Wolf

[rugerfan]

Hey guys/gals....
While deer hunting in the fall of '17, I shot a "BIG" coyote and being a disabled vet, had to get a friend to help me load it on the wheeler. He told me it was the biggest coyote he had ever seen. I took some pics...sent them to a few friends and they told me it looked like the hybrid coyote/wolf. I then took it to the taxidermist and he confirmed it. Getting it mounted now.
For what it's worth, apparently we have them now down in in the southern western Va. area.
If someone will instruct me on how to post a pic, I will try and post it....

 

[maverick2]

I wish I knew more about wolf habits and their travel patterns -- I probably need to fix that if I want to get serious about hanging a wolf pelt on my wall as the "being in the right place at the right time" approach isn't working very well for me. I've been very surprised at when and where I've seen a number of the wolves I've encountered. First 3 wolves I saw were all from inside our house and all three were less than 100 yards away -- happened to be by various windows at the right time looking outside, and there they were. 3 different wolves (one grey, one brown, and one almost black) with sightings spread out almost a month apart in summer. The timing really confused me -- we live in a wintering area for whitetail, but see very few during the fawning and summer seasons so I'm not sure what the wolves were doing here. First sighting was downright spooky -- I woke up early one June morning and was laying in bed watching the world outside our bedroom window go from black to grey. As features on the canyon wall across the creek (about 50 yards away) started coming in to focus, I noticed a "dark stump" that was out of place -- my mind remembered that patch as being open ground. Like all good stumps, it was stationary for a good 30 minutes before it got light enough to see any detail, at which point I realized it was a black wolf sitting on its haunches facing our bedroom window. I laid there watching it for a few minutes, and it didn't even twitch until I sat up in bed to grab a pair of binos on the sidetable, at which point it took off up the hill and into the brush. I made no noise or fast motions while sitting up (all it took was a little motion inside our darkened room before he took off) so am convinced that wolf was sitting there looking inside our bedroom window. That was a very weird feeling and realization.

 

[1100 Remington Man]

I have never seen a Wolf but around Salmon ID every day Hunting I came across a single set of tracks. I would of shot one if I could of seen one.

 

[35 Whelen]

Mav2,
Just to give you a little insight on how clever this darn things are, I shoot around a dozen a year from my home in the winter when the lake is frozen over. I have bait ( roadkill deer n moose) located 300 yds out on
the ice with a motion detector "alerter" mounted on a board frozen into the ice about 15' from the bait, the buzzer that receives the signal projected from the alerter is on the window sill in my bedroom. So when an animal approaches the bait at 2 am while I am sleeping soundly the buzzer goes off letting me know I have a
"Visitor". Since the bait is a known distance the guns I use are already lined up to shoot dead on at the 300 yds out to the bait, so there is no hold over needed. I shoot from an upstairs bedroom that overlooks the lake and the bait, it has a sliding glass door that accesses a balcony, that door has been "super tuned" and the tracks kept cleaned a lubed so that it is silent when you open it; it is a heavy door but has been adjusted so you can easily pull it back with one finger. The gun is mounted on a shooting table in a " leadsled " approximately 10' back from the door, I have the floor marked to know exactly the minimum distance to open
the door so the bullet won't strike the edge of it. The scope on the gun has a large objective lens for light gathering, mounted ontop of my 22/250 is a very powerful red light that is turned on via a pressure switch on
the forearm, I also have a similar set up on my 25/06 but that has a green laser ontop of it.
So how smart is a coyote/wolf ? How aware are they of our presence and behaviors? It would probably shock most folks ! Here are some facts: Many times when I get to shoot one, I go right out jump onto a snowmobile
and run out and grab them, I commonly backtrack them to the woods on the other side of the lake 550 yds and find where they have paced around for hours just inside the woods and have lain there long enough to melt out a bed watching this house for movement of any kind, until they feel comfortable to " try it"
I can usually see them except on the darkest nites with a pair of 7/56 Swarvoski binoculars for positive ID.
Many times I have watched them as they ate on the bait, on -20 cold nites; and if there was little or no wind, they would go on full alert as I try to slide that almost silent
door back? :x I am always hiding in the pitch dark, behind a full length drape, so they certainly don't see me??? When that door is slowly opened some of them freeze and stop feeding, some of them bolt? From 300 yds away :shock: They commonly run off if the furnace starts and begins to smoke out the chimney? If there is ANY noise from inside the house many will run, I have had lots take off; as I tryed to get behind the bench inside a pitch dark room? They obviously sensed something? I have had them bolt if I forgot to have a round in the chamber and had to cycle the bolt? I tryed for years to shoot an old monster that would
Only ever come in on the darkest stormiest nites. I never got him; though he came in 1/2 dozen times and most times he would be gone before I could open the door?? It finally dawned on me he must have been able to hear me going up the stairs!!! Silly? Impossible?? I watched a pair come in one nite and they approached using a rock that is 113 yds from the bait, it has 3 small bushes ontop
of it, the bigger one stoped there, the other creept in as the other watched from the bushes?? After
5 min of watching her feed he got up and walked away, she sensed him leaving instantly and left the bait to rejoin him.......... of course she never made it. But the point is they are extremely aware of there surroundings and I believe there is actually a quote in the Bible that tells us they will be the last living thing on this earth ???? So the next time you see one standing broadside in the middle of a field in broad daylight consider yourself fortunate, as if he didn't mind you seeing him you most likely never would have!

