Bruce Culberson
Lil-Rokslider
We were blessed with early snow and cold temps this year. Saturday morning it was 18 C and there was 6" of powder snow on the ground....conditions we usually don't get until after the season closes. I left the truck 1/2 before daylight and with my headlamp started trekking uphill. As daylight approached I was just about to where I wanted to start hunting and where I had shot a small 4pt the year before (2019):
I scanned through the aspens and about 150m away I saw the outline of a dark figure....darn... a wolf. I immediately felt disappointed as I was really looking forward to hunting mulies in these conditions. Then I thought well if the wolves are in here then the deer are probably chased off anyhow, I should just try to get him and help out the deer & moose.
As I watched the wolf weave in and out of sight as it was working in my direction I saw there was also another black wolf as well as a grey one. When all 3 were out of sight I moved about five steps to a patch of aspens that gave me some cover, a tree to lean against and a better shooting lane to the direction they were headed. The grey wolf came into view at about 100 yards and stopped almost facing head on. When I fired there was a ball of orange flames in the scope. I reloaded and found one of the black wolves running broadside. I was just about to trip the trigger and it went out of sight behind brush, never to be seen again.
The 175 lrx hit at the point of the shoulder and was on course for the offside hind quarter. Surprisingly it didn't exit.
I had the POP-Up 28 and used the load shelf to pack the wolf off the hill. The load was a little shifty as the wolf's back end swung around a little, but it was easier than dragging it. While the Pop-up doesn't handle a big load as well as a full sized frame pack it sure has a big heart and makes the best of the situation!
It's hard to get good field pics on the phone by yourself:
Into the load shelf:
I scanned through the aspens and about 150m away I saw the outline of a dark figure....darn... a wolf. I immediately felt disappointed as I was really looking forward to hunting mulies in these conditions. Then I thought well if the wolves are in here then the deer are probably chased off anyhow, I should just try to get him and help out the deer & moose.
As I watched the wolf weave in and out of sight as it was working in my direction I saw there was also another black wolf as well as a grey one. When all 3 were out of sight I moved about five steps to a patch of aspens that gave me some cover, a tree to lean against and a better shooting lane to the direction they were headed. The grey wolf came into view at about 100 yards and stopped almost facing head on. When I fired there was a ball of orange flames in the scope. I reloaded and found one of the black wolves running broadside. I was just about to trip the trigger and it went out of sight behind brush, never to be seen again.
The 175 lrx hit at the point of the shoulder and was on course for the offside hind quarter. Surprisingly it didn't exit.
I had the POP-Up 28 and used the load shelf to pack the wolf off the hill. The load was a little shifty as the wolf's back end swung around a little, but it was easier than dragging it. While the Pop-up doesn't handle a big load as well as a full sized frame pack it sure has a big heart and makes the best of the situation!
It's hard to get good field pics on the phone by yourself:
Into the load shelf:
Good job.
