Wolf gun

Originally Posted By: CrucibleI havent shot any wolves at 500+ yards.. Doubt I could do that with my trapline rifle after 4 hours on my snogo in 40 below weather.

What I have done is sat a couple hundred yards above a moose kill with wolves feeding and have easily drop one of em thier tracks on more than one occassion. Yeah, think right under 200 yards or closer on fairly static wolves.

Of course I am sure there are many here that can drop the whole pack of wolves or elephants in a 40 mile arctic/african crosswind riding side saddle at a full gallop.. :)




You are taking my comment wrong Crucible, there is no need to talk about packs of wolves or elephants or full gallops, I was just saying hunting has real variables and never the same twice unless you make it so...which by the way is doable. What I was saying is plain and to the point we shot a lot of wolves and KNOW bigger is better.
 
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While I haven't the opportunity to hunt wolf here in Western Washington I do know what my different rifles are capable of. A 6.8 SPCII for under 200 yards should do the job, but given the opportunity to hunt wolves I think I'd take my CZ550 in .308. Good bullet selection and great accuracy.
 
Hello this is Bobzo243,
What kind of a gun too buy too put down a wolf.
outside of the perfect shot with a small caliber gun you would be lucky.
So i say noticing that wolves can be 100-150 #'s. Use a 100 grain bullet or larger. You can pick out the caliber and gun. But for me i like the .243 cal. it reaches out, (100 grain bullets.) you can hunt deer, coyotes (if your not saving fur.) (geese been flying over my house alot the last 2 days, migraters are comming down, now.)and wolves. i would say shot placement at a sitting or standing wolf. at 100-250yards. should be easy. My second gun of choice for coyotes, wolves, deer, 300 magnum, don't have to worry about shot placement with the 300. Oh in Mn, the Mn Department of Natural Resources in the local paper here on August 24, at West Winnie Campgrounds at Lake Winnibigoshish The Paper Title says ---------------Wolf believed to have bitten (more than once, in the paper.) teen test negative for rabies. They are running another test on the child again to make sure he doesnot have rabies for sure, that will be out in the paper again in the next few weeks. the DNR will release the results when they are available, the papers says. The paper also says-------The U.S. Forest Service has reopened the West Winnie Campground, which had been closed since Saturday. This is what the paper, and the MN DNR says here. I guess this is the first time something like this happened. Got the paper a few days ago. Just passing on the news. Happy Hunting...
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I took my last wolf with a 270 and a Hornady 140gr BTSP , made a good shot and he still ran forty yards. Displayed name knows his stuff and I completely agree with him. A good taxidermist can stitch and mount it so you never see the damage. Bring enough gun and put em down!
 
I'm a little late to the party but ill put my two cents in. First off I wonder how many people replying to this post have ACTUALLY shot a wolf or hunted them. I can pick out the few that I know for a fact have just by their recommendations. Wolves are not an animal you will see often so why risk loosing one you shot because you THOUGHT you had enough gun? I would never hunt wolves with anything less than a 140 grain bullet. I have had to track a wolf for miles and miles because someone THOUGHT they had enough gun. These animals are tough have thick hair (4"-6" in winter) dense muscle, and heavy bone. You will need alot of luck to even see one in range don't cheat yourself by not carrying enough gun to get the job done quickly.
 
Hello Hunters,
i live in northern minnesota. i use a .243 for hunting coyotes & whitetails. i only use a 100 grain bullets too hunt them with. their are lots of wolves up here. a .243 with a 100 grains would help keep them away from me. especially if i got the chance of a second hit on the same animal. if i wanted to hunt wolves only i would use my 300 magnum 150 grain and higher. these wolf tracks up here are down all over the logging road trails here. from the center of the state too the eastern part of the states wolves are every where here. now these state forest areas here are 650,000 acres and larger all connected to each other here. you can hunt deer than hunt wolves if you want right after deer season if you have a tag. usually you have one wolf hanging around but he has 2-3 more friends close by watching that one checking things out. Wolf hunting can be dagerous, usually 150 grain or more should do the job. ( or 2 shots on the same animal.) They do alot of hunting at night. (the wolves.) i hunt the coyotes close to farm land here. when farmers up here have wolf problem they say they just take care of business. they don't mess around. If you go wolf hunting you your best jugdment. they are smart.
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I hunt Beltramie State forest area. Come and get sum.
 