 

[longrangehunter]

That's a huge wolf that man is holding up!

 

[AFG270]

Maverick, that is crazy.

E, great write up and huge wolf.

 

[maverick2]

Mav2,
Just to give you a little insight on how clever this darn things are, I shoot around a dozen a year from my home in the winter when the lake is frozen over. I have bait ( roadkill deer n moose) located 300 yds out on
the ice with a motion detector "alerter" mounted on a board frozen into the ice about 15' from the bait, the buzzer that receives the signal projected from the alerter is on the window sill in my bedroom. So when an animal approaches the bait at 2 am while I am sleeping soundly the buzzer goes off letting me know I have a
"Visitor". Since the bait is a known distance the guns I use are already lined up to shoot dead on at the 300 yds out to the bait, so there is no hold over needed. I shoot from an upstairs bedroom that overlooks the lake and the bait, it has a sliding glass door that accesses a balcony, that door has been "super tuned" and the tracks kept cleaned a lubed so that it is silent when you open it; it is a heavy door but has been adjusted so you can easily pull it back with one finger. The gun is mounted on a shooting table in a " leadsled " approximately 10' back from the door, I have the floor marked to know exactly the minimum distance to open
the door so the bullet won't strike the edge of it. The scope on the gun has a large objective lens for light gathering, mounted ontop of my 22/250 is a very powerful red light that is turned on via a pressure switch on
the forearm, I also have a similar set up on my 25/06 but that has a green laser ontop of it.
So how smart is a coyote/wolf ? How aware are they of our presence and behaviors? It would probably shock most folks ! Here are some facts: Many times when I get to shoot one, I go right out jump onto a snowmobile
and run out and grab them, I commonly backtrack them to the woods on the other side of the lake 550 yds and find where they have paced around for hours just inside the woods and have lain there long enough to melt out a bed watching this house for movement of any kind, until they feel comfortable to " try it"
I can usually see them except on the darkest nites with a pair of 7/56 Swarvoski binoculars for positive ID.
Many times I have watched them as they ate on the bait, on -20 cold nites; and if there was little or no wind, they would go on full alert as I try to slide that almost silent
door back? :x I am always hiding in the pitch dark, behind a full length drape, so they certainly don't see me??? When that door is slowly opened some of them freeze and stop feeding, some of them bolt? From 300 yds away :shock: They commonly run off if the furnace starts and begins to smoke out the chimney? If there is ANY noise from inside the house many will run, I have had lots take off; as I tryed to get behind the bench inside a pitch dark room? They obviously sensed something? I have had them bolt if I forgot to have a round in the chamber and had to cycle the bolt? I tryed for years to shoot an old monster that would
Only ever come in on the darkest stormiest nites. I never got him; though he came in 1/2 dozen times and most times he would be gone before I could open the door?? It finally dawned on me he must have been able to hear me going up the stairs!!! Silly? Impossible?? I watched a pair come in one nite and they approached using a rock that is 113 yds from the bait, it has 3 small bushes ontop
of it, the bigger one stoped there, the other creept in as the other watched from the bushes?? After
5 min of watching her feed he got up and walked away, she sensed him leaving instantly and left the bait to rejoin him.......... of course she never made it. But the point is they are extremely aware of there surroundings and I believe there is actually a quote in the Bible that tells us they will be the last living thing on this earth ???? So the next time you see one standing broadside in the middle of a field in broad daylight consider yourself fortunate, as if he didn't mind you seeing him you most likely never would have!

Great description (and I guess it doesn't suprise me). I've spent a lot of time around coyotes and probably shot more than my fair share, but as far a I can tell the wolf is in a whole different league when it comes to wariness. They are managed as a "big game" animal here in Idaho so we're limited to taking shots during legal light hours. I need to venture into some of the higher, more open country that they inhabit around here with my long range rifle and see if I can set up on a ridge and reach out and touch one from afar. Finding and shooting one in the timber and brush is beyond me right now.

