Going to try hunting wolves, any suggestions?

bjake said:
Try freezing half of them in you 'll get a month or more depending on when the melt comes everything that passes buy will have a look and try and dig it out.
Bruce
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I am on the coast where a lot of the time it is not cold enough to keep things frozen. The wolves just grab it and tear it away even when wired to a tree...
 
Okay people lets stop talking about poisoning wolves. Not only illegal it never just targets the wolf. Other animals end up eating it and die too. We went thru all this in the 70's and let's not repeat that disaster...
 
I've shot quite a few of them, and most successful method I've found is to simply watch their trails. Find sign, and Wolves are creatures of habit, they travel corridors patrolling for prey. Rivers in winter are where I see most of them, they like open areas that have water and grass / forage / browsing material as that's where their prey are. The river also lets them see, as just like us in thick bush they can't see a thing and they are of course hunters. They're still found in thick bush if they want to be there, as they can smell and hear a lot better than us, but as a general rule find an area with repeated tracks and simply watch it. I wouldn't quad or sled in, way too loud and high profile, walk or snow shoe a good ways from your vehicle and watch your upwind side / look into the wind as that's where you'll surprise them. I haven't had success calling them but also haven't tried it hard, but have been able to stop them with a rabbit distress call when they were leaving and I wanted a shot opportunity.
 
I find it amusing when people ask if a certain calibre is sufficient enough to kill a specific type of animal. Up until "the law" said you weren't allowed to, most of the big game animals (i.e. caribou, black bear, moose, etc.) taken in northern Canada were by way of the lowly .22 Long/LR. Was it ideal? Probably not. But, the fact remains, if you are proficient with your rifle and can place your shots where you intend them to go, you should have no problems killing a wolf with a .223 or a .22-250.

IMHO, it's much better to take a shot at an animal with a rifle you're a confident using, than upping the calibre just because it hits harder. Hitting harder doesn't mean crap if you can't make a clean kill shot.
 
Weather's gonna be good for hunting wolves around here for a while, by the looks of it. Might be having some hunger pangs ;)

Grizz
 
I can offer this advice after chasing them and having two friends that own guiding outfits and chase them exclusively back home in winter. Use enough gun. I used to think my 22-250 was plenty of rifle and in a few cases it may be, but in winter the fur is 4-6 inches in length and they are a tough and cunning animal that do not usually offer close shots. My buddy carries a 7mm STW for guiding. He says he has too many wounded chases with 22-250's and 223's. He recommends his clients carry at minimum a 25-06 or 270.
 
the spank said:
I can offer this advice after chasing them and having two friends that own guiding outfits and chase them exclusively back home in winter. Use enough gun. I used to think my 22-250 was plenty of rifle and in a few cases it may be, but in winter the fur is 4-6 inches in length and they are a tough and cunning animal that do not usually offer close shots. My buddy carries a 7mm STW for guiding. He says he has too many wounded chases with 22-250's and 223's. He recommends his clients carry at minimum a 25-06 or 270.
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I'll second that. :)

Grizz
 
Labman said:
I find it amusing when people ask if a certain calibre is sufficient enough to kill a specific type of animal. Up until "the law" said you weren't allowed to, most of the big game animals (i.e. caribou, black bear, moose, etc.) taken in northern Canada were by way of the lowly .22 Long/LR. Was it ideal? Probably not. But, the fact remains, if you are proficient with your rifle and can place your shots where you intend them to go, you should have no problems killing a wolf with a .223 or a .22-250.

IMHO, it's much better to take a shot at an animal with a rifle you're a confident using, than upping the calibre just because it hits harder. Hitting harder doesn't mean crap if you can't make a clean kill shot.
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Now here's what I find amusing. :) How many Wolves have you shot? That is my question, because I find it funny when people who have barely hunted the game in question if at all come in and try to tell people that have hunted the species, they're wrong in their chambering recommendations. :) Perhaps you have extensive Wolf hunting experience and can educate us modestly experienced Wolf hunters. Fact is, all those noble northern .22LR and .22 Hornet hunters lost startling quantities of wounded game almost all of us today would consider completely unethical. It was survival, you needed meat and .22LR, .22 Hornet, and .223 were a lot smaller, cheaper, easier to freight, and easier to store in bulk than proper hunting chamberings. It had everything to do with practicality and nothing to do with them being appropriate big game chamberings. The rules you mention became law for very good reasons.
 
