Wolf hunting in Alberta

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AlbertabornNbread

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Lacombe AB
I'll be heading up into the Rockies this weekend and gonna try for wolves! Does anybody know about this or had success? Also does anybody know where or how I should set up like near valley,open area etc.
 
A couple things to remember...

http://www.albertaregulations.ca/huntingregs/gameregs.html

After harvesting any of the animals listed below, a hunter must register the kill at a Fish and Wildlife Division office within the specified time period;

•Wolves taken in any of WMUs 300 to 318, 324 to 330, 339 or 400 to 434 under any authority;


Persons registering goat, sheep, bison, cougar, bobcat and wolf are required to provide the following information:

•species and ### of the animal,
•date and location of the kill.

Timber Wolf;

A Resident may, without a licence, hunt (but not trap) timber wolf from the opening of any big game season in a particular WMU to May 31, 2013, or until June 15, 2013 in WMUs where black bear seasons are open until June 15, 2013.

Baiting for Wolves and Coyotes - On public land, hunters cannot use bait for hunting wolves or coyotes except a) from Dec. 1 to Mar. 31, or b) during an open season for the hunting of black bear where the setting out, use and possession of bait for the purpose of hunting black bear is permitted.

Each wolf or coyote bait site must have a readily observable sign showing the owner’s name, WIN, Big Game Outfitter-guide Permit Number, or Big Game Guide’s Designation Number.

These baiting restrictions do not apply to WMUs 102-166, to persons hunting under authority of a trapping licence, or on any private land.
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Find a decent clearing, bring in some bait, set-up the next day overlooking your spot.

:)
 
You might be underestimating the importance of scouting. Unless u know where they are all ready. I spend a lot of time in the mountains and they are pretty elusive animals.


If you have a good area and can get em to howl rite on but regardless good luck on ur hunt.
 
No need to go to the mountains. Good hunting in the foothills and Boreal forest.;) Gotta remember they move around a lot and you have to have some luck catching up with them. Christmas Eve and I'm sitting here chomping at the bit. :) Few plans and tactics up my sleeve. May I ask roughly where you're going?


Grizz
 
I shot a young wolf once, 1988 near Petawawa Township using my then new to me, .222 rifle. Two years ago I bumped into a wolf following me while I was upland bird hunting. If I had any decent sized birdshot besides the two loads of #7.5 I had in my 20 gauge O/U, I would have tried for him.
He was just 35 yards away from me.

These are rare events and I'm kicking myself for not having one shell with at least #2s in it during that second encounter.
 
Wolves travel in a circuit. Sometimes it takes weeks for them to return. You're wasting your time if they have moved off. Find a cattle farmer in the area to keep in touch when they come back, he probably has the odd cow carcass laying in a back quarter thats good for watching over.
 
Should be easy to get a wolf!!
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Apparently you have never targeted wolves? Here today, gone tomorrow is so true when hunting one of the most elusive big game animals we have. I live and work in an area known for high populations of canis lupus and just seeing a wolf is a rare occurance for the vast majority of us mere mortals and I encounter fresh tracks nearly every day! I have one buddy who sees more wolves than anybody I know and has been extremely lucky to have bagged several over the years. I myself have lived and worked in one of the most remote areas of northern BC with large populations of moose, elk, deer and caribou and have less than a dozen wolf sightings in over 30 years. The numbers of actual shot opportunities within 500 yards are even fewer! Even hunting over bait piles doesn't ensure a pelt. If you are one of the few that bag one, buy lottery tickets!
 
fiddler said:
Wolves travel in a circuit. Sometimes it takes weeks for them to return. You're wasting your time if they have moved off. Find a cattle farmer in the area to keep in touch when they come back, he probably has the odd cow carcass laying in a back quarter thats good for watching over.
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Problem with that strategy is wolves will not eat rotten meat at all !!! ... thats why they are so hard on animal population. Just because they take a moose down dosnt mean they'll finish it. As soon as it is not freash they'll move on and kill again even if 3/4's of its left. As posted earlier someone mentioned they move in circuts. That would be true ... keep in mind there circut could be an ENORMUS ! piece of country. They will often wonder off where ever as soon as they've cleaned out and area, and if the wolf population is high or its a big pack they will clean it out.

Another issue with wolf hunting. This was brought up at a recent outfitters meating this year. If you shoot a wolf that has a high status in the pack an " Alfa male or female " the other Alfa member could stop eating until it die's. If this happens there can be dessension amongst the pack. If the pack is big ... 15-20 animals and they lose a senior animal the pack will break up into 3 or 4 smaller packs killing 3 or 4 times more game and forcing all the animals to bread creating an explosion in the wolf population. Consevation has made it quite clear with great concern that if your going to shoot wolves they want you to hunt with multiple shooters and try and get the whole pack. They dont want guys taking individual animals anymore.

I really cant wrap my head around letting a wolf go when i see one. This has turned into quite an issue recently. Its almost turning into a situation where we might need government intervention. The wolf population in B.C has gotten out of control again. The far north end of vancouver island deer population is vurtually wiped out right now. I know things are getting bad in the interior of the province as well.
 
pilot2001 said:
Problem with that strategy is ...
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Another thing to remember is, wolves on Vancouver Island or B.C.'s interior are gonna behave slightly different than the Alberta wolves the OP is planning on hunting.

