Griz, wolves wow couple
<p>Grizzly bears, like this one photographed in Glacier National Park, can be attracted to big game carcasses.</p>
Wanda Barton thought it was odd there were so many ravens in one tree, so she started to scan the landscape off Cyclone Lake Road a couple of weeks ago. That's when she saw a black figure off in the distance she figured was a black bear.
"It didn't look quite right," she said.
She grabbed her binoculars and took a closer look. It was no black bear. It was a grizzly and it was sitting on what was left of a moose it had buried. Moving around the grizzly were five other figures - wolves also looking for a moose dinner.
The bear would lie on the moose and the wolves would badger it. One black wolf in particular seemed bent on getting a piece of moose, but the bear would swat at it and chase it off. The wolf would retreat and then come back.
This happened over and over again. Barton and her husband Gale watched the scene for an hour and a half. When they came back six hours later, the moose and the wolves were still there. The bear was taking a nap on top the moose, its paws over its head.
Two days later, the couple returned and, sure enough, the grizzly was still there. The relationship by now was slightly more cordial. The bear would eat some of the moose and leave the carcass, then the wolves would move in and feed.
"It was an awesome thing to see," Barton said last week.
She said neither the wolves nor the grizzly bear wore radio collars. She later learned the carcass was the remains of a moose shot by a hunter.
The Bartons, who live at Spoon Lake, just happened to be in the right place at the right time to see one of nature's dramas unfold.
"We would have never stopped if all those ravens hadn't been in that tree," she said.