Opportunistic vs "intent" wolf hunting

Tips?

NW MT is pretty darn thick due to the environmentalists squeezing American families out of a large quantity of public land logging opportunities... Thankfully USFS is publishing more and more supportive scientific findings for "Thinning" etc. Ya, opposing views abound - a given. This is about hunting wolves in thick timber, such as NW MT.

With the above regarding thick forested areas with spotted small parks, what's worked for you - rifle hunting wolves? I have a pack in an area I used to hunt that is growing beyond our ability to effectively manage these predators. My main elk go to area has been blown out by wolves and thus, my opportunistic past purchase of a wolf tag is now one I will plan hunting.

Wolves make their living in the most remote places on the planet. They're big, tough, and crazy smart. With few exceptions, almost every wolf taken during recently opened seasons in Idaho and Montana has been killed incidentally by a hunter who happened to have a wolf tag in a pocket when he was out hunting something else.

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https://www.outdoorlife.com/article...-wolves-wolf-hunting-tips-and-tactics-experts

Wolves are incredibly exceeding harvest rates... our "effect management" of wolves is a farce. Opportunistic, as I have been up until this final straw of losing every long term developed elk location has been wolved out, Opportunistic will not manage wolves. More MT hunters need to focus on wolves, not merely buy a tag, just in case... Even still - FWP should offer a buy back for a punched wolf tag. Sure sell wolf tags to generate funds for the furtherance of b.s. public announced effective management of wolf numbers though a "Tag buyback + harvest bonus" should be applied, least in my most... humble opinion.

So, with that rumble of wolf chatter out of the way - counter the topic, if that is your sole interest though offer opinions for successful rifle hunting of wolves in heavy timber areas. Cheers all.

Fire season must be over; hunting season has begun. The mantra of "log our way out of wildfires" has changed to "log our way out of excessive wolf proliferation".

I few years ago I killed a wolf on opening day of rifle season, the next weekend I killed a bull 1/4 mile from the wolf kill site. I could hear the pack howling while packing out the elk.

Wolves blowing elk out? Meh

I howled mine in, calling would be great method.

Charles,

I'm not any kind of wolf hunting expert, but if you have wolves in your area, you have prey species. They don't really tend to hang out in places where there isn't easy access to groceries.

I'd find where the where the rendezvous point is, and do some calling/howling to try and get a response. I'd look for major waterholes or recent sign from elk & deer: try to follow the prey to find the predator. I'm hopeful some of the forum's more experienced wolf hunters chime in here. I hope you're successful and bag a darned nice lobo or two.

A combination of fawn-in-distress calls and coyote yips brought this MN wolf in to 10 yards of me.



I'm no expert on elk/wolf interaction but on more than one occasion I've watched a wolf and whitetail out of my stand at the same time. In both instances the deer quietly bedded down and, when the wolf was gone, stood back up and continued feeding like nothing happened.

NoWiser said:

A combination of fawn-in-distress calls and coyote yips brought this MN wolf in to 10 yards of me.

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I'm no expert on elk/wolf interaction but on more than one occasion I've watched a wolf and whitetail out of my stand at the same time. In both instances the deer quietly bedded down and, when the wolf was gone, stood back up and continued feeding like nothing happened.

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Very nice!

Straight Arrow said:

Fire season must be over; hunting season has begun. The mantra of "log our way out of wildfires" has changed to "log our way out of excessive wolf proliferation".

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Agree... Amazing how many aspects in support of public land logging assist Montana citizens. From employment and support of Montana families to reduced fire crowning and improved flora / fauna...

Not in any manner have I shared we should log for sake of better wolf hunting opportunities regardless the spin you seek to place on this... my interest is HOW to hunt in thick NW MT timber.

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Wolves tend to feed where the game resides... until the elk, deer, moose, etc numbers reduce due to the wolves population growth exceeding and found in need to fulfilling their needs elsewhere AND branching off into additional packs. Meanwhile the wolf population increases due to opportunistic wolf tag holders as one of three primary means to "effectively manage wolf populations" (Trapping, focused intent to hunt and opportunistic), with wolf harvest numbers remaining in the same general bracket over years... and the wolf population expanding far outside the effective management...

Thanks for the post, Ben. Hopefully some of the more intent driven wolf hunters are able to shed some info.

As mentioned, Outdoor life had a great article on this subject as well as another article they shared. https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/newshound/2012/07/10-tips-hunting-wolves-rmef

Seems there is a bit of the same tactic as for 'yotes...

