Montana wolf success

[vandeman17]

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…

[vandeman17]

More

[vandeman17]

Few more

[Stein]

Man, nice looking wolf there.  What are you doing with the pelt?

[X-Force]

Congrats!

[full choke]

Congratulations! 

Nice looking wolf!

[Mulie87]

Great job riding the woods of that guy.

[vandeman17]

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

[Harbor_hunter]

Very cool!

[Duckslayer89]

Congrats! I hope to get a wolf someday

[vandeman17]

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

[Duckslayer89]

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 

[vandeman17]

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 

Yes I agree. My spring bear I just had tanned and it’s pretty cool just hanging over our spare bedroom log bed frame.

[Dan-o]

 

[teanawayslayer]

Right on man!!! Congrats!!