As I was walking along on one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge last Friday, I noticed a large spider coming in my direction at a pretty good clip. I gave the spider plenty of space, but managed to capture this image of what I believe is a Wolf Spider with my long telephoto lens.
Wolf spiders belong to the family Lycosidae and are among the most common spider species found around the world. According to an article entitled “Wolf Spider: Friend or Foe?” wolf spiders “are keen hunters that chase or pounce on prey like wolves rather than spin a web and wait for a meal. Unlike wolves hunting as packs, wolf spiders generally live and hunt alone. Hunting occurs both day and night.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Not a fan, but we have reached an agreement. They stay outside and all is good. 😁. A very nice shot, looks like you were down on his level 😳😳
Thanks, Ted. I know that reactions to my spider photos will invariably be mixed. It is interesting that you noticed that I took the shot from a low angle–indeed I was pretty low to the ground as I tried to get at the eye level of the spider.
Seemed like you had to be down there, or this was a REALLY big Wolf spider LOL
Wolf spiders are definitely friends as far as I am concerned. I permit them to live rent-free in my house (much to the chagrin of the arachnophobes I live with) because they predate on the beasties I don’t really want to share my living space with.
That’s really cool, Laura. Many people freak out when they see small spiders and wolf spiders are not exactly small.
The ones in my house are really big and chubby I assume because they don’t have to burn many calories to obtain their food. I accidentally abducted one in my backpack a couple of weeks ago and it escaped in my classroom. I had to hunt him down and release him because I was worried the students or my colleagues would squish him and I was responsible for his well being. Well, because he was such a chonker, I was thankfully able to spot him on the rug from a distance.
“I gave the spider plenty of space…” I can understand that, Mike. Great photo.