Guardians of the Forest

[Canon Rumors]

Wildlife photography is one of the most popular forms of photography out there. There are many reasons for it. It can lead you to travel to new and exciting places, it gets you outside into nature, it can remove you from the world of humans, the animal kingdom will teach you something new everytime you're […]

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[Canon Rumors]

I wanted to mention that no animals in this film were baited. The first comments on Facebook were ridiculous. I know, it's Facebook.

Yes, there are hides around the Boreal Forest for photography that do bait the animals. It is more than possible to head out and shoot without doing so. It just takes extra work, being up crazy early and spending all day outside. Some days it won't work out, other days it will.

Note: No debating the topic of baiting, it's a fool's errand. I avoid it at all costs.

 

[AlanF]

I wanted to mention that no animals in this film were baited. The first comments on Facebook were ridiculous. I know, it's Facebook.

Yes, there are hides around the Boreal Forest for photography that do bait the animals. It is more than possible to head out and shoot without doing so. It just takes extra work, being up crazy early and spending all day outside. Some days it won't work out, other days it will.

Note: No debating the topic of baiting, it's a fool's errand. I avoid it at all costs.

Debaiting?

 

[Maximilian]

Just for this article.
Thanks to @Canon Rumors and @"Joshua Holko" for sharing this.

I don't get the fear and discussions here in Germany about wolves reentering Germany.
Of course, Germany is pretty crowded. There's just some space for predators like wolfs.
Of course, if a wolf behaves unnatural and becomes a danger to humans, It must be removed, killed!
This is possible as of today.
But as long as farmers and shepherd don't try to live with them (el. fences, herding dogs, etc.) they must not complain.
A lot of tax money is given to them to protect their herds. But some just prefer the simple way: renewed eradication! Pity!

Edit:
There is a docu film (German) from the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland e. V. (BUND) in Germany focusing on that topic:

Naturfilm "Wölfe und Menschen - Wege zur Koexistenz"

Der Film des Naturfilmers Sebastian Koerner zeigt einzigartige Aufnahmen aus dem Leben der Wölfe. Zudem stellt er Erfahrungen verschiedener Menschen mit Wölfen dar.

www.bund-naturschutz.de

 

[Canon Rumors]

Just for this article.
Thanks to @Canon Rumors and @"Joshua Holko" for sharing this.

I don't get the fear and discussions here in Germany about wolfs reentering Germany.
Of course, Germany is pretty crowded. There's just some space for predators like wolfs.
Of course, if a wolf behaves unnatural and becomes a danger to humans, It must be removed, killed!
This is possible as of today.
But as long as farmers and shepherd don't try to live with them (el. fences, herding dogs, etc.) they must not complain.
A lot of tax money is given to them to protect their herds. But some just prefer the simple way: renewed eradication! Pity!

Edit:
There is a docu film (German) from the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland e. V. (BUND) in Germany focusing on that topic:

Naturfilm "Wölfe und Menschen - Wege zur Koexistenz"

Der Film des Naturfilmers Sebastian Koerner zeigt einzigartige Aufnahmen aus dem Leben der Wölfe. Zudem stellt er Erfahrungen verschiedener Menschen mit Wölfen dar.

www.bund-naturschutz.de

Yes, culling the animal population is pretty normal. In Ontario, Canada it was coyotes and deer. All regulated, you can't go out and kill 10 of them. 1 tag per hunter during specific weeks and specific weapons. Rifle week, black powder week, arrow week sort of thing.

Farms do need to be protected too. Unfortunately there is some crazy claims by some farmers. Here in Spain some farmers are claiming Lynx are eating their livestock. Which is BS, unless their livestock is rabbits.

 

[Canon Rumors]

Debaiting?

well played.

 

[eero]

I wanted to mention that no animals in this film were baited. The first comments on Facebook were ridiculous. I know, it's Facebook.

Yes, there are hides around the Boreal Forest for photography that do bait the animals. It is more than possible to head out and shoot without doing so. It just takes extra work, being up crazy early and spending all day outside. Some days it won't work out, other days it will.

