Trappers Catch Massive Wolf in Alaska, The Largest Many Experts Have Ever Seen

Conservative News DailyJanuary 4, 2025

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On December 22, 2022, two trappers in Fairbanks, Alaska, Morgan Evans and ⁤Bob Standley, captured a massive⁤ wolf weighing 149.6 pounds. This catch sparked excitement as it is indeed one ⁤of the largest wolves ever documented. The wolf, ⁤which is notable for its substantial size, was verified on a certified scale. According to Tyler freel, a ⁢staff writer and wolf trapper, this wolf significantly surpassed their‍ previous record of 118 pounds, which was already regarded as a robust weight for a male wolf.

Freel points out that the‌ typical weight range for adult male wolves in⁤ Alaska falls between 100 and 110 pounds,making the captured wolf exceptionally large. Even experienced trappers like Al Barnette, who has handled many ‍wolves, stated he had never encountered one over 140 pounds. The past record for the largest wolf caught⁣ in Alaska was 175 ⁢pounds, captured by Frank Glaser in 1939, even though that wolf’s weight may have been inflated as ⁣it was identified to have a full stomach.

the capture of the 149.6-pound wolf adds to the ongoing interest in wolf sizes in Alaska, highlighting the⁢ meaningful variations‍ and extremes encountered in the wild. The event illustrates the remarkable nature of wildlife⁤ in Alaska and the thrill that comes ⁢with such rare‍ encounters.

Two trappers in Fairbanks, Alaska, caught one of the largest wolves ever encountered in the wild shortly before Christmas.

Tyler Freel, a staff writer for Outdoor Life based in Fairbanks, wrote that two local recreational trappers, Morgan Evans and Bob Standley, notified him on Dec. 22 shortly after they caught the creature.

The writer received a picture of the enormous black wolf along with a message: “We’re taking it to get it weighed on a certified scale right now.”

As Freel recounted, “I knew, as well as he did, that this could be one of the largest wolves ever recorded.”

The massive predator indeed weighed 149.6 pounds on a certified scale, easily exceeding any other wolf any of the experienced trappers had previously handled.

“Evans told me that the heaviest wolf they had ever caught before this was 118 pounds — a normal top-end weight for a really big male wolf,” Freel continued.

“If you talk to experienced wolf trappers, the heaviest wolves usually weigh in the 120 to 130 pound range but aren’t common,” he noted.

The wolf was weighed by Al Barnette, another local trapper and fur tanner who serves as a member on the Alaska Board of Game. Even Barnette, who has “handled hundreds, if not thousands, of wolves in his career,” has never seen a wolf that exceeded 140 pounds.

Freel, who has skinned wolves, lynx, wolverines, and other creatures, has himself handled about 375 wolves. But none of them came close in scale to the wolf caught by Evans and Standley.

“The largest I ever saw was a blue color-phase wolf that a friend found dead and frozen. He was investigating a flock of ravens he saw perched in some brush that had been attracted to the carcass,” Freel recalled.

“We couldn’t determine its cause of death, but assumed it had been shot and lost, asserting that a visible wound we found on it was a bullet hole that had been opened up by the ravens.”

That wolf weighed 123 pounds on Freel’s scale. “I have seen only four or five wolves that broke the 120-pound mark,” the writer added.

The average weight for an adult male wolf in Alaska is between 100 pounds and 110 pounds, according to a webpage from the Alaska Department Fish and Game.

That webpage chronicled some of the largest wolves ever caught in Alaska, among which the black wolf caught by Evans and Standley was easily a contender.

The largest wolf mentioned in the article weighed 175 pounds and was caught by trapper Frank Glaser in the summer of 1939.

But that wolf had a stomach full of meat, and as Freel noted, “it’s unclear if he weighed it in the field.”