Rare sighting of wolverine hunting in Montana

Rare footage of wolverine seen attempting a kill over 4th of July weekend 2017 near Ajax Mountain in Montana. Less than 250 of these roam in the lower 48.

[TheJumpingJake]

I'm blown away with how fast they are on land and in the water, wow.

[hellbound]

This makes me appreciate the filming in a proper nature doc so much more lol

[tkeames]

Wolverines are crazy fast and athletic. That’s a real treat to see in the wild. I live here in Montana and have spent a lot of nights in the backcountry. I’ve only seen a wolverine one time in the wild. Thanks for the video.

[DickinsonLivingInDickinsonNort]

Whitney, this was a very clear video of a wolverine, that showed one for several minutes. 99.9% of lifelong residents in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Colorado will never get to see even a glimpse of a wolverine because they are so rare, and you got one on video. I don't think that many of the commentors know, appreciate, or understand how lucky it was to get this video. There is no other video at all whatsoever of a wolverine in these six states.

[rezamoezi]

That Wolverine could hold the camera more steady.

[loveishz]

THIS GUY IS KILLING ME WITH THE CAMERA AT THE END OF THE VIDEO "STAY FOCUSED MAN"

[tiberiu_nicolae]

My plan to escape a wolverine was to lose it in the river. I need a new plan.

[NYPrepper]

Never saw a wolverine with summer fur coat, thanks for sharing this. Amazing how long their legs are, it almost looked like a wolf running. They are incredibly fast and agile what an interesting and majestic animal.

[LittleRedMoon]

I had no idea they were such fast swimmers!!! Incredible animals!!!

[YoTubBear]

Wow, what a cool experience! I spent about a decade working as a wildlife biologist in Alaska, and one of my most vivid memories was an encounter with a wolverine. As soon as it saw us, it ran up a mountainside and disappeared. But this video is amazing.

[Silfas]

Magnificent acting skills displayed by Hugh Jackman in this scene.

[jrmc]

Dang I never thought a Wolverine could swim that fast, that’s crazy 😂

[Kimbeattie]

I watched one for 20 minutes, 30 years ago in the mountains of Alberta when I was hunting bighorn sheep. I was in a big alpine bowl above the tree line and he was digging up a marmot den and when he finally spotted me he was not very happy and took off down to the tree line. I have hunted the mountains for going on 40 years and this is my only live spotting of a wolverine. I have seen a few that have been trapped. The wolverine in the above video was a good mature animal and I am amazed how fast he could swim. Great vid

[johnnyfavorite]

Difficult to believe that’s a mustelid 0:47 (weasel family, Mustelidae) and not a dog or a bear. The run is the real giveaway as it resembles the hopping gallop of a ferret, just scaled up from 2lbs to 50lbs.

[Jpeterson]

That wolverine was BIG. I'm surprised how fast it swam also. When I saw the larger deer in the snow, I was worried about it because wolverines have the advantage in snow because of their huge paws work like snowshoes. Wolverines also have unlimited stamina so it likely got what it was after eventually. They do not quit.

[exessex]

2:48 "So a mother deer will take out a wolverine?" "Not always." I'd say "Not never." I think the mother deer's instinct is to distract the wolverine's attention from her fawn. She can outrun a wolverine if it comes to a running race.

[TheOAKLANDAL]

Awesome video! Ive spent a large portion of my life hunting, fishing, and backpacking in the remote mountains of Montana and the western united states and have seen some crazy things but never a wolverine! and the fact that you guys got to see him actively hunting is the icing on the cake! People who spend there whole lives researching the Wolverine don't get to witness what you got see. So cherish this once in a lifetime experience cause there is a good chance you will never see this again. Now Ive seen wolverine tracks on my property which is in the Bitterroot Mountains in western Montana. I have a few game cameras out but have never been able to catch one on video. If I were to bait the game camera in the winter with meat I'm pretty confident eventually one would show up. There population is starting to really bounce back and i think your going to begin to see more and more sightings of them as this amazing animal continues to make a come back in the still vast and remote high country of the western united states. Recently the forest service here in Montana captured a whole family on camera in the bitterroot mountains. I believe they were baiting a game camera with some road kill to get a count on the local Mountain lion population and the wolverines showed up instead! Another wolverine was filmed by someone in Lolo national forrest, they got within 20 feet of the wolverine and it didn't seem to be to shy. Also one has been showing up on game cameras for years in the Sierra Nevada mounatins around the lake tahoe area. The forest service says based on collecting his fur samples they believe he traveled all the to California from the Sawtooth mountains in Idaho! I have family who live in the Sierras and weather permitting on a sunny day that's a long 15 hour drive by vehicle from the Sawtooths to the Sierras making it nothing short of amazing that this wolverine was able to make the trek on foot! There saying hes alone but i doubt he traveled that far and hung around for almost 10 years without having a breeding female getting his attention. All these amazing encounters can be found on youtube as well but your footage takes the prize for being able to see its relentless natural predatory behavior without any human influence. There are many amazing stories from native americans, hunters, trappers, and explorers about the pure power and the raw strength and ferocity of the wolverine sometimes leading me to wonder how much of it was truth and how much of it was just fictional story telling. Well what i saw in your video was a legendary animal of the American west more then living up to the stories from the past showing us once again that the old timers even though they lacked smart phones and cameras, were pretty good at documenting what they saw and experienced in there time living side by side with this amazing animal. Thank you for sharing this one of kind video

[christineh]

Fantastic capture of this scene. I did not know how fast a wolverine could swim. 👍 thank you for keeping this on YouTube.

[bearlycamping]

I love how everyone's upset because the video is shakey. Don't like it then don't watch it, quit your crying and go out and film wildlife yourself.

[Zion]

Impressed how this cameraman managed to film this in the middle of an earthquake