And I'd still like to see hard data, proving the "division of the pack" theory, for when an Alpha dog is killed unexpectedly. I think that idea is pushing the limits of possibility.
 
Any baiting programs running?
Here in Aus we have Wild Dog (crossbreds,domestic) problems, In the South the government has a couple Trappers for each 'area' if you will, tgey work for the DSE or DPI (department of primary industries) an do their thing within 3kms from the Farmlands..
so as to not target the more Elusive Pure Bred Alpine Dingoes... yes, similar to the one who took the baby.

Also the Govt is now 'training' people to use 1080 poision on their land , aswell as cobtractors running around the Bush dropping/burying baites... which is crazy(middle of summer). original plan was to Heli drop these baites..

Obviously these Wild dogs arnt as Rough on the Wildlife as the Wolves, and also you guys have more Carnivores which would also dig up an take the Baites.
 
pilot2001 said:
Problem with that strategy is wolves will not eat rotten meat at all !!! ... thats why they are so hard on animal population. Just because they take a moose down dosnt mean they'll finish it. As soon as it is not freash they'll move on and kill again even if 3/4's of its left. As posted earlier someone mentioned they move in circuts. That would be true ... keep in mind there circut could be an ENORMUS ! piece of country. They will often wonder off where ever as soon as they've cleaned out and area, and if the wolf population is high or its a big pack they will clean it out.

Another issue with wolf hunting. This was brought up at a recent outfitters meating this year. If you shoot a wolf that has a high status in the pack an " Alfa male or female " the other Alfa member could stop eating until it die's. If this happens there can be dessension amongst the pack. If the pack is big ... 15-20 animals and they lose a senior animal the pack will break up into 3 or 4 smaller packs killing 3 or 4 times more game and forcing all the animals to bread creating an explosion in the wolf population. Consevation has made it quite clear with great concern that if your going to shoot wolves they want you to hunt with multiple shooters and try and get the whole pack. They dont want guys taking individual animals anymore.
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Pretty tough to get meat to rot this time of year anywhere in Canada.

The division of pack theory sounds nothing short of ludicrous. They don't suddenly kill 3-4 times more game with the same total number of wolves present. It's pretty basic; if the number of prey species in the environment permits it, the wolf population will increase. While wolves will never "wipe out" a species, they can certainly kill off enough that it may seem that way. The huge packs of 15-20 are only seen where there is an abundance of prey, such as Wood Buffalo National Park. Regardless, it does seem that we have more wolves in Canada now than perhaps ever before.
 
"Another issue with wolf hunting. This was brought up at a recent outfitters meating this year. If you shoot a wolf that has a high status in the pack an " Alfa male or female " the other Alfa member could stop eating until it die's. If this happens there can be dessension amongst the pack. If the pack is big ... 15-20 animals and they lose a senior animal the pack will break up into 3 or 4 smaller packs killing 3 or 4 times more game and forcing all the animals to bread creating an explosion in the wolf population. Consevation has made it quite clear with great concern that if your going to shoot wolves they want you to hunt with multiple shooters and try and get the whole pack. They dont want guys taking individual animals anymore."
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Sooooo many unproven theories.
Scientific people who studied wolves found out long ago that an average wolf pack in Western Canada was 6 to 9 animals, consisting of a family group. Sometimes two or more of these family packs joined forces for more efficient hunting, but would later seperate into their original packs.
Wolves are very smart and efficient killers, but they are not always hunting. Three of us were once ice fishing on a very remote lake, when we noticed a small pack of wolves come onto the lake across from us, maybe a mile away. Shortly, a cow and calf moose appeared up the lake, a half mile or so from us. The wolves could certainly see the moose, but the moose, with their poor eyesight, probably didn't see the wolves. Fiften minutes later the wolves and the moose were still on the lake, in plain view.
When wolves are travellling, but not hunting, they follow in each others tracks, stepping in the same footprints. The story has been around for a hundred years, that when a wolf pack is thus travelling in quite deep snow, the wolf on the lead will step aside when he gets tired breaking trail, let the rest of the pack go by, then take his place on the rear. The story goes that each wolf in turn, takes his place at the head of the pack breaking trail, thus all wolves share the work.
From the air I have never seen any evidence of this when wolves were travelling quite long distances in fairly deep snow on frozen lakes. Thus, as far as I'm concerned, it is just another theory that sounds so nice, but is unproven. Maybe someone else here has some personal information on whether or not, the wolves take turns at breaking trail.
When they are hunting they all spread out. From the air in a low flying aircraft we once saw a willow coverd valley about a quarter mile wide, simpley laced with wolf track, from side to side, and the tracks were all moving up the valley. Before long they came onto a cow and calf moose and quickly killed them. When we came along there wasn't enough left of either moose to make a stew with!
The wolves were sleeping off their great feast nearby in the willows, until our aircraft scared them and they took off, leaving the valley at right angles. As they were travelling one behind the other, we could count them and the pack consisted of fourteen wolves.
 
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