A hit and a miss
Well My72jeep almost got his ear nibbled on this morning and it wasn’t from his wife ……
Gunner410 had to work this AM so you know how this is going to go…
We have had a lot of activity in the area on the hydro line A pack moved in a couple of weeks ago and haven’t left the area. Usually they show up for a couple of days and then disappear for 7 – 9 days before they return. They aren’t doing that this year.
On Friday, G410, Wayne and I went out to the line and there were a pile of fresh tracks, but no response. Saturday, had 5 of us out and I managed to get one howl back at us, but it never showed.
So Wayne, My72J and Marc, the son of one of my coworkers, went out this morning. Wayne's caller had pooched so I set up my caller and headed to the side of the hydro line where I had shot my last wolf. My72J and Marc were sitting against the poles on the other side of the road watching the line on that side, and Wayne and I were up on the ridge.
I was on my knees getting about to get my gear out of my pack when I heard Wayne say “Chas they are coming”. I looked over where he was sitting and he was pointing down the line. I sat down and started glassing the line with my scope but couldn’t see anything. I t was snowing and very mild, almost like a fog hanging in the air. I looked over and Wayne was adjusting his scope. I looked back and couldn’t see anything still. Then there was a gunshot and Wayne waved at me.
I dug out my caller remote out of the pack and started with a pup in distress call. I called for 5 or 6 minutes and then scooted over to where Wayne was sitting. He showed me where the wolf was lying in the snow, about 250 yards away. The reason I couldn’t see it was that it was behind one of the hydro poles on the angle where I was sitting.
Played a couple of howl sequences and there was a gunshot from the other side of the road. We turned around and could see the other guys, Marc was waving an arm. Hit the pup in distress call again and played it on and off for about 10 minutes. After nothing showed, we got up and walked down to tag Waynes wolf and drag it back up the line. By now, the snow had turned to rain (almost unheard of for here in January).
Met up with My72J and asked what happened. He said after he heard the shot and then the pup in distress call, he knew to sit still and keep watching. After a couple of minutes, he caught a movement in the corner of his eye. He turned his head and a wolf was sitting on the edge of the powerline (a measured) 15 yards to his left. He tried to swing the rifle but the wolf bolted into the bush.
My72J got Marcs attention and indicated that he had seen one. Marc was panning the line on an adjacent pole, and after a couple of minutes, noticed a wolf sitting 60 yards down the line in front of My72J. He looked over at My72J, but he couldn’t see it for some long grass. Now I had given them my Primos Sit and Spin decoy and they had it out in front of them. Marc figures the wolf was looking at it, and seeing as My72J want moving, he lifted his .25-06 and got the wolf in the scope. When he cocked the hammer on his rifle, the wolf turned and looked right at him. He pulled the trigger and the wolf dropped from view, and he didn’t bother to reload. He looked at My72J and he was pointing down the line and when Marc looked up the wolf was running into the tree line. They went and followed the tracks in the snow, and it was peeing and dropping “nuggets” as it ran, but they found no blood.
So all in all, the hunt was over in 20 minutes.
Got to love small towns, we pulled into Timmies to grab G410's wife (who was working there) to show her the wolf. When we got into the parking lot, a couple of guys we know asked us if we got anything. We showed them and one wanted pictures with it and the next thing you know they have the tailgate dropped and it dragged out. I took a couple of quick pics and then shut the tailgate (which was visible to the restaurant). We are standing there talking (with three of us still in whites), when this lady comes out of Tims with a couple of coffees and walks right to me. I have no idea who she is. She says – “can I see it”, and I say “See what?”, and she says the “wolf”. I said how did she know and she said all of the staff were at the window looking at it from inside the restaurant. She was nice and had never seen a wolf before so I dropped the tailgate and showed her. Then we went to G410's place of employment and showed him.
Wayne and I weighed it at the house – it was a 70 lb female. He made a nice shot at 250 yards with his Tikka .22-250 with Hornday ammo – it never moved from where it was hit.
So thats three wolves and a coyote so far - and all from the same spot
In this picture, Marc was sitting behind one of the poles on the right, and My72Jeep on the left double pole - you can see how close the bushline / wolf was to him:
