With the handover of wolf population management back to Montana and Idaho (and hopefully my home state of Wyoming someday ) we may actually get a chance to hunt these animals. I for one would love to have a prime wolf pelt on the wall. So what would be your ultimate dedicated wolf rifle? I was thinking that one of those new Dakota/Nesika varmint rifles in 25/06 with a Leupold 4.5x-14x would be just about perfect. Of course with finances being what they are, I would probably stick to my old Remington 700 Bdl varmint special 22-250.

270, 150 grain bullet.

Well, I just looked at the Dakota website and found out that they do not chamber any cartridges with a case head bigger than 223 or ppc in their predator rifle. So I guess I would have to go with a Cooper Phoenix rifle in 25/06, 6/284, or 6.5/284 as my ideal rifle, especially if they start making a repeater as has been rumored. A Cooper may even fit my budget.

Hello;
These things are bigger than a lot of people realize and don't kill easily. I know a couple of people who've used .300 Mags and have had to follow up. Personally, I wouldn't use anything than my 7mm Rem. Given the state of things down there, perhaps something with a supressor.

Your handle is Ballard4590 and you have to ask? I think your namesake would work just fine.

Use a paper patched bullet over about 85 gr of black.
Brent

Hello;
Just to put a little perspective on this scenario. I picked my March wolf up from the taxidermist just before Christmas, which I had done as a rug. He ain't gonna make Boone and Crocket, nothing exceptional, just from the same parent stock as all those imported American wolves. My taxidermist figures him as about 2 years old. Nose to tail, he is just under 7 feet long and cross ways paw to paw, he is just over 5 ft. It took me 3 rounds of 162 grain Hornadys to make him stay put.
Grizz

Attached to the door of a Huey!

i think doc and kudu56 got it right...

I agree with Kudu56, but a RPG would do more ,as how I feel about the re-introduction of the wolf
in the lower 48. I have often felt that if I ran
into one in Colorado I wouldn't be able to help myself !
Charlie

DITTO"S with Kudu56

Any small caliber in the paunch works fine, this way they run off and die.

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Grizzly Adams:
Hello;
These things are bigger than a lot of people realize and don't kill easily.

This isn't the first time I've heard this. While I have never killed a wolf, I've talked with hunters that have or spoke with a taxidermist who related stories when I see a wolf in their shop.

In no instance to date have I heard of a wolf going "bang-flop." But this just goes to show that many bullets from different calibers can 'kill' but which ones do it more efficiently given the same shot placement. Much like my feelings on deer and a 243. I know it will kill them, but I've yet to witness a deer drop on the spot with a lung hit from a 6mm bullet. Let the flames begin.

The only reason I wrote in my first post the 270 and 150 combo was that is what an outfitter used year after year on wolves in AB and never had a wolf go more than a few yards.

Been fortunate enough to be on several wolf hunts in northern Ontario and can tell you that a good deer rifle with (yes) high sectional density bullets is the answer. I mean my minimum would be a 6.5/284, and would more likely thatn not option for a stout .30 caliber.

270, 270wsm(for genx), the ultimate...300rum! (get a red poof! in your scope)

since i dont intend to eat the blasted things i would us a light-blow-um-up-dump-all-the-energy-in-the-animals-chest bullet like a 130 grn plastic tip out of a 300 mag.

Grizzly Adams:

The first time I saw a wolf (dead) was at a Canadian hunting/fishing lodge. He had been shot by one of the local people -and I was dumbfounded at how big he was. I was assured that he was simply typical. (The Hollywood movies where they use German Shepherds to imitate wolves looked ridiculous ever after to me) The wolf was shot with the standard local "meat gun", a 303. I didn't think it was over kill. I saw wolves often afterwards and sometimes quite close while carrying bait pails to bear stands.(helping out after I had my bear) They sometimes were peeking from behind a tree at me. They never would touch the bait (although I remember when wolves had a bad winter sometimes and would then sometimes approach the bait but these were usually yearling pups) You give good advice.

To you other guys on the site - You won't like what I say next. if you're not a rancher or farmer losing stock to wolves _ I hope they get away! No, I'm not a PETA spy! I just have a particular liking for wolves. (I always say that if you don't like wolves, you don't like dogs) I was on a bear stand once and had a wolf peek from behind a tree at me. Our eyes met at a distance of about 60 yards. He stepped out and raised his leg on the tree. I like to think that he really did have to go! On another thread I read about not shooting giraffes. Well, I wouldn't shoot wolves (and in those days in the Nipissing District of Canada, they were still paying bounties) Just my thoughts, guys. No fight intended.

I have killed a few wolves myself and they aren't that tough to kill.Any cartridge suitable for deer hunting will do fine.

I could not imagine buying a dedicated rifle for wolves. Moreover, I can't see the need to kill them either. While I did not agree with the reintroduction of them in Yellowstone, I believe they were never extinct in Wyoming. Further, I think it irresponsible to reintroduce them and not have a management plan in place. If they need to be hunted, I'm all for it. I just have no desire to kill one.

If I had to kill one, I am sure any big game rifle will work.

BTW, I saw a wolf special on an educational channel. They really are amazingly intelligent animals.

I firmly believe mountain lions do pose a real threat to humans, and I can easily see a need to hunt them. In CA, the idiots here have agreed to sacrafice humans to feed the pretty & legally protected kitties. Some years ago a young mother was killed by a lion that had kittens. The marauding lion was tracked and killed. To show you how screwed up the idiots living here are, more money was sent to care for the lion's kittens than was sent to help the victim's orphans!

BTW, I think anything from .38 Special on up would work on lions. Also, because they are so damn fast, I would not wait until one charged before shooting. If I caught one stalking my kids or me, I'd kill it!


