Minnesota hunters have set up bait piles in advance of bear-hunting season, which begins Tuesday, and wolves are capitalizing.
The accompanying trail-cam footage shows a black bear chasing a wolf from a bait pile, and both animals feeding at the pile minutes later.
The Voyageurs Wolf Project, which studies wolves in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, explained that Minnesota’s bear-hunting season is a "boon" for wolves in several respects.
For starters, bait piles are filled with "nuts, candies, donuts and dried fruits” to attract bears to specific locations before the season begins. Wolves are also attracted to the piles.
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But the actual hunting season is even more beneficial for
wolves, which will feed on gut piles and carcass remains left by hunters.
Even better for wolves are dead or wounded bears that hunters are unable to retrieve.
From Voyageurs: "When bears are killed but not recovered, wolves win the lottery: a 100 to 300+ pound buffet just sitting in the woods, ready to be consumed. For a 60- to 70-pound wolf at the leanest time of year, that is about as good as it gets.”
Voyageurs added that wounded bears are tracked down by wolves, eventually, and that the hunting period from September into October is "almost the only time we have documented [wolf] predation on black bears.”
Several Voyageurs followers left comments that were critical of bear baiting, despite the benefits for wolves.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Why wolves are hanging out near bears in Minnesota
