Best rifle for shooting Wolves

Lazerus2000 said:
. Real men support their opinions with facts ... give me some or STFU.
LAZ 1
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You haven't provided any facts to support your claims, either.;)

FWIW, many wolf seasons have been extended in recent years, since the scientists in charge of such things would like to see wolf numbers kept in check as much as possible.

Recreational hunters really won't make an impact on wolf populations, but we can give it a go.:)

PS I've not only looked into the eyes of a wild wolf, I've had several howling within a few yards of me, watched wolves take down deer (twice) and had them run next to my truck one night, chasing it for fun. I still don't have an issue with killing them.
 
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ive spent many evenings watching wolves feed on roadkill carrion dumped in highway's gravel pits. They are amazing animals and I admire them greatly. But I still wouldnt think twice about layin down some lead if I saw one out while hunting. I would probably take the fur, but if I was around an area that is having a population problem with wolves... i wouldn't lose sleep for leaving it for yote food.

I would choose any cartridge that I could shoot well, like others said probably anything larger than a .22 cal
 
There is no predator/prey "balance". Wildlife populations are in a constant state of flux, rising and falling. Shooting a few wolves (and a few is, relatively speaking, all that are going to get shot) may at best even out the highs and lows of their populations and that of their prey. Why wait until game populations are reduced to a minimum, at which point the wolves themselves begin to suffer from losses due to starvation?
 
I was simply looking for some debate on the types of rifle/cartridge would be most suitable for shooting wolves. There is another thread, in the hunting forum about the issues of wolves/moose predation. lets keep it on subject please.

I was asking because the lighest rifle I have at the moment is the 7 mag. Thanks for the imput folks.
 
Gibbs, I woudl , and have shot a wolf wiht a 7RM. It can make a big hole.:)

Works fine, though. You can always load it down or use a real heavy bullet kinda slow, so that doesn't expand very rapidly.:)
 
Lazerus2000 said:
I lived in Terrace for a year, and in Smithers for three years. Spent a LOT of time in the outdoors up there, and never saw no wolves. Lots of bears, lots and LOTS of bears, lotsa moose [ including one that wandered into my car port in Smithers and scared the $hit out of me and my German Shepherd dog ... who was pretending to be a wolf for that few minutes ], but I ain't never seen no wolves up that way. Seen one wolf on Vancouver Island once, and one in Northern Sakatchewan, once. So, from my personal experience, and from what I've read elsewhere, wild wolves are few and far between, and deserve to be protected, not slaughtered for "sport".

I find it hard to believe that there is hard scientific evidence that the wolves are doing all that much damage to the deer and moose, that we need to ruthlessly slaughter them again. Now as for bears, a while back, when we hunted moose in Northern Saskatchewan they gave us two free bear tags for each moose tag, because they had HARD EVIDENCE that nine out of ten tagged moose calves were killed their first year by bears. So, in those circumstances, killing / culling bears had a legitimate conservation justification.

Using your argument that wolves are hard on the moose around Terrace, last I heard there were dozens, perhaps huindreds of mosse killed by the Trains ... many of them running towards the trains, rather than AWAY.

SO MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE OUT THERE STANDING ON THE TRACKS AND SHOOTING AT THE TRAINS???

Now that would be a true test of your sportsmanship.
For that merry sport you might find that even the .50 Cal wasn't enough ... but then a real man deserves a real challenge.

IMHO, hunting is different than simply killing. If you are shooting predators for a sound conservation reason, go for it. But otherwise, if you don't want the pelts, and can't eat the meat, then you are simply a killer, not a hunter.
If you want a true challenge, join the army, and go out and hunt something more challenging ... like another person with a gun.

PS: I may be biased here ... I am probably one of the few people on this board who has actually been sniffed and licked by a real live wolf. This experience has convinced me that they aren't the BIG BAG wolf of legend.
BAH HUMBUG!!
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Wasn't there a guy a few years back that felt the same about the grizzly bears?
What happened to him and his girlfriend?
got eaten, didn't they?
The first time a wolf gets close enough for me to pet it, it's going to get a KNIFE!
"Don't screw with wild animals" is not some old wive's tale......
cat
 
I don't particularly see anything wrong with hunting wolves or any game animal. I do however pose this question for all to ponder. Before man, before we had the ability to "control" populations, what the f*ck do you think happened when species X was overly abundant for its food source or geographic region? Answer, mother nature balanced herself. Stop thinking that Man must act on behalf of mother nature. The planet has seen far worse sh*t than anything man or beast can produce.

TDC
 
For a conservation standpoint, wolves are good. Too much of them is bad. So is none of them. USUALLY wolves will attack old, sick, or young animals, leaving alone the good ones. Now, if food is rare they'll attack anything. The problem is yotes. They will attack ANYTHING. Good, sick, old, big, small, anything. A healthy, small pack of wolves in a big area containing many preys is a good thing. Moderation is the key.

