Wolverines in the Sierra

[hikerduane]

I'd swear I saw a wolverine in a part of Yosemite in the last 15 years or less. Good to know I may not be crazy. More a coppery color than what was caught on film, but about that size.

[Troutdog 59]

Very cool indeed! I would figure there are more of them, just wary of humans. In fact, I thought I read that they had found more than 1 near Tahoe, but maybe I was mistaken. Similar to Georges observations, a friend of mine reported seeing one in the upper Hilton Creek Lakes in the early to mid 90's. He didn't see it for long and wasn't entirely certain of what it was, but his first thought was a wolverine. He's not a biologist (he's a geologist), but he reported his sighting to the FS office in Bishop and they took some notes on his sighting and his contact info. A few weeks later, a FS Biologist contacted him and told him he was not the first to report a sighting in that area. His sighting was listed as unsubstantiated, but seems plausible too me especially with the acknowledgment of previous sightings.

It makes one kind of wonder just how it is determined that something should be listed extinct/extirpated and how convinced we should be of the findings. I'm not trying to be overly critical, I just wonder how many hours are spent looking for a certain species prior to listing it as gone. Without the technology of remote cameras, how likely would it be for even a well trained biologist to spot something like this in an area as vast as the mountain ranges of our state? I would think the chances would be minuscule at best. I recall another thread recently on this board about a similar find concerning the Sierra Red Fox, a species I have to admit I didn't even know existed. Almost the same story. Thought to have been extirpated from CA in all areas but one near Lassen since the mid 20's, but now they are reporting several sightings using remote activated cameras. Just makes you wonder if we truly are a smart as we think.

[ERIC]

I watched "National Geographic - Wild Phantom Wolverine (2010)" last night on Netflix. Recommended for those who have not seen it. Google search of the title resulted in a few places where I believe you can watch it for free online. Unreal how much winter territory these animals can cover with ease and in such short order.

[Troutdog 59]

It appears he is back part II has haapened as theres been another wolverine sighting up north in the Donner area. A camper/backpacker ??? got a photo of a Wolverine near Lake Spaulding (same general area as the previous sighting). Probably the same one, but I do hope its a different animal. Always thought such things to be pretty darned cool!!!I Heres a link to the story in the Sac Bee.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/07/454561 ... apped.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[austex]

I can confirm a wolverine in between North Lake and Piute Pass in the late 70's. Nothing since though. They are cool and wary of humans.

[sierraholic]

I'll go to the grave swearing my wife and I saw one crossing 395 near Big Smokey Flat just a few miles north of the turn off for Mammoth Lakes. It crossed 100 ft. in front of our car, and we both said "What the hell was that!" Not a week later on TV was a documentary on wolverines. We both looked at each other and realized that is exactly what we saw. I live only 60 miles from where the only documented wolverine has been sighted. I would love to camp out there north of Castle Peak for a few days, and see if he or she shows up. Awesome!

[tarbuckle]

Back in the 80's I spotted what I thought at the time was a Badger,It was in logging slash above Weber Lake on the way to Lake of the Woods ( North of Truckee). Seeing how Badgers are a grassland inhabitant, who's knows? It could have been a Wolverine.

[Cheetahwoka]

I happened to see a documentary recently on PBS about wolverines. Now that I've seen images of them, I believe it's possible a wolverine is what I saw a couple years ago in Sequoia NP in the Kaweah drainage (didn't see any dots in the Kaweah drainage on the sightings map, so that would be a first). The last month or so I've been researching on the web... looking at photos of martins, fishers, badgers, wolverines..reading about wolverines and the rest. To eliminate other possibilities. To be more sure. I think it's time I called someone at SEKI in Ash Mt. to report it.

Mr. Durkee, on page one of this thread, you said you wrote something in 2008 I think, with a map, etc. but the links are dead. Are your reports available to read somewhere? Also, who do you think would be the most interested in my sighting? Graber? Maybe I should mention it to the Institute for Wildlife Studies in Arcata, too.

I saw a martin in Ionian Basin, too, more than 10 years ago. That was a thrill, especially when I figured out what it was.

The animal I believe was a wolverine looked most like the photo on the right, here: http://sierranaturenotes.com/naturenote ... I_2007.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. When I first saw it, I thought, "That looks like a bear cub, with a beautiful blond vee on it's upper chest/neck. But wait! What's that fluffy tail?! That's not a bear!" The animal was very dark, blackish even.

I suppose if more folks with sightings reported them, the Powers that Be might be more convinced they are out there. There are probably plenty of folks like me who just hold that special image in their memories, but don't think of how important it may be to report it.

[Cheetahwoka]

Well, I reported my sighting to the SEKI wildlife biologist, and he was very happy I did so, and will add it to his data and map. He said he wished more folks with sightings would report them.

He also said that there was another sighting of a wolverine reported less than a mile from where my sighting was. Turns out that was in 1906 by the famous Walter Fry...

[OwensKid]

Last seen in the 20's? Gone from the southern Sierra?

August of 1976 I was camped at the north end of Chocolate Lake #2 and spotted one running along the near opposite shore from me where I was fishing and watched it for a full minute if not longer before it headed up the creek to lake #3. No telling how long it had been watching me.

An encounter that is as clear to me today as it was nearly 40 years ago and I am positive it was a wolverine.