Wolf Hunting

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Rubber Ducky

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Hi Guys,

I was wondering if I might be able to ask some advice on wolf hunting.

I met a rancher the other day who was complaining that he couldn't let his horses loose on his own fenced pasture overnight because the wolves had tried a few times to kill them. He has to round them up at night fall and put them in his barn.

Hearing this I offered to help out and while I know a bit about wolves, I could certainly learn more about the beasties.

My plan of attack is "howl" them in. Another trick I'll be using is to pretend that I'm a coyote and use a coyote howler to entice them. Wolves will kill any coyotes foolish enough to invade their territory. Also up my sleeve are "doe in distress" and various other rabbit calls. I know that I have to be well hidden and camoflaged.

Does anybody on this board have any experience with wolves and use a different technique? Does any information exist anywhere at all on wolf hunting?

I'm in Alberta and so the wolf hunting season is wide open. Residents don't even need a license.

Cheers,
Rubber Ducky
 
once you see em use a distress call. rabbit works, a fawn in distress would probably work also. me and my dad called some in last hunting season using the regular rabbit distress call
 
If you go the calling route, be patient. IMHO, wolves can take an awfully long time to come to a call. In this regard, they can often be more like cats than coyotes. So be patient. If you have a good location, call for an hour or two at time, not the 20 minutes or so most often used on a coyote hunt.

One of the biggest challenges with calling them, however, is simply the size of the range they wander through. It's quite common for them to be in any given place only once every 5-10 days. And if they ain't there, they ain't gonna respond.

That said, snow will help you enormously. Whenever you have a fresh skiff, head to your chosen spot and look for sign. If the tracks are fresh, it's time to call.

Finally, if your rancher friend is amenable to the idea, the very best suggestion I can give you is to use bait -- any form of meat scraps will do. This will work best once the colder weather sets in, but it's also worth trying in November & December (which is also when the hides are in the best shape due to the lack of rubbing -- which can start as early as January, despite the colder temperatures then).

Once the wolves are hitting your bait, it may take a few consecutive days of watching before getting to see them, but it will happen sooner or later. It can be a challenge, though, to ignore all the coyotes that will be showing up as you wait for the wolves :p

Don't make the mistake of watching the bait only during the early and late hours. I had the good fortune to take two wolves this way, and one was at 10 AM and the other was at 3:30 PM. If you can, make your outings full-day events.

Finally, when you do finally run into your quarry, try to take the largest one in the bunch. It doesn't always work out that way (especially when you're just focussed on taking your first wolf), but it's always preferable to drop the alpha male if you can. Typically, when a pack loses its leader (especially a smaller pack), the remaining wolves will hang around in the area for a day or two trying to sort things out. This often gives you a second chance at them sometime the next day.

Good luck with your endeavour. Wolf hunting, for me at least, is one of the highest forms of the art. It's hunting the hunters -- and as others who have done this will also attest, it's incredibly challenging. Wolves don't often make mistakes, and when they do they recover from them incredibly fast.

Neo
 
a small yappy dog in one of those travel cages works really well.

Double check your zeros before heading out
 
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