The Wolf Trap

Meet Wolfie, he is a Fenn cast bronze owl that was carved by Jack Drake. According to Mr. Fenn, "I did cast that bronze and the writing on it is from my hand. Jack Drake was primarily a wood carver of birds and had a nice following at the Baker Gallery in Lubbock in the 1960."

I purchased the poor little fella from eBay when his former owner decided to abandon him. Which seemed kind of odd, since he he was the number 1 of 50 copies, the most valuable as stated by Forrest, "The first one I poured was #28, thinking that the casting bugs would be worked out before making the lower numbers, which would be more valuable. Twenty-eight of the copies were sold over time, but I liked #28 so much I’ve kept it all of these ensuing 50 years. I also kept the #1 copy, but I can’t remember why."

I did have a special buyer for him but he decided to back out at the last minute, I guess I was the victim of the Wolf Trap. After I finished chewing off my paw, I took him on a road trip with me to Tampa Bay. Wolfie and I took in game 4 of the Stanley Cup quarter finals: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. the eventual Stanley Cup Winner Pittsburgh Penguins.

Wolfie brought good luck to the Bolts as they defeated the Penguins by a score of 4-3. It was too bad he couldn't have travelled to all of the Penguin games, as I am sure the Wolfie curse would have continued to work its magic.

Speaking of wolf traps, Forrest wrote a story about a poor unfortunate wolf who found himself in a trap after chasing some bait (Passage 4). The despirate Wolf knew the price of freedom and paid a heavy price.

This poor Omega wolf will need to pay closer attention to traps that may be waiting to spring while hunting for prey. A superior Alpha male is too smart to fall for futile human tricks.

Many who have read my book Finding Forrest Fenn will understand the other reason I liberated Wolfie and that is because of the coolest Owl Blaze ever discovered since the chase began.

If you look closely, you will see the similarity between the Fenn castings of Wolfie and The Wolf Trap. Some day Wolfie will be liberated from my friendship but it too will come at a hefty price. Would you be willing to give up your paw to save Wolfie?