Elk rut and Wolves

[Hilgy]

Looking for a little advise. We have been scouting an area for about a year now. Mostly with trail cams.

We have seen enough elk activity to warrant a trip next week to try to get an arrow into a bull.
Last week it appears a pack of wolves moved through the area and I’m wondering if anyone thinks this will shut the area down to elk movement in the near future.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Hilgy

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by Hilgy

Looking for a little advise. We have been scouting an area for about a year now. Mostly with trail cams.

We have seen enough elk activity to warrant a trip next week to try to get an arrow into a bull.
Last week it appears a pack of wolves moved through the area and I’m wondering if anyone thinks this will shut the area down to elk movement in the near future.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Hilgy

Doubt activity will shut right down but they might not be as vocal.

[nimrod]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Doubt activity will shut right down but they might not be as vocal.

This

and also watch out for a grizzly coming into a call, they are very sneaky

[st99]

In my area, elk are never vocal due to high predator numbers. And we noticed that when the wolves move in, they tend to move away several miles and will come back 2 or 3 weeks later.

[walking buffalo]

Wolves can absolutely push elk out of an area very quickly.

How quickly and even if the elk will return that season can't be predicted.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Agree with Walking Buff, elk being a herd animal the wolves will pick up their fresh tracks and chase and eat them for few days. Moose have advantage that they will scatter in 4 different directions if wolf pack does not catch them.
Part of reason we loose so many caribou, wolf pack just keeps chasing and eating them.

[Grizzly Adams]

I've found, where I hunt, the presence of wolves just makes them more aware and easier to spook. Once wolves kill one , they're happy to just feed for a while .

Grizz

[Speckle55]

Call the wolves in your WMU

Bring down the number of predators(15 wolves = -300 ungulates)

i use a Elk reed and call them in by squealing in distress

in 6 days i did 2 calling wolves

got 2 out of 3 twice

here is a video of how to call like i do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...3RCQ7iFygQMbTE

Food for Thought

[Hilgy]

Nice work on the wolves. It’s defiantly in the plans to try to thin them out.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Speckle55

Call the wolves in your WMU

Bring down the number of predators(15 wolves = -300 ungulates)

i use a Elk reed and call them in by squealing in distress

in 6 days i did 2 calling wolves

got 2 out of 3 twice

here is a video of how to call like i do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...3RCQ7iFygQMbTE

Food for Thought

When God gives you a lemon, make lemonade, as they say. Way more interesting than hunting elk anyway.

Grizz

[Osky]

Anytime your hunting wolves your putting fear/caution in them. That’s a good thing for all game.
In Minnesota they are so heavily protected the wolves have become incredibly brazen. They hunt 24/7 and have wiped out the moose and much of the northern deer herds. I am very remote and see them all too often.
By hunting them I believe the fear of man comes back stronger and they move back to being more nocturnal. This gives the ungulates the daylight to feed, move, rest, and get settled for the night. Anytime you can take 30-50% per day of wolf predation out of the mix it’s a good thing. Take note from this states mistake.

Osky

[Hilgy]

Well good news. The elk showed back up this weekend. Hoping they stick around for a few more days. Once we get hunting season wrapped up we will spend some time this winter working on the wolves. Our Wainwright tags were cancelled so need something to do.

Thanks for all the responses.

Hilgy

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Osky

Anytime your hunting wolves your putting fear/caution in them. That’s a good thing for all game.
In Minnesota they are so heavily protected the wolves have become incredibly brazen. They hunt 24/7 and have wiped out the moose and much of the northern deer herds. I am very remote and see them all too often.
By hunting them I believe the fear of man comes back stronger and they move back to being more nocturnal. This gives the ungulates the daylight to feed, move, rest, and get settled for the night. Anytime you can take 30-50% per day of wolf predation out of the mix it’s a good thing. Take note from this states mistake.

Osky

They've found the same in Banff Park. There have been some nasty incidents with tourists as well.


Grizz

[NCC]

About ten years ago we were hunting the heat of the rut and one bull would answer the wolf howls with a bugle. They carried on like that all morning. We blew two opportunities on bulls that morning and the wolves were between us and the bull that was answering them, so we decided to target the wolves and managed to get arrows in two of them. I wrote a story and posted a pic on this forum if anyone cares to search it.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by NCC

About ten years ago we were hunting the heat of the rut and one bull would answer the wolf howls with a bugle. They carried on like that all morning. We blew two opportunities on bulls that morning and the wolves were between us and the bull that was answering them, so we decided to target the wolves and managed to get arrows in two of them. I wrote a story and posted a pic on this forum if anyone cares to search it.

That's pretty cool!

[AlbertaBuck]

I don’t envy you.
In my experience, which is ongoing...wolves will move in on herds as they become more vocal, the sound of two bulls fighting will almost definately draw a crowd of 4 legged onlookers if you want to push back.
They’ll be pushed around and take on a more nomadic lifestyle, they won’t be very vocal. A vast majority of the wolves that habited the area I hunt were culled but the coyotes came back with a vengeance and the elk still aren’t very vocal unless they’re rounding up cows going to or from bedding, once they’re in the timber they turn off like a light switch.
Best of luck man.