Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Wolves => Topic started by: Wetwoodshunter on February 16, 2018, 09:37:20 AM

Title: Wolf calls/ predator calling
Post by: Wetwoodshunter on February 16, 2018, 09:37:20 AM: I'm lucky enough to get to hunt Caribou this year up in AK. While I'm up there we are planning on hunting for 10 days and I will also have a wolf tag in my pocket and probably 2 tags in camp.

Does anyone have any experience calling wolves? What type of calls should I be looking at or are they not worth using? I am more interested in external reed calls or the like than electric due to weight savings.
Title: Re: Wolf calls/ predator calling
Post by: STARVATION on February 16, 2018, 05:54:46 PM: Record some of those whiny liberals on the westside, should sound like a free meal to a carnivore.

Around here a bull elk bugle works just fine, as well as cow calls.
Title: Re: Wolf calls/ predator calling
Post by: KFhunter on February 16, 2018, 06:43:30 PM: That would be fun calling the tundra, especially if you can shoot the fox. There's a lot of big hares up there in areas and a wolf would happily snag it from a fox.

I suspect you'll do some glassing, get in close, then call them in closer, so you'll need some volume to buck the wind. I'd want a long range remote in case you get a bear that was bedded up in earshot.

No idea what a wounded caribou sound like, I know they snort snuffle during rut, but I'm not sure they bellow when being attacked. I'd try calf distress, can't hurt, wounded is wounded I think any curiosity noise would work :dunno:
Title: Re: Wolf calls/ predator calling
Post by: Wetwoodshunter on February 18, 2018, 09:18:36 AM: Thanks everyone that posted and sent me Pm's I will be picking up a howler. I another call but I don't really want to call in a grizzly.
Title: Re: Wolf calls/ predator calling
Post by: Branden on February 18, 2018, 11:22:19 AM: My brother called a couple in last spring in Idaho with coyote vocals. Might try some pup distress.
Title: Re: Wolf calls/ predator calling
Post by: Okanagan on February 18, 2018, 11:40:11 AM: Some wolf calling experience odds and ends: A guide friend called wolves successfully in northern BC with a closed reed jack rabbit distress call. When unsure what sound to use, jack rabbit distress is the one for me, anywhere in N. America for any predator. An open reed call allows a person to produce an extremely wide variety of sounds with one call, from whimpers to howls to bird, rabbit and fawn distress, moose, deer and other mating calls and grunts. Jackrabbit distress sounds similar to hare, fawn, bear cub and likely other distressed animals.

I have called wolves with jackrabbit distress type sound from both closed and open reed hand calls, and had a grizzly come when attempting to call a wolf with my best guess at caribou calf distress (which I have never heard!) In northern BC I had recurring problem with grizzlies coming in so quit trying to call wolves with prey sound. Plenty of caribou where I was calling.

I've had wolves howl in reply immediately to recorded sounds of wolf howls, using Wildlife Tech and Minaska electronic calls. They never came closer but would howl in reply. The Minaska sound is apparently a big male from Alaska, and a pack (that appeared to be a female with near adult young) would howl in reply but rapidly head farther away.

In your tundra situation with need for compactness, I would primarily use hand calls for prey and canine puppy sounds, plus do some howling with my voice to locate. IMO exact sound is the least critical of calling factors and anything that sounds like possibly prey in distress will work.

In grizz country I set up where no bear can get to my back unseen, even if it is less ideal for a calling stand. Or have a partner at your back. So far, all grizzlies that have come to my hand calls have backed off once I stood up in the open and they discovered that a human was at the source of the sounds.

Am envious of your hunt and wish you the best of success and fun. Tell us about the wolf calling when you get back.