late ML 113 wolf advice

[bmc02]

New to Forum but been a long time lurker. Just starting to get more serious with deer hunting and appreciate any advice!

put in quite a few days pre-season scouting my late ML deer area (selkirk 113). Got first hunt in yesterday and easy to see that the wolves have moved in and blown it out. Have had a couple of nice bucks on game cam last few weeks, then got a wolf Tuesday night. Not surprisingly no more deer after that.

Any advice? give it a couple days and stick to the area I know? or scrub this area/plan and move on? Only have 2 or 3 more days I'll be able to get out.

Guess I don't have much experience with these pests yet, so not sure what to do. I know they are now common in this part of the state, but this is the first I have seen sign of them in my area going back to last years late hunt. very discouraged...

[bearpaw]

I know a guy who works a lot with researchers working with collared wolves, cougar, and prey animals, he told me they have watched this happen multiple times, when the wolves move into a drainage, everything moves away from them, even the cougar move away from a pack of wolves.

[bmc02]

I know a guy who works a lot with researchers working with collared wolves, cougar, and prey animals, he told me they have watched this happen multiple times, when the wolves move into a drainage, everything moves away from them, even the cougar move away from a pack of wolves.

that's what I would guess would happen. The tracks (or lack of) in the snow told the same story.

So I guess the question is how long until the wolves move on and everything else move back in... assuming I make it back to same area sometime in the next week I'll probably get my answer.

[KFhunter]

Hunt as close to the farms as you can, get too far up and they all but dissappear

[Limhangerslayer]

Personally I’d bet the deer are there close to where you saw them.  I had wolf sign all around and a wolf howling just a couple hundred yards away one evening.  The next morning I shot a nice whitetail buck within a quarter mile of the spot.  Don’t think they just up and left, especially sneaky whitetails.

[Elkaholic daWg]

Gonna watch this one since I have a 65+ NE antlerless Elk SP  (Opening 12/15) and can use all the Scouting help I can get being a Wetsider most of the time

[Jimmy33]

I can tell you from my experience in unit 1 in Idaho..when the wolves move in, the white tail get pretty scarce. Very very tough to hunt even during the rut.


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[bmc02]

thanks for the responses, little bit of of split opinion on the matter. I think I will go in there tomorrow with the family to get our christmas tree and see what the sign says (bring the smoke stick along just in case).

I had 2 bucks (one nice one) on game cam moving in the middle of the day the couple days leading up to the season, then to have wolves move in that night before the opener... Man that really sucks. Felt like this was going to be my year. Probably wont hunt it hard again until late in the week or Saturday at the earliest due to work/family. So maybe it will settle down again by then. I checked my pics again and there was one doe that came after the wolves, so I guess it wasn't totally dead after.

[idaho guy]

Once the wolves move on they will be back. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the weekend unless the wolves camp out in there. Sometimes the elk and deer are still pretty close it just changes their pattern quite a bit

[snake]

I was running a few cameras in a couple drainages during early archery.  Wolves moved into one of the drainages that I would have multiple herds of elk on camera each day plus a bunch of whitetail.  For over a week ALL of the elk moved out and about half the Whitetail moved out.  I was surprised the Whitetail stuck around.  I had a few pics that had 6 wolves at once.
If it was me it would depend on if I knew any other areas to hunt.  If I didn't know any other areas I would stay in the same area.  You might just shoot a wolf if they're still in there.

[hunter399]

Gonna watch this one since I have a 65+ NE antlerless Elk SP  (Opening 12/15) and can use all the Scouting help I can get being a Wetsider most of the time

What unit

[KFhunter]

Gonna watch this one since I have a 65+ NE antlerless Elk SP  (Opening 12/15) and can use all the Scouting help I can get being a Wetsider most of the time

Got snowmobile?

[hunter399]

Anyway not much help.
But the only place I've hunted in 113 is,
Off of the la clerc hiway around no name lk. and Marshall lake,bead lk .
I've always liked that area. And need to explore more north one of these days.

[hunter399]

Gonna watch this one since I have a 65+ NE antlerless Elk SP  (Opening 12/15) and can use all the Scouting help I can get being a Wetsider most of the time

Got snowmobile?

Got private land permission.

[Elkaholic daWg]

Gonna watch this one since I have a 65+ NE antlerless Elk SP  (Opening 12/15) and can use all the Scouting help I can get being a Wetsider most of the time

What unit

113 and 117.  No sled Chris just quad. Gonna have a few talks with your neighbor north on Rock Cut too. and that third one might be tough!

[greenhead_killer]

I can tell you from my experience in unit 1 in Idaho..when the wolves move in, the white tail get pretty scarce. Very very tough to hunt even during the rut.


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this is what we discovered last year in unit 1 and also in montana this year. wolves are in, its gonna be a tough hunt. bump a drainage over and youll get back into regular action. good luck

[andrebeergog]

We ran into a pack off Alladin Road in the 111.  We saw one wolf at about 40 yards and had another 3-4 howling all around us.  We came back the next afternoon and were into deer maybe 1/4 mile away from where we ran into the wolf and were hearing the others. 

[Seabass]

Some of my buddies in 101 are covered up by wolves. They found 2 kills last week but they are still seeing good bucks on camera.

[bmc02]

Tried to get back into the area yesterday with the family to get our tree and check it out. Was quite a bit of snow from storms early in the week and with the warm weather the roads were a mess. Even with chains it was really tough going. So played it safe and turned around. So nothing new to report.

Looks like warm weather is here for few days, hoping I'll be able to get back into my area this weekend. Otherwise just have to hang lower.

[hunter399]

Tried to get back into the area yesterday with the family to get our tree and check it out. Was quite a bit of snow from storms early in the week and with the warm weather the roads were a mess. Even with chains it was really tough going. So played it safe and turned around. So nothing new to report.

Looks like warm weather is here for few days, hoping I'll be able to get back into my area this weekend. Otherwise just have to hang lower.

How high up are you hunting,seems like most snow to 4-5000 feet is gone,maybe in the shade on a North slope you might find some snow.

[bmc02]

Around 3000 elevation. The snow reduced a lot from Friday to Sunday but there is still quite a bit. The road was that super dense slush that you have to plow through. with wife and kids didn't want to risk getting stuck so turned around. Plus I don't think they would have been too excited about hiking around in that wet snow anyways.

I'll try again... Hopefully it cools off and can get a little fresh snow later this week.