GHOST OF THE FOREST

The ghosts of the forest have been coming home for quite a few years now. Their packs are spreading. And, if you are lucky and in the right area, you may get a glimpse of one or two of them. As they run silently through the pine needles, and trees.
(Wolf photo by http://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/category/wolf-delisting-lawsuit/)

A lot of people do not want them back. And then there are those who say it is time. Time to bring back a part of America that has been absent for too many years. I've heard coyotes howl in the night on many a hunting or fishing trip. I've heard them on my way back from a long day in the saddle. It's a sound that, after you have heard it enough times, it kind of makes you feel kinda lonesome somehow.

But when you hear a wolf howl, it's like you not only hear it, but you feel it, also. Once you hear that ghostly howl, you will always know the difference between the howl of a coyote and the howl of a wolf. It seems that when a wolf howls, the forest goes quiet. Even the sound of your campfire goes quiet also.

Is the ghost of the forest here to stay? Or will we again try to make him disappear as we have so many other types of animals in this world. The last wild one I ever saw was in Canada, so many years ago. A fleeting glance as it drifted through the trees. It glanced my way just briefly, without breaking stride. Its eyes. . . its eyes had the look of a hunter. Free and confident.