It was mid-September when I was guiding a client for moose in central British Columbia and noticed a pack of wolves were causing havoc to the local moose population. We witnessed where a half dozen or so wolves had cornered a bull moose in an open cut block. There was a lot of moose hair in the tracks during the struggle but no blood. Luckily, the bully had managed to escape unharmed, for the time being. However, we did observe several fresh wolf scat in the area with moose hair in it. During that week, I vowed that I would be back in early December when we got snow to help the local ungulates out with some much-needed predator management.
In November, I set up a trail camera and was able to get several video images of wolves passing by. On one particular clip, I captured nine wolves.
In early December, I was able to collect some bait to put out for the wolves. In British Columbia, it isn't legal to bait bears but it is for wolves and coyotes. I made a ground blind out of spruce and pine limbs on top of a knoll that backed up to some heavy cover to provide camouflage to help conceal my movements. The bait was 160 yards from my blind. I had a great view of the landscape and could almost see 360 degrees around. I have learned over the years that you need the bait to be at least 150 yards away because wolves have some of the most keen senses on the planet. After having things set up to my liking, my plan was to come back in two days to check for fresh sign.
On December 8th, I was a little late getting into my blind. I like to get into it well before legal shooting light so that I don't spook the birds off the bait. In my experience, you have a higher success rate in getting a shot at a wolf if the birds are left feeding on the bait making as much noise as possible. Predators seem to gain confidence and think there is no present danger when the birds are carrying on because they survey the landscape relentlessly before settling to feed. While in my blind, I carefully glassed the bait but didn't notice any tracks or sign of wolves yet.
Two days later, I was back in my blind right at shooting light. The birds were making quite a racket fighting over the bait. I knew that with this much noise it wouldn't be long before a wolf made an appearance. I sat on the stand for a couple of hours with no sightings, but I did notice several wolf tracks near the bait. The bait also looked like it had been moved a bit from its original location. It was very exciting to see fresh sign of wolves, and while walking out, I knew it was game on. I made a plan to check the bait every day to improve my chances of seeing the wolves in daylight hours.
On December 11th, I was up and out of bed early with renewed excitement for the upcoming morning hunt. I was in my blind well before shooting light. As I glassed the bait, I was a little disappointed not to see anything feeding on it. However, I could see that the wolves had been back during the night and had moved what bait was leftover closer to the bush line. As the sun rose, the 50 or so ravens were really going to town on the bait. I had a good feeling that this was the day. I planned to sit on the stand for as long as I could as the temperatures were very mild and favorable for being mid-December. About an hour into the sit, I was startled by a black wolf. It seemed to appear out of nowhere. It was about 200 yards out on an iced-up slew just slightly to the right. I waited motionless for the wolf to go behind a tree before I got my Remington 300 WSM set up on my shooting sticks. I was rock solid and could have killed the wolf right then, but I told myself to be patient as I figured the whole pack could be close behind. As the black wolf made its way towards the bait, something seemed to spook it. It started to run straight away from the bait and my blind. I started to panic and got back on the shooting sticks, hoping to get a shot before it vacated the area. I momentarily lost the wolf in a depression, but it came out on the road and in the clear. It was now or never. I yelled, "Ma!" The black wolf stopped immediately, slightly quartering back towards me. I steadied my 300 and fired high on the wolf. It dropped in its tracks. To say that I was elated is an understatement. I was shaking with excitement and remember giving myself heck because I could have shot the wolf when I first saw it several minutes earlier while it was broadside. I looked up to the sky and thanked God that my shot was true. I texted my good fortune to my fiancé and to my outfitting partner, Darren.
I waited about a half hour before making my way over to the fallen wolf. As I approached the black wolf, I was in awe of its beauty. It was shiny black with a lot of shimmering silver throughout. The hide seemed to be in its absolute prime. I turned the wolf over and was shocked that it was a female. Judging by the size of the body and her teeth, I estimated her to be four to five years old. She was definitely a mature dog. I wondered why she was alone and not in the pack. I ranged back to my blind, and it read 250 yards. That was a pretty good poke at a quartering wolf. I wondered how I was going to drag her out to the truck without damaging her amazing coat. I decided to walk the half hour back to the truck and return with my sleigh. After taking some pictures, I checked my trail camera before heading out. As I was waiting for the camera to load, I just happened to look up and immediately saw a single wolf coming over the hill in the direction of my blind. It seemed to be on a mission and headed away to my right towards the timberline. I dropped my camera in the snow and quickly grabbed my rifle and ran up the little bank in front of me. I was able to find a nice dead snag that I could use as a rest to get a shot at the wolf if it presented itself. Several seconds went by before I picked up the wolf making its escape to the timbers edge. I again yelled, "Ma!" to stop the wolf. It did its trick as the wolf stopped on a dime broadside to me. I took a couple of seconds to steady my crosshairs and squeezed off a shot. I heard a loud "whap!" and saw the big whitish-colored wolf drop and buck around before going out of sight and over the hill. I was very confident that I had made a solid hit.
I decided to give the wolf several minutes to expire before heading over to retrieve it. As I was standing there waiting, I couldn't believe what had just happened. It was like a dream. I had done the unthinkable downing not one but two wolves an hour apart. I phoned my buddy, Darren, and he decided that he would come and grab my sleigh and give me a helping hand with the two big dogs and to take more pictures. I found the second wolf immediately after arriving at the location where I had lost sight of it after the shot. It was another mature dog. I confirmed that it was male and weighted at approximately 100 pounds. As I waited for Darren to come give me a hand, I couldn't help but feel proud of what I had done to help the local ungulate population. Please don't get me wrong, I hold no ill will towards wolves or any other predators. I have a lot of respect for them in that they are only using what tools the Creator has given them to survive. They are one of the most intelligent and intriguing creatures on the planet, but being an avid hunter, I've seen with my own eyes the destruction they can have on the ungulate population. We as hunters and conservationists need to do our part to keep the predators, like wolves, cougars, and bears, in check to maintain a healthy balance.
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