Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Out Of State Hunting => Topic started by: vandeman17 on November 26, 2021, 08:59:24 PM
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My old man and I got back today from a week of deer hunting in western Montana. This is an annual trip on the years we draw a combo tag and we were lucky enough to have a good buddy and his dad join us. The first morning my dad tagged out on a very nice 4 point whitetail so the trip started out great and we were seeing a handful of deer including a few small bucks. This is a mountain whitetail hunt with a chance of running into mule deer unless we go up much higher. Like the flip of a switch, suddenly the deer seemed to disappear. One day my buddy and I both covered a ton of ground, hitting all our good spots and didn’t even bump a deer. It suddenly made sense when pictures of fresh wolf tracks started hitting my phone from multiple spots of our “prime” areas. It was obvious at this point that we better buy a wolf tag just in case we run into one.
Now with a wolf tag and deer tag in my pocket, I decided to head back into my number one spot for a morning sit to see if I could get lucky and find a buck chasing a doe. On my way in, climbing up the hill, I ran into two cows coming out of the timber. I watched them disappear over the little bench above me and continued to creep up the hill. The area I normally sit has two spots where I like to post up, one above and one below, depending on the wind. This particular morning I decided to sit high so I made my way up to find a good tree to sit against. Once I found the tree of choice I got out my warm layers and prepared myself to sit for a couple hours. I had just settled in, no more than a minute or two when I caught movement below me. My first thought was it was a coyote given the grayish color. When it cleared a couple trees and turned slightly towards me, I could see it’s head through my scope and knew it was a wolf. I couldn’t believe it and my heart started pounding while I tracked him with my crosshairs. He continued moving and turned up hill a bit and back the way he had come from. Once he cleared the couple trees I squeezed the trigger and I could see him bite at his shoulder twice then pile up. I sat their in disbelief for a few seconds until I felt my phone buzz and was snapped back to reality.
After letting the group know that I had just killed a wolf, I stripped back down out of my insulation layers and headed down to look. The closer I got, the bigger he started to look. I called my old man on the radio and asked him to bring in the pack frame while I hiked down to meet him above the gated road we hike in on. After I met up with him, we headed back up with just the pack frame and my rifle. When we got back to him, we took some pictures and formulated a plan on how to get him out. This is made more difficult by how dang smelly wolves are. Normally I field dress all my animals in the field but being this could be my one and only wolf in my life, we decided to pack it out whole so my buddy with much more skinning experience could help. After we got him on the frame and moved it around so I could crawl under it, I really didn’t think there would be any way I could walk it down the steep hill to get to the access road. It took my dad lifting and pulling just so I could stand up but once up, I knew it was doable but would be pretty miserable. Slow and steady with a handful of stops to rest tired legs and back got us to the truck, dripping with sweat.
I wish we had a scale but the 3 of us all guessed he was between 125-140 lbs and mature. Now I am deciding what route to go with him for the house. The old lady really wants a full body mount…
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More
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Few more
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Man, nice looking wolf there. What are you doing with the pelt?
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Congrats!
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Congratulations! :tup:
Nice looking wolf!
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Great job riding the woods of that guy.
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Man, nice looking wolf there. What are you doing with the pelt?
Undecided right now. We caped it thinking most likely just a rug but the old lady is trying to convince me to do a full body wall hanging mount. Talked to my taxi this afternoon and bringing it by tomorrow so he can look at it. Not sure how well it will turn out given we skinned it up the belly
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Very cool!
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Congrats! I hope to get a wolf someday
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Congrats! I hope to get a wolf someday
I never thought I would ever kill one. This is the first one I have seen in the wild, let alone in gun range during hunting season. Just dumb luck
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Man, nice looking wolf there. What are you doing with the pelt?
