Maggie's Farm

It's difficult to find/observe wolves. I have tried when I go to Yellowstone and other remote places. Usually when I do see them it is pure chance. Typically fleeting but always exciting. The best sighting was in Yellowstone in early spring before they opened their Summer season. A black bear had killed a buffalo calf and was eating it some 50 feet from the road. We stopped the car to watch and noticed a single wolf about 100 feet away just waiting his turn. The bear was unrushed and fed for awhile and then got up and walked away giving the wolf the leftovers. The wolf ate more hurriedly and was constantly looking around and was finished in under two minutes and took the direct route back to the trees and disappeared. Best sightings in Yellowstone are just before dawn and away from camps and people. Get on the road at least an hour before sunrise and drive to more remote areas and you will likely see bears but far less likely see wolves.

There is a Russian nursey rhyme about a long sleigh ride in the winter at night in the snow. The wolves began howling and following the sleigh and it became apparent that the wolves would soon attack the horse and that would leave the sleigh occupants helpless from the wolves and everyone would be killed. The father decided that it would be better to throw grandma out of the sleigh and the wolves would likely settle for that morsel long enough to give the rest of the family a chance to escape.

It kind of reminds me of the sinister meaning of that nursey rhyme "Ring around the Rosey".