Amphibious and I headed out predator hunting. Lots of coyote tracks, some Lynx, one wolf track at our first spot, but no action. Weather wasn't ideal, +2c and windy as hell. We headed back to the truck and drove to a spot I found on google earth and wanted to try. There was a fresh Lynx track we cut on the way in. Fighting the thick brush and blow down, we finally start breaking down the slope to the lake. As soon as I get into ice, I look to the west and something is laying out on the ice.
Amphibious is 30 feet above me coming down the bank, I tell him to freeze, and I pull out my binos. Hoooo boy, a grey wolf is laying there looking my way! It seems surreal. I whisper loudly to Amphibious that there's a wolf laying out there, his eyes got big. Not wasting any time, I spread the legs on my shooting tripod, turn scope to 8x, and chamber a round in my Tikka 22 Creedmoor. I quickly estimate the distance at 200y, but don’t risk wasting the time to range it. The wolf is still laying there, watching my direction. I contemplated barking to try and get it to stand up, but the reticle was solid and I felt confident on a frontal bedded shot at that distance.
I begin the trigger press and let a 80.5gr Berger @ 3360 FPS rip. The most satisfying KER-WHAPP, big hollow thud, reported back to me. The wolf just laid out flat. An instant later, I reload and catch movement on the shoreline. Two more wolves , a black and another grey! They run out onto the ice, bad move on their part. I get on the black Wolf, quartering to at a little closer distance than the one I shot. It stops and I fire, another huge thump on impact. The wolf starts doing egg beaters spins, I reload but don’t see the third wolf, so I get the reticle back on black wolf which is doing slow spins. It starts heading closer to me, wobbling and spinning. It walks straight at me and turns broadside and I let fly again - WHAP!, it sounds like shooting into a 4 gallon jug of water. The wolf spins a few more times and goes down. I look up at Amphibious, who is still perched above me on the slope. He could only see the black wolf the whole time, and had no idea I got two haha. We head out and check them out. Found where the other two wolves had been bedded on the edge of the lake, soaking up the sun. 255 yards to the bedded grey wolf, the black one dropped 222 yards from my shooting position.
The bullet impact on the grey wolf (60lb female) was in the neck, exited high shoulder. The black wolf was a 60lb male, first shot hit a bit far back, quartering through the ribs on entry and exited out the rear of the dog. Second should was right behind the shoulder
Got them skinned out and will send them in to get tanned, my 6 year old son wants them to hang on the wall in his room.
hey todbartell going on a wolf hunt in feb any caliber suggestions and any tips you can share thanks for your time lbo