Undecided right now. We caped it thinking most likely just a rug but the old lady is trying to convince me to do a full body wall hanging mount. Talked to my taxi this afternoon and bringing it by tomorrow so he can look at it. Not sure how well it will turn out given we skinned it up the belly
I always thought just a nice soft tanned hide was nice if I ever got a wolf. Like how they do fox fur. My buddy has two he shot in the frank like that hanging. I like how they turned out! But I don’t think you can go wrong with anything you decide :tup:
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Man, nice looking wolf there. What are you doing with the pelt?
Undecided right now. We caped it thinking most likely just a rug but the old lady is trying to convince me to do a full body wall hanging mount. Talked to my taxi this afternoon and bringing it by tomorrow so he can look at it. Not sure how well it will turn out given we skinned it up the belly
I always thought just a nice soft tanned hide was nice if I ever got a wolf. Like how they do fox fur. My buddy has two he shot in the frank like that hanging. I like how they turned out! But I don’t think you can go wrong with anything you decide :tup:
Yes I agree. My spring bear I just had tanned and it’s pretty cool just hanging over our spare bedroom log bed frame.
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:tup: :tup:
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Right on man!!! Congrats!!
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Awesome!
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Man, nice looking wolf there. What are you doing with the pelt?
Undecided right now. We caped it thinking most likely just a rug but the old lady is trying to convince me to do a full body wall hanging mount. Talked to my taxi this afternoon and bringing it by tomorrow so he can look at it. Not sure how well it will turn out given we skinned it up the belly
I always thought just a nice soft tanned hide was nice if I ever got a wolf. Like how they do fox fur. My buddy has two he shot in the frank like that hanging. I like how they turned out! But I don’t think you can go wrong with anything you decide :tup:
Yes I agree. My spring bear I just had tanned and it’s pretty cool just hanging over our spare bedroom log bed frame.
That would be sweet hanging side by side! Bad ass. Do a frame out of stained cedar fence boards and hang them or stretch them on it... I’ll send you a PM with a pic of what I did don’t wanna derail.
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Wife says full mount! Mount that wolf!!! Congrats!!! What a cool experience i hope 1 day to enjoy.
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Nice!
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Congrats man that’s a beautiful wolf!
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Wife says full mount! Mount that wolf!!! Congrats!!! What a cool experience i hope 1 day to enjoy.
That is the way I am leaning at this point. May never get a chance to kill another
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:tup: :tup:
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That's awesome way to get er done!
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Beautiful wolf. Congrats
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Way cool
congrats
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Good job on a nice looking now good wolf
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Awesome sauce !!!!!! :tup:
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Nice job. Was it a male or female? What rifle/caliber did you use?
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Nice job. Was it a male or female? What rifle/caliber did you use?
Mature male, about 130 lbs we guessed. Shot with my .270 and 130 gr bullet. Didn’t go two steps
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You just saved roughly 17 elk or 37 deer this coming year! well done...
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Now this is cool!!!
Thanks for helping out our game population’s!
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Now this is cool!!!
Thanks for helping out our game population’s!
Had a few locals stop by while we were boning out deer and when we showed them, they thanked me multiple times and said to make sure to come back and kill more. :chuckle:
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Nice work! Congratulations!
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Nicely done.
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Now this is cool!!!
Thanks for helping out our game population’s!
Had a few locals stop by while we were boning out deer and when we showed them, they thanked me multiple times and said to make sure to come back and kill more. :chuckle:
You would probably get offered free drinks at the nearest bar... :chuckle:
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Sweet!👍🏻
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Congrats again, dude. So cool!!
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Congrats again, dude. So cool!!
Thanks. It sure was quite the surprise and far from anything I went into the hunt even remotely expecting to happen.
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:tup: Really nice looking wolf. :tup:
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I will also add that after packing this guy out and seeing the sheer size of a mature male, I have a new found respect for them. The size of the paws and teeth on them shows how they are able to take down big game
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:tup: nice job!! I wish every deer/elk hunter could do that but it is tough to even see one in Nw Montana. I have a full body mount if you want a picture and if the wife is for it go full body mount!!! Well done
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I want one just to drape over my couch
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Excellent work Vanderman!!!
