Those eyes!

Those eyes were staring at me as if he was looking into my soul.  After witnessing this beautiful grey wolf chase a cow moose across a gravel creek bed, I made the mistake of not be more aware of my surroundings while in the woods. A cardinal sin when you're number three on the food chain in this environment. While I was standing in the creek bed, the cow moose came out of the brush on the far side, walked to the middle and stopped.  Having numerous cow moose pictures I wasn't going to shoot it and at the last minute, I decided that the background along with the moose warranted a shot.  I removed my pack, knelt down and switched out the lens.  Just as I was standing the cow spun and bolted in fear.  A lone wolf had broken from the forest and was in pursuit.  I simply stuck the camera up and pressed.  I was lucky to get what I did.  In the pictures below it is difficult to see the wolf as he blends in well with the rock creek bed, but he's on the far right side and zeroed in on the moose.  I consider myself extremely fortunate to have witnessed this, much less get a picture of it. I was later told by a ranger that more wolves were likely in the area as they normally hunt in packs.  The lone wolf was probably driving the moose towards the pack.

After the moose and wolf went crashing through the brush I went up a little further and removed my pack to put the camera away.  As I'm placing the camera in the pack I noticed him off to my left, no more than 25 feet from my position.  I have no idea how he moved that silently or without me noticing him in order to get that close but considering his size and the terrain it was amazing. Wolf attacks on humans are very rare but considering his stealth and size I could have easily been prey.  Maybe he was just curious but his initial posture and cold stare made me think otherwise.  As can be seen in the picture below he had his head lowered and was squatting somewhat in the brush.  After I backed away from him he raised his head but never took his eyes off of me.  Once I got maybe 50 feet back he turned and disappeared without a sound.  A memorable experience!