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CRY WOLF KENT LAUDON, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WO L F T R AC K E R
BY TIM HOLT
Wild Untamed •AND•
KENT LAUDON HAS spent a lot of time sneaking up on wolf packs. For 23 years, he’s tracked them in Idaho, Montana, Arizona and New Mexico – and currently in Northern California. He’s clambered up sagebrush-covered hillsides and peered at them through binoculars. When their dens are located in thick forests, he can sneak in for a closer look. It’s all part of his job. Laudon, who works for the state’s Fish and Wildlife Department, is the field man for wolves in Northern California, keeping track of the numbers of new wolf pups to determine if the wolf population in a given area is increasing. Nowadays, Laudon gets help from technology in the form of trail cameras that can be mounted near a den. California has one known wolf pack. To find its location when it first entered the state, Laudon had to use old-fashioned tracking methods. Acting on a tip from a Forest Service biologist who spotted wolf tracks in Lassen County, Laudon was able to follow those tracks to their nearby den. The pack currently roams and hunts in a 500-square-mile territory that encompasses both Lassen and Plumas counties.4 continued on page 54
JULY 2020
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