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Congratulations!! And way to go!! 🙂👍🤜🤛
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Looks like the old lady won and I am going to do a life size wall mount. When looking at forms, the normal eye to nose measurement was 5 3/4” and this wolf is a tad over 6 1/4” so it’s a big one. Excited to see how it turns out
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Good work :tup:
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Great looking Wolf! One of those at the top of the bucket list.
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Awesome, congrats!
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Hell yeah, way to go Adam...... :tup:
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Great looking Wolf! One of those at the top of the bucket list.
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It was up there for me too but not sure I would ever target them specifically. Now my buddy and I are talking about going back this winter to look for another :chuckle:
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Fine, I'll ask the dumb question. What about the meat? Gotta be at least 40lbs of it. Anyone ever eat the things? Wondered if pepperoni could be made. Even the roasts.
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Fine, I'll ask the dumb question. What about the meat? Gotta be at least 40lbs of it. Anyone ever eat the things? Wondered if pepperoni could be made. Even the roasts.
We joked about eating it but did not. From what I have read, you actually don’t even have to take any part of the wolf from the woods. They just ask that you report it and if you plan to take it home, you have to get the pelt sealed by fwp.
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If its anything like coyote :puke:
Tbey all got worms and parasites, hytdad
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If its anything like coyote :puke:
Tbey all got worms and parasites, hytdad
:yeah: I listened to Randy newberg talk about trying the wolf he killed. Said it was terrible and only half the people would even try a bite.
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If its anything like coyote :puke:
Tbey all got worms and parasites, hytdad
:yeah: I listened to Randy newberg talk about trying the wolf he killed. Said it was terrible and only half the people would even try a bite.
I took a tiny bite of a back strap off one we got a long time ago. It’s unbelievably disgusting. Then I took the wolf trapping class and the fish and game instructors said don’t even gut one they have a parasite I can’t spell that’s transferred to humans that can kill ya. Leave the entire carcass in the woods became my new motto from then on.
Nice job again on the wolf 👍
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:tup: one down, many more to go!! Congrats on helping out nature!
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Great hunt :tup:
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Crazy how big it looks on your back. Cool looking wolf, Awesome job!!!
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Crazy how big it looks on your back. Cool looking wolf, Awesome job!!!
When we were going back up with the frame, my thought was to drape it over the shelf and carry it that way. As soon as we put the frame under we knew that wasn't going to work at all so decided to go with that way you see it. When we were flipping it over and around so I could get under it, I had serious doubts that I would be able to get it down to the truck so backup plan was to just slide the frame down to the upper road then try to carry it from there. With the help of my old man, I was able to stand up and was happy to get the feeling it would be doable, but miserable for sure. The worst part, besides having to get up each time after taking breaks, was the smell of the dang thing right behind my head. :o
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Sweet! Nice job. :tup:
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Great post. And man those paws look large.
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Got the skull done on the wolf. Pretty darn big
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That looks great. What a powerful animal.
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That looks great. What a powerful animal.
On his right side he has healed over bone damage under his eye socket. My guess is he got kicked at some point in his life
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Got the skull done on the wolf. Pretty darn big
I was able to see this last week at the taxi. The skull is really big. Congrats cant wait to see the mount.
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:tup: :tup: That skull is way cool :tup: :tup:
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Skull looks great! What are you going to do with the hide? Should be cool!
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Skull looks great! What are you going to do with the hide? Should be cool!
I was talked into doing a life sized wall mount. Looking at forms with the taxi, all the ones available were too small so he is going to have to do some extra work. Big ol dog
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That skull looks great!
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Skull looks great! What are you going to do with the hide? Should be cool!
I was talked into doing a life sized wall mount. Looking at forms with the taxi, all the ones available were too small so he is going to have to do some extra work. Big ol dog
That will look so cool V-Man!!!
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Awesome job on the Wolf. We say a couple in Montana during September elk hunting one actually started chewing on an elk we got be we recovered it.