I have located wolves by howling and by tracking them. They are hard to hunt. Ive never been able to kill one when I was targeting them, although i have got some.

If you can get them howling and they don’t come in, I think a good strategy would be for one guy to keep howling while the other sneaks in. Kind of like you can do to non commitall pre rut bugling bull elk

Sytes,

If you're having a hard time killing elk...I'd say you're going to find killing wolves impossible. Elk make mistakes wayyy more often than wolves.

If I were to get serious about wolves, I would be learning how to trap them, in particular in NW Montana. I used to trap Montana a lot, and caught every fur bearer (including lynx) in the State with the exception of wolverine. Wolves weren't on the menu to be trapped when I moved to Wyoming. I think hunting them is going to be tough sledding in NW Montana.

My 2 cents.

Charles, according to FWP folks I met with this summer, this piece of land that is in your backyard has a healthy population of wolves and had very good hunter success last season. 5 wolves were harvested there. It also has active forest management on it and is open to public hunting. Good luck on your wolf quest.

https://www.backcountryhunters.org/forest_legacy_lost_trail_conservation_project

If all the elk have been "wolved out" then why would you want to hunt wolves there? Why would a wolf be there?

I like the fawn and coyote call combination. Neat trick for sure.

Good info to start a new focus. From what I've read and as some have pointed here, calling into an area is key and from there, to lure them into an area open enough for a distant shot. Anyone on the, "Montana Wolf Advisory Council"? If so, would you mind PM'ing me so I may ask a few questions?

Good news, electronic calls are permitted for wolf hunting. This allows a person to have that distant placement. 5 tags... may need to follow up with the ATF stamp for a rifle silencer - though I hear it takes several months. Anyone experienced the process? tips? If it draws in a few of the pack, I intend to drop those few. Will have to look at a longer barrel for my .308 M4 and dial in for 4-500 yards to make a shot from the "other side" facing some small open park or burn area. May need to consider a different rifle though I don't plan to throw too much money at a very challenging animal to hunt. Maybe a deer hide doped down with scent on some electric motion waggle device and the electronic calling device or something along that line.

I've never trapped though not opposed to such, I suppose it would not hurt to p/u a couple traps... Have to start somewhere... I'll look into any class opportunities in the Flathead area to learn the legal use and the application. Why the hell their season is so far different is beyond me though - it is what it is.

Sept 3rd archery and the 15th for rifle - March 15 for both with trapping from Dec 15th - Feb 28th. This needs to be year round until an established quota is met that better suites the best assessed "guess"-timate. It is destructive to other big game populations to permit the wolf population to blatantly continue exceeding effective management quantities.

What is the best way to skin a wolf to receive the most $ for the pelt? Thankfully, wolves are not considered meat, “suitable for food", at least for Montana law - nothing within speaks for other states.

Hunt related info for wolves - thanks for your posts. Cheers all. I keep reading these extreme predators are incredibly smart and savvy to human hunters. I'll have a wolf in three years, that is my goal.

The ATF stamp will take you more than several months. I'd expect 6-9 months on full turnaround.

If you are serious about "maintaining populations at X level", you'd better plan on putting out more than a couple of traps.

I would say 9-12 months for the atf if you're serious about getting one start the process now. I think trapping wolves is the only way to truly create an impact on them.

I can't think of a single time when sport hunters have been able to have a meaningful impact towards removing predators. Here in Oregon apparently the plan is to make up for lost big game tag sales with sales of cougar tags meanwhile cougars continue to reduce game animal herds in every region of the state. I don't even have enough time to hunt animals I want to eat let alone spend the time it takes to kill apex predators so I generally hunt predators while hunting big game. I was able to kill a wolf on an Idaho whitetail hunt but again I have a hard time even finding the time to put in for deer so the idea of making specific long trips for predators isn't likely.

If game agencies want to reduce predator impact they should utilize their resources and really get after them. Not likely here in Oregon but I know Idaho has stepped up and killed wolves in areas they know they are limiting big game numbers.

If Idaho gave a rats ass about game populations we still wouldn't be having a wolf discussion in this state look at the selway zone, or any part of north Idaho for that matter but that's not my point. I couldn't agree more that this is out of the hands of sportsmen and women it's the agencies problem to fix.

Considering the costs for the silencer (a quality one) think I'll focus on cracking one before moving onto the future hopes to crack a few. I fully agree as well... no single hunter will make even a slight dent in the wolf population though it will do a fraction of justice.

