Muleyhunter78
Active member
Following along with all the interest in the states about wolves i thought i'd share a bit of experience i have had with wolves in BC. I find we are in the same boat as yourselves, although our seasons seem far more liberal. My personal observations of wolves in central BC have been that they have been hammering our local populations of big game. Moose, deer, elk, caribou are all affected. Game numbers seem down and while i am sure there are more factors than wolves at work here, they are definitely a big factor. BC has a program currently where the government is sponsoring wolf reduction in certain areas of the province which is a good start.
Now for myself, i have taken a few wolves over the years. Our season runs from August until the end of June the following year and we have no bag limit where i live. This definitely doesn't make it easier though. One story of mine is my friend and i going into a high country spot one September when we ran into this lone wolf coming towards us. We got this picture.......
Which i was quickly able to turn to this picture........
This wolf was heading down valley to an area which contained not only good deer populations but active cattle grazing as well. This generated some positive comments from a few local ranchers in the area when i got into town and ran into a few at the local fuel station.
A few years later i ran into wolves in one of my favorite hunting areas for deer. This was a spot where i could go and see an easy 40-50 deer a day(which is a really good count where i live). I never ran into other hunters in this area as it was a good hike in and isolated. Now this spot is lucky to produce one or two deer sightings per trip. Anyways I was in this spot a few octobers ago right when the sightings began to drop. I was hiking along wondering why the only doe i had seen so far was spooky as hell. I continued along when i heard a few quiet wolf howls. Problem solved. So on a whim i broke out my deer stopper call and blew on it a few times. Well all of a sudden there was an amazingly large amount of howling and barking for about ten seconds and then total silence. That was one of the strangest feelings i have ever had in the woods. The sounds had been all around me and all of a sudden were gone. I settled back against a large fir tree and waited. All of a sudden i saw a wolf silently padding through the forest. This one large wolf came out behind a tree about thirty yards away and stopped. I was waiting for a better shot to present when the wolf turned broadside and locked eyes with me. I know this because as it did its ears shot forward and it lowered its head and sniffed towards me. Then it took a step towards me and i sent a round on its way, dropping the wolf in its tracks. All of a sudden the woods exploded with wolves. They were running everywhere, out from behind trees, logs and any other piece of cover. I was able to line up another and dropped it, when it got back up and struggled away. As fast as that the woods were silent. Then a strange thing happened. The woods went dead quiet again and i waited. All of a sudden i heard what could only be described as one hell of a dog fight which ended in a loud squeal and growls. I moved slowly towards the sound and just caught a quick view of a wolf dragging another away. The only thing i could think was maybe i had wounded the alpha and one of the pack had finished him off. I went back towards the downed wolf though and as i walked up to it all of a sudden the other wolves started howling again. Long deep howls. It was surreal. The wolf i got was a large female and the craziest part was she had a fresh deer jawbone in her mouth. They had come off a fresh kill to get another. This is one of the two pics i got before my camera died.
I have no hate for wolves but feel that they need to be managed for sustainability of all populations in the area. I hope to get out for more wolf hunts in the future as well. Thanks for taking the time to read all of this. Cheers.
Now for myself, i have taken a few wolves over the years. Our season runs from August until the end of June the following year and we have no bag limit where i live. This definitely doesn't make it easier though. One story of mine is my friend and i going into a high country spot one September when we ran into this lone wolf coming towards us. We got this picture.......
Which i was quickly able to turn to this picture........
This wolf was heading down valley to an area which contained not only good deer populations but active cattle grazing as well. This generated some positive comments from a few local ranchers in the area when i got into town and ran into a few at the local fuel station.
A few years later i ran into wolves in one of my favorite hunting areas for deer. This was a spot where i could go and see an easy 40-50 deer a day(which is a really good count where i live). I never ran into other hunters in this area as it was a good hike in and isolated. Now this spot is lucky to produce one or two deer sightings per trip. Anyways I was in this spot a few octobers ago right when the sightings began to drop. I was hiking along wondering why the only doe i had seen so far was spooky as hell. I continued along when i heard a few quiet wolf howls. Problem solved. So on a whim i broke out my deer stopper call and blew on it a few times. Well all of a sudden there was an amazingly large amount of howling and barking for about ten seconds and then total silence. That was one of the strangest feelings i have ever had in the woods. The sounds had been all around me and all of a sudden were gone. I settled back against a large fir tree and waited. All of a sudden i saw a wolf silently padding through the forest. This one large wolf came out behind a tree about thirty yards away and stopped. I was waiting for a better shot to present when the wolf turned broadside and locked eyes with me. I know this because as it did its ears shot forward and it lowered its head and sniffed towards me. Then it took a step towards me and i sent a round on its way, dropping the wolf in its tracks. All of a sudden the woods exploded with wolves. They were running everywhere, out from behind trees, logs and any other piece of cover. I was able to line up another and dropped it, when it got back up and struggled away. As fast as that the woods were silent. Then a strange thing happened. The woods went dead quiet again and i waited. All of a sudden i heard what could only be described as one hell of a dog fight which ended in a loud squeal and growls. I moved slowly towards the sound and just caught a quick view of a wolf dragging another away. The only thing i could think was maybe i had wounded the alpha and one of the pack had finished him off. I went back towards the downed wolf though and as i walked up to it all of a sudden the other wolves started howling again. Long deep howls. It was surreal. The wolf i got was a large female and the craziest part was she had a fresh deer jawbone in her mouth. They had come off a fresh kill to get another. This is one of the two pics i got before my camera died.
I have no hate for wolves but feel that they need to be managed for sustainability of all populations in the area. I hope to get out for more wolf hunts in the future as well. Thanks for taking the time to read all of this. Cheers.
