I was on a fishing trip in Alaska the first time I ever heard wolves howl. All day long I had been on the lookout for bears. I was with two guys who were born and raised in Alaska, and they had a lot of advice for me.
“Don’t want to have a bear sneak up on you, and you sure as hell don’t want to sneak up on a bear. You gotta make noise so the bear knows where you’re at. And if you see one, don’t run from it because that will trigger its predatory chase instinct.”
Of course, I forgot all about the bears when the wolves started howling late that night. It’s an eerie sound – it stirs some primordial memory in you that you didn’t even know you had.
“Better throw a couple logs on the fire,” one of the guys said.
“Wolves won’t get too close to a fire,” the other guy told me. “Not usually.”
Here’s a haiku I wrote commemorating the experience. Enjoy.
stoke the dying coals
flames jump up and dance like sprites
holding wolves at bay
The Hawk Squawks 
That’s like terrifying and amazing at the same time. P.S. They say that once a bear comes after you, you should curl up into a ball to avoid getting eaten.
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