Keep the cats inside, there’s a wolverine on the prowl

The road seemed especially black heading home from the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman last Monday around midnight. After 12 hours or more staring at a computer screen reading copy, writing copy and proofing pages, I'm nearly blind by the end of most deadline days.

But that didn't explain the otherworldly shape perched on top of a pile of fresh snow along Pittman Road.

It was the size of a medium-build dog, but its back was arched and it had what looked like prey hanging limp and lifeless in its jaws.

I was impressed by the creature's intelligence. As our old Explorer rolled past, it didn't move a muscle. Instead it just stood on top of that snowbank, staring into the black, snowy night.

At home, I told my family I'd seen something odd along Pittman and that I needed to pull out the "Wildlife of North America" book and see what Alaska mammal had crossed my path.

I was shocked and a little worried about letting our cats outside after I discovered the shape of the back and nose I'd seen most closely resembled a wolverine.

Fortunately, it was too late by then to call grandpa and tell him what I'd seen and ask his opinion on what it might have been. He's an expert woodsman and hunter, but as it turned out, his skills would've been no help.

Tuesday morning I climbed back in the Explorer and headed to judge the National Oratory Competition at the Alaska Job Corps Center in Palmer. I was disappointed to see they'd plowed Pittman that night as I'd hoped to stop and look for wolverine tracks to photograph and email to grandpa for confirmation.

As I navigated the nearly 90-degree turn before the gravel pit on the Church Road end of Pittman, I saw a familiar shape in the distance. Closer and closer I came until I could see in detail what had given me much pause in the dark a few hours earlier.

In the daylight, I could see my "wolverine" was nothing but a 2-foot-tall stuffed toy horse balanced on top of that snowbank.

Its nose was damaged and its stuffing was falling out, which at night gave the appearance that this tiny pony was instead a mighty hunter with prey hanging from its teeth.

I shook my head, laughing to myself at the trick my eyes had played on me and continued on to Job Corps. On my way home, the pony was laying down in the ditch. But the next morning, he was back atop the snowbank keeping watch.

I love a good story, even when the joke is on me. So I shared the tale of my wolverine sighting with reporter Greg Johnson and photo editor Robert DeBerry in the newsroom Thursday. When I turned on my computer Friday, one of them had added a snarling wolverine photo as my new wallpaper selection.

I laughed and again thought this was the end of my fun with stuffed horses and wolverines. That is, until I talked to my neighbor Friday night. When we started to tell Scott the wolverine story has eyes lit up and it was obvious he had something to add.

"Really? It's just a stuffed horse? You wouldn't believe how many of my buddies have stopped by with stories about the fox they saw with prey in its mouth across from the gravel pit."

Did you see the "wolverine," too? Send me your story at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or call 352-2268.

Heather A. Resz is a proud resident of Meadow Lakes and managing editor of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.