Figure 28.—A pack of wolves investigating a scent post. The raised tails indicate their excitement. (Photo courtesy of L. D. Mech.)
"About 15 minutes later the 2 'satellite' wolves arrived at this spot, hesitated, nosed around but continued on after less than a minute.
"The three wolves meanwhile came to a junction of 2 logging roads. There they nosed around, scratched, and acted much as described above. Again the reddish wolf was most active and had its tail up.
"When the last 2 wolves came to this spot, they nosed around, ran back and forth, and 1 defecated. They then headed on a different branch of the trail than the first 3 had gone on just 10 minutes before.
"The first 3 wolves meanwhile were running along a logging road but eventually they circled and one other than the reddish one headed across a swamp toward the last 2. Then the reddish one and the other followed this one, and they met the last 2 on a ridge. There was the usual tail wagging, then all headed off together in a new direction. They passed the first scent post again and there was some nosing by the reddish wolf but little hesitation.
"When they traveled, one wolf lagged behind by 150 yards. The wolf just ahead of it had its tail vertical part of the time, as did the reddish leader.
"Soon the pack came upon another area packed with wolf tracks on a pond. There they followed every little trail, nose to the ground, wagged tails, grouped together often, chased each other, rolled over, etc. for 6 minutes. The reddish animal had tail up most of the time.
"The wolves continued on, and we left them about 1 mile S.W. of the S.W. arm of Bald Eagle Lake [at 6:05 p.m.]."
Unfortunately it was not known whether the trails that the wolves were following were their own or those made by other wolves.