Mother Ma bravely faces wolf trying to kill her child

For Gabby and Cole Thoreson, their timing couldn’t be better.

The couple, who run a horse farm near Dillon, Montana, had just returned from a business trip to Salmon, Idaho, last Sunday.

When they went to check on the horses, they happened to see one of their mares, Sky, get into a tense confrontation with a wolf who apparently wanted to kill her foal.

“I think God has stepped in,” Cole told Cowboy State Daily about their timing.

Cole said that as in parts of Wyoming, populations of large carnivores such as wolves and grizzly bears have been increasing in southwestern Montana.

The couple usually keeps a rifle in their side-by-side UTV, and Cole has a Montana Wolf tag. But they were not carrying rifles at the time.

Undeterred, Cole jumped out from their abreast, drew his knife, and started running toward the wolf and horse, shouting and grabbing some rocks along the way.

“I’m good at throwing rocks. I thought I could knock out a wolf with one,” he said.

But when he was about 40 yards away, the wolf suddenly bolted and disappeared.

an extraordinary horse

Gabrielle captured video of the incident, which shows Skye struggling to wedge herself between the foals in the pack, with apparent disregard for her own safety.

Cole said he was not surprised by Sky’s behavior.

“She’s doing really well. She’s still a young mare and this is only her second foal,” he said.

This isn’t the first time Skye has been in danger.

“When she was a baby, Skye and her mother disappeared for about a week,” Cole said. “A week later, her mom came back, but Sky didn’t show up. So, we thought she was killed by a mountain lion or something like that.

“But three weeks later, she came back. I don’t know where she went alone during that time. I asked her several times later, but she refused to tell.

Considering Sky’s tenacity, there’s no doubt she’d fight the wolf directly if it came to that. But her owners were glad they showed up before that happened because they didn’t want their favorite mare to get hurt.

Predators are on the rise

After the incident, Cole called his brother, an outfitter and experienced predator hunter.

“He told me, ‘We need to get back there. The wolf didn’t disappear, it was probably hiding somewhere nearby, looking for another opportunity,” Cole said.

That night, they took root on a hill overlooking a herd of horses and began imitating howls to call out predators.

They saw nothing, but then they heard a commotion from the horses. At that time at least two wolves tried to attack again.

“We realized there were wolves there, among the mares,” he said.

They managed to get clear shots and fill their wolf cards.

Cole said he may not be done fighting predators just yet. He figured his run-in with the Grizzlies was only a matter of time. There are rumors that there are so-called “three-legged grizzly bears” nearby.

“It is said that from the perspective of our straight flight, there was a three-legged sow (female grizzly bear) not far away from us. Just over the mountain,” Cole said.

The Grizzlies have been expanding their reach across the Big Sky State, even expanding into the northern prairies as far away as Montana Missouri rest nation. While wolves may be hunted in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, grizzly bears remain federally protected in those states and may not be hunted by the public.

Dealing with large predators is increasingly part of the livestock industry, Cole said.

“I have the right to protect our horses,” he said. “This is our livelihood.”

Mark Heinz can be reached Tag @cowboystatedaily.com.