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Ardent said:
Now here's what I find amusing. :) How many Wolves have you shot? That is my question, because I find it funny when people who haven't even have barely hunted the game in question if at all come in and try to tell people that have hunted the species, they're wrong in their chambering recommendations. :) Fact is, all those noble northern .22LR and .22 Hornet hunters lost startling quantities of wounded game almost all of us today would consider completely unethical. It was survival, you needed meat and .22LR, .22 Hornet, and .223 were a lot smaller, cheaper, easier to freight, and easier to store in bulk than proper hunting chamberings. It had everything to do with practicality and nothing to do with them being appropriate big game chamberings. The rules you mention became law for very good reasons.
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Easier to sew up a hole in a pelt than try and track a wounded wolf in it's home turf. Trust me. ;)

Grizz
 
Indeed shot plenty myself, it's one of my favourite winter activities, was within 40 yards of three big Timberwolves yesterday evening. And while I don't feel they are exceptionally tough anymore, they are of course the size of many coastal and eastern deer. A .22-250 or .243, even .223, with a proper hunting bullet, like a Partition, is decent medicine at that size. Trouble I believe is people buy the varmint junk, with 45gr and 55gr HPs or SPs constructed for said varmint and then shoot them at small deer sized game. Perfect shot placement on wolves, who are almost always moving, is a bit of a noble myth in my opinion. I've had to take plenty of running shots as they cross lakes / rivers and anyhow who wants to preach the perfect shot placement and a .223 argument hasn't hunted many Wolves. :) I used a .308 in the past, and it works great, now I'm thinking my 7x57 or .257 Roberts will be the go to. I have been carrying my .223 with good bullets, and have confidence in it, but doesn't mean to me it's the first tool I'd pick. It's just the lightest, ugliest, and handiest so I like carrying it. Forgive the aside!
 
I agree with Ardent. I've shot them with 223, 220 Swift, 22-250, 243, 257 Wby, 264 WinMag, 270, 300 WinMag, 30-06 and 338WinMag. Out of all those, I prefer the 257 and 264 with Barnes TSX. They're as flat shooting as the varmint calibers, there's not much pelt damage using those bullets and it kills them dead every time. The quick 22's are great for fox and coyote, not so dependable for wolves, especially once you get out there. Perhaps with heavy bullets in quick twist barrels, but then you lose the flat trajectory.
 
I reckon I have posted this picture on here more than once. But it is a good illustration of the results of using a deer (fawn distress "Eastman Deer talk") call.

I was hunting deer and saw some wolves in a cutblock chasing some white-tails. A perfect situation to do some predator calling. A few blasts on the fawn distress call and these two wolves came a runnin at me.

I hit the farthest away (100 yards) and then dumped the closer one (40 paces). Then as the first wolf was wounded and trying to get away, I emptied my gun on him (my Sav. 99 in .300 sav. held six shots total)and got him.

9-04wolvesgood.jpg
 
the last two wolves I've shot have been with my 7-08 varmint remington 700 BLD...one with 139 SST and the other was 140 Berger VLD hunting...the Berger did a lot less hide damage but was at just over 400 yards ranged as compared to around 175 yards estimated with the SST.

Also the ones I've shot with a 22-250 at ranges up to around the 400 yard mark didn't seem to know it wasn't a larger caliber bullet that hit them....I'm not arguing with what anyone has said, just stating my personal observations.
 
the spank said:
I can offer this advice after chasing them and having two friends that own guiding outfits and chase them exclusively back home in winter. Use enough gun. I used to think my 22-250 was plenty of rifle and in a few cases it may be, but in winter the fur is 4-6 inches in length and they are a tough and cunning animal that do not usually offer close shots. My buddy carries a 7mm STW for guiding. He says he has too many wounded chases with 22-250's and 223's. He recommends his clients carry at minimum a 25-06 or 270.
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I was unaware that longer hair becomes bulletproof. You learn something new every day.
 
Ardent said:
Indeed shot plenty myself, it's one of my favourite winter activities, was within 40 yards of three big Timberwolves yesterday evening. And while I don't feel they are exceptionally tough anymore, they are of course the size of many coastal and eastern deer. A .22-250 or .243, even .223, with a proper hunting bullet, like a Partition, is decent medicine at that size. Trouble I believe is people buy the varmint junk, with 45gr and 55gr HPs or SPs constructed for said varmint and then shoot them at small deer sized game. Perfect shot placement on wolves, who are almost always moving, is a bit of a noble myth in my opinion. I've had to take plenty of running shots as they cross lakes / rivers and anyhow who wants to preach the perfect shot placement and a .223 argument hasn't hunted many Wolves. :) I used a .308 in the past, and it works great, now I'm thinking my 7x57 or .257 Roberts will be the go to. I have been carrying my .223 with good bullets, and have confidence in it, but doesn't mean to me it's the first tool I'd pick. It's just the lightest, ugliest, and handiest so I like carrying it. Forgive the aside!
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Good response - the "experts" don't like it when you know what you are talking about!
 
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