Encounter Atlas
In 1886 Montana settler Israel Ammon Hutchins shot a dark, wolf-like animal that had been prowling around his ranch. It had a sloping back and high shoulders like a hyena. Taxidermist Joseph Sherwood mounted it, named it a ringdocus, and showed it for decades in his store and museum near Henry's Lake, Idaho, until it disappeared from view around 1980.
Hutchins' grandson Jack Kirby tracked the mount down at the Idaho Museum of Natural History in 2007, and it was put on display at the Madison Valley History Museum in Ennis, Montana. Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman linked it to shunka warak'in, an Ioway name usually translated as 'carries off dogs'. Others say that link is a stretch. The animal has never been DNA tested.
What witnesses report
- A wolf-like animal with a hyena-like sloping back
- Dark coat and high shoulders
- Prowling near ranches at night
Famous cases
- 1886Hutchins shoots the animal
Madison Valley, Montana - 2007Mount rediscovered and displayed
Ennis, Montana
Seen the Shunka Warak'in?
Tell us what happened. Every report is read by a person before it goes on the map, and you can stay anonymous.
