By Jim Studer
As I headed for Danbury, Wisconsin, I thought I saw three German Shepherds coming out of the ditch. I slowed; as they crossed the road, I realized that the shaggy reddish brown creatures with patches of black were not dogs. They were wolves, two males with either a young male or female, dirty gray in color.
This non-hunter city boy, who grew up watching Marlin Perkins’ Zoo Parade, was experiencing nature in the wild. I have visited zoos in the US and South America; I have watched TV shows featuring animals in the wild, but a real first-hand slice of nature is, for me, a special event.
Wisconsin gave me another such scene last fall. I was headed west out of Siren toward Grantsburg when I noticed a huge bird tearing away at a roadkill deer. With no traffic ahead or behind, I slowed and witnessed this majestic bald eagle guarding the torn carcass while casting an evil eye at me as I passed. The ruler of the skies stood tall to protect his claim. So close, only ten feet away, a picture out of National Geographic. The unlucky deer carcass reminded me of a more tranquil scene during a National Guard winter exercise at Camp Ripley. I drove a jeep slowly past 10-30 deer herded up for the winter. I had never had such an encounter before. I remember another deer in the wild from a walk around Palmer Lake several Novembers ago. I came face to face with an antlered buck blocking the footpath. I knew that at that time of year bucks can be aggressive. I stopped; the deer did not move for what seemed like a minute, but was more likely 10-15 seconds. Then the stag determined I was no threat and loped away.
I’ve seen animals in the wild during my travels: monkeys swinging from tree to tree in Brazil and Nepal, wild peacocks on the roadside in India. A trip to Yellowstone presented an array of elk and moose. In my urban setting in Brooklyn Center, I glimpsed the occasional fox on a trot. I caught a coyote in my headlights in Stearns County.