 

[salmonchaser]

Great description. When I was living on thee ranch I figured I had the best coyote stand in the world. Deer elk and pheasant carcasses galore. 300 yards. Slide the window open and they run like hell.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sask boy]

In my years of hunting up in our Northern Forest I have seen wolves on a number of occasions and actually the one time a pack of about 10 stood on a cut line, they were looking back at us for a couple of minutes and then scooted back into the bush. There was a very large black wolf at the front and was absolutely majestic.
I have had a couple of other encounters with them over the years but I never even thought of taking a shot as I really have a soft spot for them in the bush .
However over that last 10 years or so their number have exploded in our hunting area and if given the chance I would take out a couple.
They are now in farm lands and are on the move south, 2 or 3 years ago there were 2 shot near my nephew's ranch and that is in the south east portion of Saskatchewan approximately 35 miles north of the border with North Dakota.

Blessings,
Dan

 

[Thankful Otter]

In my years of hunting up in our Northern Forest I have seen wolves on a number of occasions and actually the one time a pack of about 10 stood on a cut line, they were looking back at us for a couple of minutes and then scooted back into the bush. There was a very large black wolf at the front and was absolutely majestic.
I have had a couple of other encounters with them over the years but I never even thought of taking a shot as I really have a soft spot for them in the bush .
Blessings,
Dan

THANK YOU DAN---finally, someone else that understands my feelings about the Wolf. Plus, I dont know how many times I have been told in a disparaging manner that I am the only one who ever sees "packs" of wolves.

 

[DrMike]

Cheyenne, you're not the only one who sees wolves in packs. I've witnessed packs on numerous occasions. I've witnessed a pack attacking a cow moose, which is an awe-inspiring sight. Admittedly, we often see individuals, but the individual juvenile often has a mature alpha watching from a secreted location.

 

[longrangehunter]

I've flown over a pack of 35-40+ in Alaska in Oct. 2001 while hunting for Caribou, and smaller packs on that trip. Had a single Wolf walk around me 300-400 yards out, and what I was surprised by was the time in which he/she covered the ground I had just walked from....... took me at least a 1/2 hour vs. the 3-4 minutes for the wolf just trotting along.

In Yellowstone I used to see 20-40+ wolves in a pack laying around, and doing their thing for hours when I lived near there.

 

[35 Whelen]

To give some a proper perspective of how big a good sized wolf is in comparison to a large coyote here is 123 lb Alaskan wolf beside a 45lb Coyote/wolf hybrid (9%dna) biggest coyote mix I know of was 73 lbs biggest Alaskan wolf 175!!!!

 

[35 Whelen]

To give some a proper perspective of how big a good sized wolf is in comparison to a large coyote here is 133 lb Alaskan wolf, beside a 45lb Coyote/wolf hybrid (9%dna) biggest coyote mix I know of was 73 lbs biggest Alaskan wolf 175!!!!

They measure 64"/84" respectively

 

[DrMike]

Some wolves can be quite large, that's for certain. We had a big female step out behind us one day that would have easily pushed 150. We were focused on a juvenile black wolf in front of us when Gil commented to look behind. There she was, having just stepped out to look at us. She was only about 70-80 yards behind us, staring intently. Both, the juvenile and the large grey slipped off into the bush before we were able to get a lock on them. They are definitely large.

 

[truck driver]

The 2 I saw in Montana this past season were fairly large and I must admit I got a little spooked when the first one appeared to be stalking me at about 20yds before I saw it and it ran off as I turned toward it with the 338 in hand. I took a picture of it's paw print in the snow and it had stood there long enough for the snow to start to melt and that is what spooked me just knowing it had been there long enough that close for the snow to start to melt. The palm of my hand is 3 1/2" by 4" and the track was larger then my palm. The outfitter figured it was around a 150lb wolf.
Was he/she hungry or just curious I'll never know and glad I didn't find out.

 

[35 Whelen]

Oh come on Roger! Wolves gotta eat too! :lol:
When we were guiding Sheep hunters in the Brooks Range there were tons of wolves around then,
You saw them daily, one technique was to stake a dog out, in plain sight, and call them and wait for them to come back out of a side drainage.
The second they see a dog they come for it! Of course at the last moment you open up on them :x
Unless you really disliked the dog! :evil:
Just kidding.......
E

Here is all that in reverse yesterday!
On a young hybrid! He should have stayed in bed!