Personally .223 seems to work pretty well, but long shots really aren't the norm around here. Your mileage may vary.

EDIT : Remember : The worst threat to wildlife anywhere are 2 legged yotes. Unfortunately I never heard of open season for these ones.... Sad...
 
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Gibbs505 said:
With all this talk about wolves and their impact on Moose and deer populations, I am wondering about a suitable rifle.
Currently, the lightest rifles I have would be a 303, sporterised and a FN Mauser in 7 mag.

What would you suggest?

PS not a poll, but just wondering. Would a 22.250 be a better choice, not worried about the pelts!
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I know I will get crapped on for this, "but". Why do you want to shoot Wolves if you don't want the pelt's? Wolves have been a natural predator of Deer and Moose long before we came along. I wonder how much actual effect they have on populations anyway? I think in a lot of Provinces they are protected, or should be.
 
Win/64 said:
I know I will get crapped on for this, "but". Why do you want to shoot Wolves if you don't want the pelt's? Wolves have been a natural predator of Deer and Moose long before we came along. I wonder how much actual effect they have on populations anyway? I think in a lot of Provinces they are protected, or should be.
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Did you actually read the responses in this or in the thread on wolves in the hunting section?:confused::rolleyes:

Go read them, I will not reguratate them here!
 
Gibbs505 said:
Did you actually read the responses in this or in the thread on wolves in the hunting section?:confused::rolleyes:

Go read them, I will not reguratate them here!
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Sorry did I get off topic? I read "your", post and responded to it. :) Seems there was a few people that felt the same way as I did.
 
Jesu Cristos nothing like a simple damned question to get all the tree hugging granola eaters riled up.
Are we talking a real grey wolf or another sniveling coyote? I was in Alberta two weeks ago from Fort Mac to Peace river and never saw anything but coyotes.
From personal experience stay with anything above a .22cf- 6mm rem or .243 win will do a good job for you. If you reload by all means use your 7mm mag. with a lighter bullet- or whatever and you won't look back.
Hasn't Alberta had a recent outbreak of coyote attacks? That should tell you guys something right away!
 
I have seen and killed a few wolves, mostly during late moose season. I have one over the back of the couch. Shot him with a 35-404 at about 40 yd. I don't know much about the size of wolves anywhere else but the ones I've seen dead weigh about 100 lb. or so. The one we skinned and tanned was 126. The taxidermist in Weyburn weighed it. That would put them in the whitetail deer size in a more compact form. Add to that the range of opportunity and I'd say a 25/06 would be minimum. I shot a smaller ##### over bait at Hudson Bay Sk. with a 6.5 Gibbs and it ripped a huge hole in the offside. This was in the spring and wolves were in the cattle pen.
I'll add a story that came from the Hudson Bay area. A couple moved from B.C. and rented a farmyard not far from town. They promptly posted no hunting signs all over the adjacent land. Long story short, the signs came down when they came out one morning to the sight of their 2 dogs that had been drug off by coyotes for a little sport. The real world tends to be a wakeup. Mark
 
TDC said:
I don't particularly see anything wrong with hunting wolves or any game animal. I do however pose this question for all to ponder. Before man, before we had the ability to "control" populations, what the f*ck do you think happened when species X was overly abundant for its food source or geographic region? Answer, mother nature balanced herself. Stop thinking that Man must act on behalf of mother nature. The planet has seen far worse sh*t than anything man or beast can produce.

TDC
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Of course nature balances itself. Humans are, and always have been a part of nature, BTW.

The problem is that natures mood swings are wide and harsh. The concept of wildlife "management" is to keep a balance in place, so no species is completely wiped out and has to reintroduce itself.
 
I have used a 7mm with the Fed Premium 165 Sierra on one wolf and a 9.3x64 with 286g Partitions on 2 wolves.


Basically whatever gun is in my hand at the time is the "best" ;)


This year I spent a week in camp for moose, I called in wolves and coyotes the whole time. Probably a ratio of 6 wolves to 1 moose came to the call. Time to shoot a few wolves in that particular area me thinks. :evil:
 
jed said:
22-250 would be a suitable choice, so would a 243, 257 roberts, 260, 6.5x55, 260 whatever. If you are not looking to save the hides then the 25 or 26 cals would be a better choice imho. Are you looking to buy a rifle to just shoot wolves , or wolves and other predators, or wolves and maybe deer? What distances are you looking at, what sight options? I am quite certain that the 303 has killed more than one wolf in it's day if that's what you want to use it'll do.
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Best answer!!! :D
 
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