From the time they were pups, each wolf had to find its place in the pack.
Kamots, the most alert and curious, became the alpha male, taking command and reinforcing the pack’s social structure. Lakota, his shy brother, eventually became the lowest-ranking wolf. And Matsi, the peacemaker, took care of his peers and their pups – and even defended Lakota.
Their stories and the tales of other members of the Sawtooth Pack were first chronicled in 1997 on Discovery’s “Wolves at Our Door.”
That documentary’s two-hour sequel, “Living With Wolves,” gives viewers a more personal glimpse into the lives of the wolves and their human neighbors – filmmakers Jim and Jamie Dutcher, who fell in love while writing to each other about the wolves and the wilderness.
For Jim, the project began in 1990 when he began living with and filming a wolf pack he assembled from three litters in a 25-acre enclosed area in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. Jamie joined him in 1993 to help document the social and personal characteristics of pack members. “Wolves at Our Door” won Emmys in cinematography for Jim and in sound for Jamie.
“The new film gets more behind the scenes,” Jim said. “You get to know individual wolves and how the leader of the pack was supreme, yet benevolent and concerned.”
Jamie said “Living With Wolves” also is about how the filmmakers – who lived in a tent close to the wolves – came together because of their love for animals.
“From the moment I met Jamie, I just knew she would fit in, not just into the project, but into my life as well,” Jim says in the film. “When she was introduced to the wolves, she instinctively knew that everything had to be on their terms.”
Viewers get to witness that introduction and later see how the bond forged between Jamie and Chemukh, the alpha female, leads to an amazing interaction – Jamie’s entrance into Chemukh’s den after the birth of a litter.
“I was amazed by Chemukh’s display of absolute trust,” Jim said.
The couple’s simple and at times harsh existence also is touched on.
When the project ended in 1996, the wolves were relocated to northern Idaho on tribal lands of the Nez Perce.
Jamie is especially fond of seeing the pack at its new home. “We got to go back to visit – and they remembered us,” she said. “I’m getting teary-eyed. We had such a bond … and we got such a huge greeting.”
Jim’s favorite part was going back to where the documentaries were filmed and finding a fairly fresh wolf track, which meant that wolves had returned to the wilderness for the first time in 50 years, he said.
The Dutchers, who live in Idaho, have a “Living With Wolves” book with audio CD (Mountaineers Books, $34.95) being published this month and plan a lecture series on their experiences this fall. “I owe it to the wolves to tell their story,” Jim said. “They trusted us and welcomed us into their lives.
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