Hunter recounts wolf attack
Jay Bulckaert was setting up camp near Fort Simpson when three predators attacked dog
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Friday, September 2, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
It was an intense, dramatic night the Yellowknife hunter and filmmaker will never forget.
Trapper and TV personality Andrew Stanley stands over a wolf he had to shoot after it attacked his dog Charlie while on a hunting trip in the Mackenzie Mountains near Fort Simpson, Aug. 20. Yellowknife resident Jay Bulckaert, who was hunting with Stanley, said three wolves entered their camp and two of them attacked the dog before one was shot and the other two were scared off. - photo courtesy of Jay Bulckaert |
"It happened within feet of our tent at about 7 p.m. We had just arrived and spent two hours or so setting up our camp," said Jay Bulckaert.
"Charlie the dog started screaming. My initial reaction was that it was a grizzly bear. That's just the only thing on your mind when you are up in the mountains, in grizzly bear territory ... I didn't think wolves."
Jay Bulckaert was hunting for sheep and caribou with four other men from Hay River in the Mackenzie Mountains about a half-hour flight from Fort Simpson, when on Aug. 20 three wolves invaded their camp.
They had to shoot one of the creatures dead after it had attacked a dog that was with them.
The dog's owner, Andrew Stanley, trapper and host of TV show Fur Harvesters NWT was the one who actually pulled the trigger. Stanley's father Ross Stanley and brother Will Stanley were among the hunting party.
Bulckaert said the entire party ran for their guns and loaded them except for Stanley who ran unarmed toward the wolves to rescue his dog.
"I was able to see that one wolf had Charlie around the throat while the other one was biting his hind legs and stomach area. Andrew was able to scare them away from the attack. They ran away - I don't think they had ever seen a human being before," Bulckaert said.
"They ran away about 20 feet and by that time someone had gotten Andrew a gun. The third one had run away but one of the wolves that was attacking stopped ... and that's when Andrew shot that wolf."
Bulckaert said the other two wolves stuck around for another two or three hours a few hundred feet away howling, calling for their buddy who wasn't coming back.
He said he's never heard a noise like what Charlie was making as he was being attacked and he was not surprised with Stanley's quick and aggressive reaction.
"It would be akin to his child. His best friend in the entire world was being murdered in front of his eyes. He went into the fray without thinking. That's what Andrew did. He saved his dog's life," Bulckaert said.
"If he didn't shoot one of those wolves I think they all would have come back."
He added that Stanley used a high powered rifle and shot the wolf once in the head - it died instantly he said, adding the group took the wolf carcass to an area about a half-kilometre away for other animals to scavenge.
He said he is well aware of the story from this past June where a woman, Joanne Barnaby, was out picking morel mushrooms near Fort Smith when she said she was stalked by a wolf for about 12 hours. Bulckaert said he knows the woman and never doubted her story.
"The number-one regret she had was going into the bush without a rifle. She said she'll never do that again," Bulckaert said. "There have been times when I've brought a rifle to a camp and people are like, 'Is that really necessary?' I can tell you now - it is absolutely necessary. I will never go into the bush without a rifle again. You always keep that rifle within hand's reach."
He said he knows many people go into the bush without a gun but added nobody needs a gun until they actually need one, and that's when they will really wish they had one.
"I'm not out there wishing to shoot things and I'm not fearful. I'm no more fearful now after the wolf attack. The wolf attack just made me smarter," Bulckaert said. "After this experience and after Joanne Barnaby's experience - there is proof why having a rifle would be valuable."
Charlie, a regular character on Stanley's TV show, had some minor injuries but is expected to make a full recovery.