Speaking of the wolves ability to throw the big game populations out of step adding to the challenges to manage state wildlife populations... David Allen wrote this in response to "Defenders of Wildlife" letter to RMEF. This is pretty amazing!

Charles,

If David's numbers were truly accurate, there'd not be an elk left in all of MT or WY or ID.

Regardless of all of the hatred towards predators, if you want to have abundant game populations ,you need to focus on habitat rather than the predation end. Predation only becomes a concern when other factors are out of whack, most notably habitat, both in terms of security habitat and habitat forage quality.

Anyway - good hunting buddy. I'm hopeful to see you post a trophy shot of a big old woof.

I will agree with Sytes on this one.
Some of what David Allen wrote right there could be termed "pretty amazing"............................

It appears RMEF, David Allen did not pose this as "direct kills" as would be taken at face value. Instead, it appears the quote is based on MSU Ecology Professor, Scott Creel's research on the direct and indirect actions that wolves create on the elk ecology.

Take for instance, as Randy referenced in his quote, "Some dream that wolves and prey will find some perfect balance. That may have been possible 400 years ago over large uninterrupted landscapes." The indirect effect wolves have on elk far exceeds the wolves' immediate kill for sustenance. http://www.thesportsmanchannel.com/2...ement-head-on/ (portion from Randy's quote)

Creel's research noted the following;

"When wolves appeared, the elk turned skittish. They spent more time on alert – heads in the air, ears pricked – and less time eating. They also left prime winter range to take cover in forested areas, where less food was available. Even when wolves were nearly two miles away, the vigilant behavior persisted, said Creel, a Montana State University ecology professor.

Creel and fellow researchers linked the altered elk behavior to lower calf production. As their body fat drops, cow elk have difficulty staying pregnant through winter. They grow emaciated and abort, the research concluded.“If you look at the observed rate that wolves are killing elk calves, there are too many calves missing,” Creel said. “We can’t account for them all through direct predation.”

As wolves regain their role as top predators in the West, Creel said, the study could have broad implications. “Those things elk are doing to avoid being killed may carry high costs,” he added. “We know that elk reproduction is affected by the severity of the winter. Wolves could be a complicating factor that makes it more difficult to maintain a pregnancy through a period when they’re losing body fat anyway.”

During a four-year period, Creel and his research team collected 1,205 scat samples from cow elk. The samples were taken after March 15, when pregnant elk would be in their third trimester. The scat was tested for progesterone, a hormone needed to maintain pregnancy. In areas with high wolf-to-elk ratios, progesterone levels in the scat decreased fourfold, Creel said. In some other projects, the elk were tested for pregnancy in late fall or early winter.

Creel said his method looked at whether elk were still pregnant later in the season, when the nutritional demands of the pregnancy are the highest, and food is typically scarce. “This isn’t a new idea in ecology,” Creel said. “When a predator is in the system, it affects the system’s dynamics.”

It looks like I'm a week or two late on finding this post. I certainly appreciate your enthusiasm but can tell you that there is no shortcut when specifically targeting wolves. They are hands-down the most difficult animal in North America to consistently Harvest.

I live right in the middle of the Area you are talking about. I have taken a number of wolves with rifles and one with my longbow. My farthest shot was 45 yards (28 with the bow). While we can certainly debate the utility of electronic calls, long range rifles and silencers, the bottom line is the most important tip I can give you is to just get out there! Every season I travel hundreds of miles and make literally hundreds of stands. I have absolutely no interest in hunting deer or elk but I will spend every possible moment out calling for predators. Wolves, coyote, mountain lion, bear, it doesn't matter to me I just love to call predators. The reason so few people spend much time specifically hunting wolves is because it is such a low percentage game. To them, the reward is just not worth all of the effort. Anyone hunting wolves has to recognize this fact and then make up their mind to keep going out day after day, mile after mile anyway. The upside? The absolute rush of one to seven wolves charging in ready to eat a wounded animal! There are no absolutes regarding the proper choice of sounds such as prey distress, barks, howls, whines etc. Or whether you should sit and wait for them or attempt a sneak. Even just figuring out when and where to start. This all comes with LOTS of trial and error. But when it all comes together there is no greater satisfaction in the sport of hunting!

Here are a couple of pics to keep you motivated










Good luck,. Your goal of a wolf in 3 years is realistic if you are serious about putting in the time.