Minnesota is home to the gray wolf, a species that has played a significant role in the state’s natural history (I mean, they named their basketball team after them). Only Minnesota and Alaska have had a continuously viable gray wolf population, and due to successful conservation efforts as well as the the Endangered Species Act of 1973, Minnesota still has a very healthy population with over 2,500 gray wolves in 2024.
Of course, wolves in Minnesota primarily inhabit forested areas, (why they’re called Timberwolves), especially northern regions of the state and Superior National Forest. As one of the area’s premiere carnivores, the gray wolf diet consists of deer, moose, and other smaller mammals. We’ve recently seen footage of them actively fishing which means no food source is off limits. But fishing for beaver? That’s a new one…
For deer hunter Jon Galler, he caught an incredibly rare scene all on camera while hunting between Lake Mille Lacs and Grand Rapids, Minnesota last November. In the wild video footage, you can see a wolf standing by the bank of the lake, with its attention directed towards something in the water.
Next thing you know, the wolf quickly takes off into a water, and attacks a beaver that was swimming underwater.
Galler told CBS News:
“I couldn’t believe I was seeing it. Of course it wasn’t a deer, it was a wolf. The minute that beaver made a noise, it was a millisecond, and that wolf’s ears perked up. Next thing I know, he’s lunging through the water. He reached underneath and pulled that beaver right up.”
As the wolf ran off with the beaver in its mouth, you can see it get startled by either Galler or something else, as it picked up speed further into the woods and dropped the beaver:
“I’m not sure if he saw me or maybe caught my wind.”
However, two other wolves were following closely behind, and picked up the beaver. Galler even admitted he didn’t realize how rare a scene like this is at first:
“I would say that’s by far the wildest thing I’ve seen. I didn’t know how rare it was until I spoke to someone at Voyageurs Wolf Project.”
The video caught the eye of Tom Gable, Project Lead for Voyageurs Wolf Project, which is a University of Minnesota-funded research project that studies wolves during the summer.
Gable told the outlet:
“What he captured here is one in a million or more. When I saw it, I was like ‘wow that’s incredible. That is super cool.'”
Whenever you’re out in the woods hunting, you never know what you might witness. You may go out for a few hours and see absolutely nothing, and feel like you wasted a whole morning, or you might witness a once in a lifetime moment. Even if you don’t get a deer…
Check it out:
Minnesota Wolf Pack Is First To Be Documented Catching Freshwater Fish
The more ya know…
Nature never really ceases to surprise you with something new. And even when you spend a lot of time outdoors, you still find you’re learning new things every day.
Wolves are a spectacle all on their own. Their pack dynamics is one of the coolest things that happens in our woods.
They work together better than any national championship team to survive daily. Yes, alone a wolf is still an apex predator but together, they are organized, detailed, precise, skilled… like the SEAL Team Six of the wild.
We’ve seen two wolves go at a moose, a lone wolf go after an elk, and even a wolf take a bite at a grizzly bear.
But, have you ever seen a wolf fishing? In freshwater?
Nope, that’s what I thought.
I didn’t even realize they actually fished other than finding dead ones on shore until right now.
While some Alaskan wolves have been known to eat salmon, this wolf pack in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, are the first to be documented fishing in fresh water.
The Voyageurs Wolf Project has known this pack caught some fish as they found evidence and set out to capture it on video. And this trail camera caught it all.
The group summed up the events on their video.
“We captured several instances of wolves hunting, chasing, and waiting-to-ambush suckers this year but no footage of them actually catching one.
We know the wolves were catching fish at the creek as we found plenty of evidence (fresh remains of consumed fish carcasses, wolf scats full of fish scales, etc.) of where wolves were killing fish!
It appears our cameras just weren’t in the right places at the right time!”
The wolves can be seen slashing around in the water and lunging towards fish that are flopping around in the water.
The fish they are after is white suckers. They are spawning in the creek causing them to accumulate in large numbers to a small area. This creates the perfect situation for a wolf to catch one for dinner.
The videos appear to show lots of wolves hunting with a fairly low success rate… maybe they should stick to hunting on land. But the evidence of the kill proved otherwise.
Either way, this is probably the first time you’ve ever seen a wolf fish.
First footage in 2018
More fishing in 2019
Fall of 2021
Drone Captures Footage Of Lone Wolf Trying To Take Down A Moose
Size matters… but not to a wolf it doesn’t.
This fella was working on some awesome drone footage of Northern Ontario, Canada, when he spotted this moose standing belly deep in the water. But when he went in for a closer look, he got way more than he bargained for.
“Captured this footage by happenstance while shooting some scenics in Northern Ontario.
Was excited by the moose sighting, as I was leaving something unexpected took place.”
Roll the tape…
A wolf came bursting out of the woods and dove into the water to attack the moose. I didn’t know wolves could swim that well, but they definitely can.
Not one to just sit around and get eaten, the moose starts to kick in an effort to get the wolf to back down. Not gonna happen, once a little distance is created the moose heads for deeper waters with wolfie hot on the trail.
The two go head to head for quite a while, and it appears as though the wolf might’ve gotten hold of the moose more than once, but the deep waters made it incredibly difficult for the wolf to attack and swim at the same time.
With the wolf latched on to a leg, the moose is able to break free and wade through the water, forcing the much shorter (and way more tired) wolf to swim after ’em.
Which he did… for quite a while before giving up and turning towards shore.
I mean, I could do without the dramatic music, but somebody get National Geographic on the phone because this footage is incredible.
Alone and in deep waters, this wolf was probably a bit overmatched. But on dry land, with a few more members of the wolfpack, it might’ve been a different story.
For this moose in Northern Idaho, it sure was…
