Scouting and Prep
· Wolves can be patterned like other game. Scouting will help you find travel routes, crossings, etc.
· Use a good spotting scope and spend more time glassing your hunt area.
· Wolves tend to travel the easy routes. Watch roads, trails, frozen lakes, etc.
· Be prepared to shoot accurately at long distances and at moving targets up close.
· I hunt in thick country and prefer to hunt with a shotgun and buckshot.
· Hire an outfitter!
· Wolves are where the game is. If there are hooved animals in your area, you 're likely to have wolves, too.
· Many hunters won't shoot a wolf when they're close to elk and deer. Need to change that mindset. Go on more hunts specifically for wolves, not for wolves as a byproduct of another hunt. (Questionnaire data reveal that only 11 percent of respondents hunted exclusively for wolves; most hunted for wolves as part of a deer or elk hunt.)
· Get permission from private landowners. Last year I hunted Forest Service land but kept seeing wolves lower on private ground. Lots of landowners are happy to have wolf hunters. Could lead to other hunting opportunities down the road.
· Check with ranchers, loggers and others who spend time in the backcountry. Ask them about the wolf activity they're seeing.
· Start driving roads and howling to locate packs well before sunrise.
· Carry a pistol while bowhunting (where legal) so you have some firepower in case you see a wolf.
· Most wolf hunters want to shoot a big trophy male. But taking females is better for population control. The main thing is just don't shoot a collared wolf. We need those collars to track the packs and funding for collaring wolves is getting tighter.
Hunting Strategies
· Be hunting at first light and hunt through the last light of day. Lots of wolf activity is early and late.
· We had luck with howling. The wolves came right to us. But there are many other wolf vocalizations too.
· Howling works to locate wolves. But too much howling, especially by inexperienced callers, is educating wolves in our area.
· Elk-calf-in-distress, fawn-in-distress and coyote calls work well.
· I called in wolves using a bull elk bugle and cow calls.
· Next year, we're planning to try moose calls.
· Dont over-call.
· When calling, be sure to set-up on high ground, not in a hole or depression. Visibility is a key.
I hunted wolves for 42 days before I got one. I tracked a pack into an area, sat at a crossing and called. Really enjoyed the experience.
· Cover lots of ground until you find a concentration of sign. We followed fresh wolf tracks through the snow until we found the pack holed up in a patch of trees.
· I found tracking difficult. Even when you're on fresh tracks, you might still be miles behind the pack. Better off to get somewhere and wait.
· I think a driving technique with a group of hunters, such as that used for deer in some areas, would work for wolves.
· Watch for birds magpies, gray jays, ravens and vultures as a tipoff to fresh kill locations. Approach carefully and then watch the area for returning wolves.
· An effective hunting technique for us was finding a fresh wolf kill and watching the area from a tree stand.
· Considering using a blind. Wolves seem to spot blaze orange from a great distance.
· Watch gutpile and carcass areas where hunters have taken deer and elk, especially late in the season when wolves are following game herds down from the high country and are attracted to the scent of blood.
· Don't hunt for wolves like you do for elk. Hunt as if you were hunting for another elk hunter. Anticipate differently. Don't ask yourself what would an elk do in this situation, but rather what would an elk hunter do in this situation.
· Wolves are more reckless in their pursuit of prey when it's colder outside. Hunters should concentrate on bad weather days for wolf hunting.
· Go deeper. Wolves are less wary and easier to hunt in the more remote areas.
· Too much pressure and wolves will go nocturnal.
· Hunt smart and be patient. And go with a companion who can watch your back.
· Once you kill a wolf, stay put. Other wolves from the pack will often return to the site, sometimes very quickly. You or a buddy may get a chance at a second wolf.
General Observations
· Wolves in our area are surprisingly unafraid of people or human scent.
· In our area, cover scent is important. I've had passing wolves pick up my scent when passing elk didn't. Once they get downwind, they're gone.
· Hunters need more info about how to completely, and safely, utilize a wolf carcass: meat, hide and skull.
· Would like to see good prices offered by fur buyers.
· In my area, the elk are nearly gone and the wolves have moved on.
· Elk behavior has changed. Wolves have made elk less likely to graze in the open. Bulls hang out more in the rougher country, thicker timber and are less mobile and vocal during the rut. We see a lot fewer cows with calves.
· In our area, elk are more skittish and quieter now. They run in smaller groups rather than the big herds we used to see. They spend more time on lower-elevation private property where I cannot access them. More elk in the low country means more elk along the highways. Increasing roadkill might be related to wolves. My experience in Alaska taught me that trapping, not hunting, is a much more effective means of killing wolves.
-Some solid information from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