Happy New Year,

Tom

My partner at work has killed a few wolves and his favorite is the 22 mag. He says a wolf has a tendancy to look back over its shoulder while running. When the wolf looks back he shoots it behind the ear and they drop on the spot. He says pretty much a hit in the head will drop it. One wolf he hit in the nose and it was dead when he got to it.

He thinks even a 22-250 can be too much on broadside shots. It is tough to sew up a 5 inch exit hole in the hide.

Well, here in New Mexico we use any rifle we have on wolves....oops; not supposed to say that; Feds might be listening.

Tom1911:

I could not agree more with you about mountain lions. Hunters tend to get rid of more aggressive lions (their very boldness, of course, makes them a good target) With hunting being banned, the aggressive lions become more troublesome. ( Quick family story - In the early 1920s my father owned a property in the San Fernando Valley {long before development} He had a neighbor who was an old widow lady and who ran a large chicken farm. She heard a disturbance one night and came to the coops to see what the problem was. She met a mountain lion -and snatched up a broom and rushed the cat which fled. It was not considered anything particularly out of the ordinary - because mountain lions were not considered then to really dare to attack a human being)

It truly was sad to read about the collection for lion kits exceeding a collection for the human orphans! Oh, well! At my age I should be used to weird human behaviour!

Tom1911:

Forgot to say that I agree with your remarks about re-introducing wolves. I want to be very clear to any Westerner reading my remarks - I support the absolute right of any rancher or farmer (or herder) to shoot wolves when and as they find them if they are hunting stock or sheep. I guess I also agree that if otherwise sport hunters can hunt them I support that legal hunting too. I just hope you sport hunters miss!

Gee, there must be some really big wolves down south! A 75 gr. V-Max out of the .257 Roberts works just fine here in AK. A lot of people are using the .223 with good results too.

quote:

Originally posted by akpls:
Gee, there must be some really big wolves down south! A 75 gr. V-Max out of the .257 Roberts works just fine here in AK. A lot of people are using the .223 with good results too.

That is what I was thinking too. I've shot them with a 22 mag and a cast 44 swc out of a pistol, and they die just like anything else. We used to shoot them out on the ice in the middle of winter and then we'd use 270's and 308's and such with higher powered scopes. Other than that they are just 'opportunity' targets

akpls - free_miner:

You really can't make comparisons. Everybody knows that wolves in Alaska are half frozen to death already when you shot at them. They probably welcomed "hot lead"!

I would give the 257 roberts a try on my first hunt and then a 45 colt on my second.

Gerry375: I have observed Wolves here in SW Montana as close as 25 yards from me!
I have to admit I was dumbfounded at the size of their bodies and their legs!
They are very beautiful and intense animals. There are, just WAY to many of them!
They need to be thinned out to the point of being reduced by more than 2/3's now!
Its a shame the feds and the greens and the rmef foisted these Big Game killing machines on us and now we are seeing our Moose, Bighorns, Deer and Elk herds suffering - sometimes to the extreme in many areas - by Wolf predation!
Remember, Gerry 375, that each Wolf EATS the bi-mass equivelent of 1.8 Elk per month! We now have (according to some biologists) 1,000 Wolves in ALL of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming!
That leaves us with the equivelent of 21,600 LESS Elk equivelent bio-masses EACH YEAR that are being eaten by Wolves! And remember that the furry little friends of the rmef have the nasty habit of often killing more game than they will eat! Wolves do that by nature.
I am guessing you being from New York you like to Hunt Deer! And about 4 deer equal an Elk bio-mass, thus then visualize 86,400 more Deer in your state being eaten by another predator!!! Every year! And getting WORSE every year for your hard fought for and propogated game herds!!
I to, would not like every last Wolf killed off in the U.S. - but they are destroying game herds in many areas and humans, who propogated and fought for these game herds to be brought up to maximum carrying capacity, are loosing Hunting opportunities! Commerce also suffers from these losses.
Just this past week, near my home in SW Montana the wardens were conducting a ground search for what may or may not have been a Wolf killed Bighorn Ram. The Ram was seen dead from the air and the wardens had to venture out to see what killed it!
In this same area 2 years ago a small herd of Bighorn Rams was killed by Wolves in one day!
The wardens observed this from an aircraft as they were counting Elk on winter range!
You have NO IDEA how much effort, time, money, blood, sweat and tears go into trying to protect and propogate the Bighorn Sheep here in the Rockies! Then to see the Wolves eat the Bighorns is demoralizing and wasteful to an extreme!
Maybe you should solicit the rmef and YOUR state legislature and see if you can get another predator - maybe the Wolf re-introduced into all of New York State? Or do you NOT want the Wolves IN YOUR BACK YARD???
Remember Gerry375 we have other predators that prey on our game herds as well - maybe you have not heard of the Cougar? Or Black Bear? Or Coyotes? Or Grizzlies? Indeed we have to MANY predators already - to many both by species and by population of those predator species!
You are naive about the Wolf and all that comes with them!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Win M70, .25-06, Luepold 4.5x14, Hornady 117gr SSTs pushed by 52gr of H4831sc.

Ditto what VarmintGuy said . the Northfork of the Flathead used to be a good place to hunt elk . Not anymore between the bears and wolves the elk are all but gone now. The Middle fork ,bordering the park, is not what is used to be . And Yellowstone has gone all to hell .

although, i have not hunted wolves. i would like to.

it seems to me that an a.r.15 with 77 gr. blackhills and a 3-10x scope on a 16" or longer barrel would do a job on them. it would also offer quick followup when they run and the chance to shoot more than one out of the pack, if you caught them out in the open, like on a kill.

I shot mine with a mini-14 in alaska in 1982 and he's still the #1 weighed in at over 250# with the skull of 19 3/16"