setting up for wolves

L

lovethe25_06

New member
I have found that living in the boreal forest area finding spots open enough to get any kind of coverage for a wolf hunt is rare. Unless you post up on a lake. My question is: I have found a rather large area that has a series of beaver damns, houses, and openings that can be 150+ yards. Setting up here does it make sense, there is a ton of sign, will calling bring the dogs out in the opening for clear shots if the wind and everything else works. If not aside from cut lines can anyone offer any more advice when looking for good places to set up.
 
Sounds like a great location for a decoy. Just may get those wolves out in the open.

Any open area is your best bet. Wolves will typically come in straighter than a yote or fox because they are basically the top of the food chain during the winter. Yotes have to worry about becoming a meal.

Of course, if the wolves you are targeting are educated to calling, it may be tough. Got to work with what you have though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
As far as I know there isn't a single person in this area that calls predators let a lone have the time. A decoy you say, I can't say I haven't seen wolf coys unless I am daft and you mean something like a yote tail in the wind or a couple of ravens. I heard a fawn distress call works best. Your thoughts?
 
Sounds like a good plan to me. My only comment would be to find good "fresh" sign. Without fresh sign, I think cold calling for wolves is a crapshoot.

Where you hunting?

Greg
 
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As far as I know there isn't a single person in this area that calls predators let a lone have the time. A decoy you say, I can't say I haven't seen wolf coys unless I am daft and you mean something like a yote tail in the wind or a couple of ravens. I heard a fawn distress call works best. Your thoughts?



Sorry, I was kind of vague.

Basically any kind of decoy that represents prey or offers some kind of focus to distract him from you and bring him out in the open. Some people will use an old pelt or piece of hide. You could buy some kind of decoy that represents prey. Carrying this stuff around has to be taken into consideration.

Just think how a piece of hide with a raven/crow with it would look. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

I wouldn't bother unless there was an abundance of sign like mentioned above though.

Today I found a wolf killed yote, or what was left of it. I called in the area all day, nothing. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
 
McMurray area. There are areas here that the cut lines are beat flat with wolf tracks. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif And the yotes up here that I have seen lately are huge. Only problem at times is the idiots ripping up the country side with sleds and quads. Then the garbage left behind. Everyone here is here for the /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif money and don't care about the things they leave behind. Thats another topic all together.
 
going out tomorrow morning, we are getting a ton of snow right now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gifso its a no brainer for the sign. here is hoping for pics.
 
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Sound's good 25-06, here's hopin good luck finds you smilin at the end of a blood trail.

ruger 300

shoot straight.



Yeah right all I found was a hole lot of fresh snow. Not even a deer track. I am going into a different area tomorrow where there hasn't been the "traffic" the area i was in this morning has been subject to. It was a nice day to be in the woods. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
 
25-06, a minority report suggestion: hunt the forest. Set up in the forest where anything you see will be close. I grew up in a desert with wide open spaces, but lived in BC for many years in thick forest. I know that I'm the odd guy out but I enjoy set-ups where the critter will be in my lap.

It is a wrong assumption that we have to have open ground to call successfully. Hunt the beaver dam and open swamp area of course but don't limit yourself to the rare openings. All we need to be able to see is an opening large enough to hold the body of the critter we're after. To get him, all we have to do is be looking at that spot when he is there. That's how Jim Corbett killed most of his man eating tigers and leopards in India, watching tiny openings in thick jungle.

I've called coyotes and fox within touching distance, moose and elk closer than 8 feet, black bears to within 20 feet, etc. I never have tried a wolf but a sheep guide friend who learned to call coyotes from me said that he found wolves easier to call than coyotes when he tried it in N. BC. Besides the close range advantage in terms of hitting your target, it also makes animals more confident in their approach. Most animals don't like to go into the open when they are trying to stalk or verify that a call is really what it sounds like it is.

Protect your back. Never and I mean never sit where you can't see downwind, and be ready for close action where opportunities and decisions about how to handle them come in fractions of seconds sometimes. Sounds like fun.
 
Okanagan,That is some great advise. I was out today and found some areas that look promising. But again, everytime I found an area I wanted to hunt along came buddy checking slips or dad had junior out on the little quad ripping up the country side. And I figured I was deep enough in the woods. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gifAny who, I didn't think the up close action was a possiblity for wolves, makes sense reading what you had to say. As for having someone watch your six you better trust your wingman or have eyes in the back of your head. That close I wonder would a shotgun with buck shot be better. Your thoughts. As for a set up, a area that is along a small valley up high with the forest floor being more open would be a good bet.?? As for any shots I had none today. Next weekend.
 
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Most animals don't like to go into the open when they are trying to stalk or verify that a call is really what it sounds like it is.




This is why I suggested the use of decoy. Keep the animal up wind of you if it tries to circle down wind, keeps the eyes away from you and builds that confidence. Also provides you with a better shot if he comes out of the likely spot and you are set up right. In theory anyways. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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As for having someone watch your six you better trust your wingman or have eyes in the back of your head. That close I wonder would a shotgun with buck shot be better. Your thoughts. As for a set up, a area that is along a small valley up high with the forest floor being more open would be a good bet.?? As for any shots I had none today. Next weekend.



25-06, I have done most of my calling alone, including calling for bears and mountain lions. So instead of having someone watch my back, I sit where a critter can't get to my back or at least can't get to me very easy without making a lot of racket. Backing into a thick clump of brush is one way, like thick, thick willow. One time I called a pair of coyotes when I was backed into such a willow clump on a slight hump of ground with a frozen cattail swamp in front of me. One of the yotes came around behind me and I could hear it at what sounded like ten feet or less but it had to come around the side to even see me. I killed the other one in front of me but didn't get the one at my back. A big tree, maybe a rock or boulder or root wad would also work to protect your back. A coastal blackberry bush is perfect.

Yes, your description of the little valley with more open forest floor sounds ideal for this kind of thing. Usually you get a few lanes that stretch out a little farther in places. I've killed coyotes and both blacktail and whitetail bucks when they crossed natural lanes, calling in fairly thick timber, lanes less than a body length wide. Have called several bears in such woods, also. Improve on the environment and nip a limb or two to open shooting lanes a bit if needed, especially if it is a good spot you'll hunt again, even next year. Nothing that an average passer by would notice.

I'm not much of a hand with a shotgun but it would be a better tool in close. I used bow or rifle, but would have killed most of my coyotes with a shotgun, and gotten a few more, especially on doubles.

Golly I wish I could try a stand or two with you. Good luck.
 
Okanagan, you give the rest of the winter to get my feet wet and I will be more then willing to give the local of some good areas around here if you up for a road trip, maybe even go out on a couple of sets. Looks like I am out of action for the next two weekends cause of work. Then the last weekend in January myself and a buddy on this forum could be heading out to an area that has a real problem with the big dawgs. I figure it should increase my chances and if that sucks then there is always the lake trout through the ice. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif Got to have a back up plan. Thanks for the info guys.
 
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