What gun/caliber to use for wolves? If I was going to be overrun by zombies, I would like to have my AR15 and lots of ammo and a high cap shotgun loaded with buck. The same might work fine on wolves when shooting from the safety of a plane or chopper.

But, if I plan to venture out alone into wolf territory to hunt them, I know that I would want a little more gun than the little AR. Your not going to be in a fire fight and one good shot is far more effective than 10 or 20 misses. There is something (for me) about knowing that I need to make the 1st shot count that makes me aim fast but shoot slow and hit what I am shooting at. For a wolf, I would prefer my bolt action .270 in 130 or 150g than any of the smaller AR rounds. While some AR's can be made to shoot as well as a bolt gun, most do not. That added accuracy will enable better shot placement which is still very important and would encourage me to make the first shot count from the bolt gun.

Yes, the AR style guns now are available in .308 and other specialty calibers. Some of them are potent enough to do the job, especially the .308. I would still recommend a good bolt action rifle, with a clear, quality scope using a cartridge sufficient to hunt elk or large deer. Some said .243 was adequate. That is what I would call the bottom end of the spectrum. Use a gun that you are confident with out to at least 200 yds and one that you know very well and can shoot under pressure. If you feel it necessary to have adequate firepower to defend yourself from other predators, then pack a large caliber pistol as backup. Just so you know, I used to hunt with a weapon similar to the AR10/.308, it was an FN/FAL in .308. I used handloaded rounds and a 165g Nosler Ballistic Tip. With the exception of only one unusual event (where I used a factory round with a poor choice of bullet), I never had to fire it more than once to bag my quarry. But it was heavy, unwieldy and unnecessary for the job, so I retired it to Zombie standby duty and now use a custom Mauser in .270 with 130g bullets for most of my non-varmint hunting. It works fine. Also, keep in mind that the larger ballistic tips are not like the explosive ultra-high velocity varmint bullets. The larger ones over 100g are quite good at penetration of bone and thick muscle and still dump most of their energy into the target.

If you are lucky enough to see a wolf and have a clean shot at it, I want you to have a gun that will do the job. This is a good topic in that there are many "Right" answers and not too many wrong ones. Take your pick.

Irish
 
If you go with an AR the Grendel is very impressive even from a 16" barrel, plus it would be a nice range gun even out to 1000 yards. There are some very high bc bullets out there that will be great for long range fun and of course some really great game bullets as well

But a 243 slinging a Nosler BT is a [beeep] fine combo, actually I would feel comfortable with anything 70gr+ that Nosler makes. Their varmint BT are one of the finest all around bullets made IMO. Ive had them completely pass through a 160 lb animal and leave a nice half dollar exit, plus at closer ranges it'll fragment a little as well.

Its whatever you shoot better and will be efficient with.
 
I know the few I have killed and seen killed are tough and even smarter hunt your tail off to find them and if you do get that rare opportunity I want a little led under my AZZ.
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I'd use the lightest bolt rifle I could find no smaller than .243


reason is your going to be putting on a ton of miles and you want to be light as possible. AR's aren't really fun when your nipple deep in snow tromping through the fluffy stuff on snowshoes. I tried that and had snow freezing in every crack and crevice on the AR. I'm sure it would go bang just fine but I find the bolt gun easier/cleaner to pack.

I've since moved to a remington 700 .243 compact w vortex optix hornady 100gr
or tikka t3 light in 30-06 ziess optix with hornady 165sst would make a fine wolf gun.

