe Beitler — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:25:09 +0000

Too funny!

Unbelievable Balancing Dog!

Joe Beitler — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:46:55 +0000

I’m not sure how this happens! This is an unbelievable video of a dog balancing on a chain. At one point he is balancing on his hind legs!