Wolf at 12 yards!

18 October 2016, 02:05

JCS271

Wolf at 12 yards!

I have been really struggling with locating wolves this year. The few times I have been on them I was either busted by swirling winds or crunchy frozen snow. It has been raining lightly for the last ten days and this morning was no exception.

I was in some very remote country at daylight and made several stands with no response. Soaking wet and frustrated I walked back to my jeep. After a short pity party right there in the drivers seat I decided to give it ONE more try and went to another spot about a mile away. After I made two short howls I heard a response. It sounded like there were five or six of them but they were spread out and way up the side of a mountain with absolutely no trail access.

I usually do not try sneaking in on a whole pack simply because the more they are pestered, the more wary they become. Today however with no wind and a light rain falling I decided to go for it. As I was strapping on my pack and grabbing my hiking stick in preparation for a difficult hike I couldn't help thinking about the old saying "Fortune Favors the Bold".

For the next 90 minutes I slowly made my way up the slope utilizing game trails as best I could to make the walk a little easier. When I got near the top there was a little saddle and I could see fairly well in most directions for 25-40 yards.

I thought it was as good a place as any to set up. All the way up I had been trying to figure out my best option for calling, assuming that I did not get busted on the way in. I decided that instead of soft whining or howling I would instead just crank on my fawn distress and hope for the best, my theory being that if they were separated but all in the general area, then each would think that one of the others had caught something and just maybe.........

I sat on a flat rock with my little .308 Ruger, safety off and at the ready. I now run illuminated reticles on all of my hunting rifles and the Leupold VXR 2-7 was turned all the way down with the firedot duplex reticle glowing.

I am the proud owner of several exotic hardwood magnum calls from Robert Patrick of RareEarth calls in Michigan. So when I started mimicking a fawn in distress on the one made from Ironwood I knew It would carry loudly and clearly across the slope.

After three or four soulful "bleats" I sat still. Twenty seconds later I saw movement directly in front of me at about 35-40 yards. It was a gray colored wolf coming down a game trail at a lope heading straight for me. I started tracking it with the red dot so I could fire the second it stopped.

Except it wasn't stopping, it was so intent on finding the fawn that I realized it was going to be in my lap if I didn't do something quick! So I woofed and it hit the brakes. With the firedot centered on its chest as the wolf faced me at less than 12 yards, I simply pulled the trigger and it collapsed.

I instantly reloaded and scanned for any other wolves but there was nothing but silence. I howled on the off chance the gunshot had been ignored but there was no response.

As I notched my tag and prepared for the pack out I couldn't help but think how close I had come to giving up and going home cold wet and hungry,just 2 hours earlier.

Wolf hunting is just like the lottery, you can't win if you don't play. Today I hit the jackpot!

The wolf was a female and was aged as a 2 year old by the FWP biologist.

Mike

Never under estimate the internet community to use any opportunity to reply to a post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence problem.

What I have learned on AR, since 2001:
1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken.
2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps.
3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges.
4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down.
5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine.
6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle.
7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions.
8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA.
9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not.
10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact.
11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores.
12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence.
13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances.