Landers: Hunter honored to name wolf pack

Bob Jensen is a big-game hunter, one of the three Washington wildlife watchers featured in a Sunday Outdoors story who found a new Washington wolf pack and earned the prize of naming it.

After the story was published, I received comments from a few hunters who were critical of Jensen because he didn’t condemn wolves when he had a stage for making a point.

Indeed, Jensen, who lives in Port Angeles, neither praised wolves nor called for their extermination based on their impact to his hunting. But he did note that his rare opportunity to “discover” a pack of wild wolves at close range was “fascinating.”

His interview was refreshing. He may have bones to pick with wolves, but he picks them on his own terms.

Only a portion of my interview with Jensen appeared in print on Sunday. Here’s a longer version of his wolf-related hunting story that marked a milestone in the history of wolves returning to Washington.

And by the way, if Jensen isn’t the kind of sportsman you’d want in your hunting camp, you probably wouldn’t be a hit in mine.

Goodman Meadows wolf pack was confirmed this summer because a hunter was pursuing the same game.

Bob Jensen reported the wolves in September 2013 after moose hunting and spotting wolves near Bunchgrass Meadows northeast of Ione.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife research trapper Trent Roussin followed the tip, monitored the wolves through the winter and trapped and collared an adult male this summer. Using GPS information and trail cams, Roussin was able to document the pack had at least four adults and four pups this summer.

State wildlife officials gave Jensen the privilege to name the wolf group. He could have named the state’s 14th wolf pack the Bunchgrass Meadows Pack, which would have been more descriptive of the pack’s range for the public because it can be located on a map.

But he chose a name of private importance. He said naming the pack was an honor.

Jensen and his brother, Scott, started hunting in far-Eastern Washington in 1994 after Bob retired from military service. 

“That’s when I met Craig Goodman,” he said. “We had family connections – I was in the Marines with his brother-in-law. Once we met and started hunting together we became best friends. Craig has the same passion for hunting, wildlife and the outdoors.”

But wolves gradually took a bite out of their love for hunting in North Idaho.

“We saw one wolf, two wolves, a pack … and as we saw more wolves over the years, we saw less game,” he said. “Finally, we quit hunting there and focused on Pend Oreille County.”

But soon he also was seeing wolves in Washington Game Management Unit 113.

So far, the several wolf packs ranging into that unit haven’t seemed to put a dent in the Jensen brothers’ hunting success. Bob tagged a bull elk in Unit 113 during the September bowhunting season.

“During elk hunting, I’ve had wolves move with me,” he said. “I’d call and the wolves would howl. We were all hunting the same animal. If you like competition, this is it.

“What about the deer population?” he said, repeating the question. “It’s hard to tell because deer have always varied with the winters. But we’re certainly seeing wolf tracks more often.

“I think the wolf impact in Pend Oreille County will be evident in the next 10 years if we use our experience in Idaho as a model.”

I paused the interview after that comment, waiting for a disgruntled hunter to rant. No such thing followed.

Jensen saw wolves in Pend Oreille County near the Idaho border starting in 1999.

He took his first photo of a lone wolf while hunting there in 2001 and reported it to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife office in Spokane.

“That was near the beginning of wolf mania in the area,” he said. “The Fish and Wildlife people thanked me, but they weren’t overly interested.”

Jensen and his brother have seen sign of wolves in the region every year since then while hunting deer and elk.

Last year, he had the biggest incentive of his hunting career to spend a lot of time in Pend Oreille County: He drew one of Washington’s once-in-a-lifetime bull moose tags.

“I had cameras out and photographed a lot of game but no wolves,” he said, noting that getting a wolf photo isn’t a slam dunk even when you know they’re around.

But everything came together on one notable day of the season.

“I was with my brother and Craig Goodman of Spokane and we were pursuing two bulls, a cow and a calf moose,” Jensen said.

“They went down a hill and across a meadow. That’s when we also saw wolves coming out of the forest at the north end of the same meadow. The wolves came all the way across. Eight of them. It was interesting the way they advanced. When some would move, others watched and sized up the situation. They tried to get the calf moving in their direction.

“They were about 200 yards away when my brother stood up. The wolves kept coming and looked at us from 100 yards before the entire pack trotted to a moose carcass they’d already been working on.

“We watched them at 100-200 yards for 30-40 minutes,” he said. “It was incredible.”

When Jensen eventually shot his moose – “It fed my family for a year and it’s the best meat ever,” he said – he drove it to the Fish and Wildlife Department office to let the staff check the animal before he had it processed.

“We were chit-chatting and I mentioned the incident of the wolves coming across the meadow and feeding on the carcass,” he said

Twelve years after his first report, the agency biologists were much more curious.

“They were very interested,” he said. “I gave them all the information. They went up and had no trouble finding the wolves.

“I named the pack in honor of Craig Goodman, who introduced us to the hunting opportunities in Unit 113. My brother and I have put roots there since Craig welcomed us into his hunting family.

“The base for our hunts, wherever it may be, is always called Goodman Camp. Naming the pack after him is in honor of a friend and our bond through wildlife.”

Jensen said his effort to put state wildlife officials in touch with the Goodman Meadows Pack is a plus for all sides of the wolf reintroduction issue.

“This is a pack the state didn’t know existed until we stumbled into them and reported them,” he said. “How many more wolf packs are out their undiscovered?”