Note: No debating the topic of baiting, it's a fool's errand. I avoid it at all costs.

Hmm... very hard to believe, unfortunately. I know many wildlife photographers here in Finland who spend months outside every year looking for things like this, and never see anything. Even when hunters or other knowledgeable people have pointed them to the "right" place. Even close to the paid hides, where wolves and bears are frequent visitors.

Both wolves and bears are extremely timid when it comes to humans. Even when you see them, they most likely see or smell you long before and take off. It is against most of the odds to spend a relatively short time here and find anything like what we have seen in this video without visiting the bait hides. But yeah, that's only my feeling as a Finnish person. I can be wrong, but I would highly recommend participating in a lottery if that is truly the case. 99.99% of all wolf and bear footage you see from Finland is shot from bait hides or near them. Either way, the footage in the video is very high quality, all respect to the maker.

Edit: Most likely in Kuhmo, there is a paid place where people have shot photos with very(!) similar backgrounds. Of course, bogs look similar everywhere... so, who knows.

 

[eero]

Just for this article.
Thanks to @Canon Rumors and @"Joshua Holko" for sharing this.

I don't get the fear and discussions here in Germany about wolfs reentering Germany.
Of course, Germany is pretty crowded. There's just some space for predators like wolfs.
Of course, if a wolf behaves unnatural and becomes a danger to humans, It must be removed, killed!
This is possible as of today.
But as long as farmers and shepherd don't try to live with them (el. fences, herding dogs, etc.) they must not complain.
A lot of tax money is given to them to protect their herds. But some just prefer the simple way: renewed eradication! Pity!

Edit:
There is a docu film (German) from the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland e. V. (BUND) in Germany focusing on that topic:

Naturfilm "Wölfe und Menschen - Wege zur Koexistenz"

Der Film des Naturfilmers Sebastian Koerner zeigt einzigartige Aufnahmen aus dem Leben der Wölfe. Zudem stellt er Erfahrungen verschiedener Menschen mit Wölfen dar.

www.bund-naturschutz.de

Unfortunately, now we have the new EU laws in place, which state that wolves are no longer an endangered species. The farmers and hunters tried to get this law passed for decades, but only after a wolf killed Ursula von der Leyen's pet pony, wheels started moving, and that was bad news for the wolves. Almost a hundred wolves have been legally killed here in Finland this year, and on top of that, all the illegal killings.

 

[Maximilian]

Yes, culling the animal population is pretty normal. In Ontario, Canada it was coyotes and deer. All regulated, you can't go out and kill 10 of them. 1 tag per hunter during specific weeks and specific weapons. Rifle week, black powder week, arrow week sort of thing.

In Germany and the EU wolves were (almost) extincted as you probably might know, when you are in Spain right now.
Therefore, wolves were highly protected and no hunting was allowed at all, except for conspicuous individuals.
As @eero mentioned, this has changed for several reasons - right or wrong. most was lobbying.

Farms do need to be protected too.

This was actively done in Germany because of the wolf protection.
Still the farmers and the hunters did their lobby work...

Unfortunately there is some crazy claims by some farmers. Here in Spain some farmers are claiming Lynx are eating their livestock. Which is BS, unless their livestock is rabbits.

So true. So obvious.
But even here in Germany, Lynxes are poisoned, which is a crime.
Because hunters fear for their game board and farmers... yeah again. Even though the number of lynxes is so small here...

Some people don't understand that we need nature and the Earth to survive.

 

[ThomasTH]

It's truly a shame. Here in Austria one of four wolves was shot in 2025. Since 2022 in Austria five times as many wolves have been shot as in Germany.

 

[ThomasTH]

The video is really great and the photos are even more awesome.

 

[DocInfoSci]

I like content like this. Makes my morning while I prep. Thanks!

"I have never been so cold, and I'm Canadian"

Wow, as a fellow Canuck from BC who has spent meaningful time way, way up north... that sets the bar.