I slide it down in an eberlestock pack with my foxpro and other stuff inside. It's working pretty good but didn't get that setup until the end of the season last year. Looking forward to this winter to wack some predators. I didn't score a cat last winter had to eat the tag
 
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Originally Posted By: DirtydudeI'd use the lightest bolt rifle I could find no smaller than .243


reason is your going to be putting on a ton of miles and you want to be light as possible. AR's aren't really fun when your nipple deep in snow tromping through the fluffy stuff on snowshoes. I tried that and had snow freezing in every crack and crevice on the AR. I'm sure it would go bang just fine but I find the bolt gun easier/cleaner to pack.

I've since moved to a remington 700 .243 compact w vortex optix hornady 100gr
or tikka t3 light in 30-06 ziess optix with hornady 165sst would make a fine wolf gun.

I slide it down in an eberlestock pack with my foxpro and other stuff inside. It's working pretty good but didn't get that setup until the end of the season last year. Looking forward to this winter to wack some predators. I didn't score a cat last winter had to eat the tag

I also use an Eberlestock gunrunner pack for my rifle/foxpro/camp seat and mojo. Its a great setup! The rifle is a Ruger Hawkeye .308 with the barrel cut and recrowned at 16" with a standard A2 flashhider on the end. It protects the crown from getting dinged and by putting a plastic military muzzle/dust cap on, it keeps gunk/rain/snow and ice out of the barrel. Federal factory "blue box" 150's will all go into a half inch. Topped with a Nikon 1-4 it is perfect for my style of big timber calling.



I also always pack my Benelli M2 with an Ultradot sight, stoked with remington 3" #4 buck for the real close areas that I call in it is as good as it gets.
 
With all the guys on here talkin about whacking deer with a .17 hornet, I'm surprised they aren't doing the same for wolf. Hit em in the neck they keep sayin
 
The 6.5 Grendel should be a great wolf round out to 400 yards or so. If your AR is accurate then you should be set. I would spend the $$$ on a good trigger for it.
 
I just made a load for my .270 that im pretty excited about.. 110gr barnes ttsx 60gr imr 4350 .75 @ 100yds... Going to chrono it hopefully this weekend... From what Ive read it should be around 3400
 
I have the chance to go on a wolf hunt in November I plan to use my Win model 70 280AI with a leupold 4.5-14 scope I feel comfortable shooting out to 500 yards with this gun. I have killed black bear and deer with it using 140 grain accubond and barnes triple shocks never had anything get up and run, it stones them dead. When I shot the 275lb black bear it was at a dead run and it turned into a bowling ball and didnt move once it stopped rolling. The barnes bullet passed through the femur and came out the front shoulder blade it liqufied the guts. I love this gun beacuse even with not perfect shot placement the bullet does a ton of damage and it performs great at long distance. I feel comfortable shooting anything smaller than brown bear with it. I dont think it is overkill for wolf and I definately dont think it is too small. My ideal choice for for wolf would be any of the 7mm magnums for their great long range trajectorys and devistating speed. I use an AR in 204 ruger for my fox/bobcat/coyote gun but I want a little bit more bang for my buck for a wolf gun.
 
Hello all,

I was lucky enough to hit the lottery here in Minnesota, I drew a wolf tag and I'm planning on late season, Nov 30 through Dec 8 to be exact. I was talking this over with a friend of mine and he suggested I hit this forum, which I am glad I did! Wow what a lot of information!

I was planning on using 7mm Rem Mag and I'm trying to decide on the bullet. I reload and have 150gr Nosler Ballistic Silvertips, i'm running 68gr h1000 and around 2900fps. I was thinking perhaps of switching to the 150 partitions.

Thanks for any advice?
 
Grouch,
Welcome to the forum!
Your on the right track 7mm is and will always be a longtime favorite of mine I'm partial to the partition over the ballistic tip but that's JMO
Good luck with the hunt and look forward to some pics.
 
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