How To Hunt Wolves

Do you want to hunt wolves? Hunting a wolf is very challenging as this predator is elusive and difficult to see. Wolf hunting takes a lot of time and dedication. In this article, we discuss how to hunt wolves to help you be more successful in hunting wolves.

How To Hunt Wolves

1. Scout

When hunting a pack of wolves, you want to scout the area for signs of wolf activity. Look for wolf tracks, scat, and listen for vocalizations. Wolves are very smart and elusive. They make it very difficult to spot them. You may see a lot of signs indicating that they are active in an area, yet find it difficult to see any. Look for roads that may be easy routes for wolf crossings. Wolves like to travel easy routes. Keep an eye out for trails and frozen lakes.

2. Predator Calls

Predator calls can be used to lure wolves as you use them when hunting foxes, coyotes, and other game animals. You can use bull elk bugle, cow, coyote distressed calls, challenge howls, and moose calls. There are many other predator calls that you can use to call in wolves. Experiment and find the ones which work best in your area.

Position yourself at a high elevation to call in wolves. This gives you good visibility of the area and allows the sounds to go out over the entire area. Wolves can pick up a call more than a mile away. We did a review of the best predator calls on the market.

3. Bait

You can use bait to lure wolves out into your shooting range. However, using bait to hunt wolves isn’t one of the most effective ways to hunt wolves. Don’t set up too close to the bait site. You can set up a ground blind about a quarter to a half mile away from the bait site Baiting is not allowed in all states. Montana and Idaho don’t allow hunting wolves with bait.

4. The Elk Factor

When hunting for wolves, look for elks in the area. If you can find a herd of elk, especially one that is about a mile or a little more from a road, then there is a good chance that wolves will come around. Wolves are serious predators of elks and they track down herds of elks.

Where there are elks, and other hooved animals, almost certainly you will find wolves lurking around. Use a spotting scope to search an area for wolves. We reviewed the best spotting scopes on the market today that you can read from this link.

5. Trail Cameras

To collect more information on the movements and behaviors of wolves, you can set up trail cameras in areas you think wolves frequent. With trail cameras, you can find their travel routes, crossings, and bedding areas. With the information you collect from trail cameras, you can pattern a pack of wolves to hunt them. If you are interested in trail cameras, we did a review of the best trail cameras on the market today.

6. Hire An Outfitter

If you don’t have a lot of experience hunting wolves, an option is to hire an outfitter. An outfitter brings their years of experience hunting that animal. They will also know which areas have wolves and the best hunting strategies.

Additionally, if you experience a difficult or dangerous situation, the outfitter will know the best solution. Outfitters may also have well-trained dogs to help with the hunt and can be a reference source concerning the rules and regulations regarding hunting wolves. Moreover, hiring an outfitter is not cheap and there are a lot of outfitter scams. If you decide to hire one, do your homework.

7. Talk To Landowners

Talk to private landowners if they see wolves on their properties. Ask their permission to hunt the wolves on the land. Many landowners welcome wolf hunters on their lands as wolves are predators and may be a problem for the animals of the landowners. Additionally, you can talk with loggers, ranchers, rural mail carriers, and local farmers about wolf activities they see and encounter.

8. Wind Direction

Wolves have a very good sense of smell and good eyesight. When you are hunting wolves, always hunt downwind of the area you think wolves are in. If they pick up your human scent, wolves will leave the area. Also, take the wind direction into consideration when setting up your treestand. You can read a review of the best climbing treestands on the market today.

9. Weapon

You can hunt wolves using rifles, shotguns, and crossbows.

10. Bird Signs

Keep an eye out for birds, vultures, gray jays, and ravens circling over an area. This activity from birds could be a sign of a fresh kill. Follow the birds and look for the fresh kill. If you locate it, move away to a position where you can watch the area. You can set up a treestand close by to monitor the area for wolf activity.

11. Hunting Partner

Always have a hunting partner when hunting a pack of wolves. Wolves are dangerous predators and can easily make you the prey. For safety reasons, always have hunting partners when you hunt a pack of wolves. The more the hunters, the better when hunting wolves.

12. Hound Hunting

You can use dogs to hunt down a pack of wolves. The hounds can pick up the scent and track the location of the wolves. There are not many states that allow wolf hunting with hounds. Wisconsin is one of the states that allow hunting wolves with hounds.

13. Howling

You can use howling to hunt wolves. Wolves love to howl and you can use it to your advantage when hunting a pack of wolves. Additionally, they are very territorial and when they hear howls that are not from their pack, they will come to investigate the wolf that has encroached on their territory.

Wolf Hunting Tips

1. Scout an area for wolves by looking for wolf tracks, scat, and their howlings.

2. Wolves are predators of hoofed animals like elks and deer. Find where elks and deer are and there will be wolves there tracking down these animals.

3. Set up trail cameras to collect information on wolf movements and patterns.

4. Use a spotting scope to scan the area and find wolves.

5. Wolves are big, powerful, and smart predators.

6. Watch roads, trails, small meadows, and frozen lakes as wolves like to travel the easy routes.

7. Practice long-distance shooting to improve your accuracy.

8. You can hire an outfitter if you don’t have a lot of experience hunting wolves.

9. Always have hunting partners when hunting wolves.

10. Talk to private landowners about wolf activity on their properties. Ask their permission to hunt wolves on their lands.

11. Talk to rural mail carriers, loggers, and ranchers about wolf activities in their areas.

12. Keep your eyes open for kill sites. Notice birds, vultures, ravens, magpies, and gray jays that are circling an area. Look for any fresh kill in that area and set up a tree stand or ground blind not far away from the kill zone.

13. Use distressed coyote calls, bull elk bugle, cow, moose, and challenge howl calls.

14. Wolves are very territorial. If you make howlings, wolves will come to investigate the wolf that is in their territory.

15. After killing a wolf, remain in your spot and ready to shoot again as other wolves in the pack will return to the spot allowing you or your hunting partners to fill their tags.

16. You can use bait to lure wolves in the opening but it is not allowed in some states.

17. Set up a ground blind about a mile away from your bait site and use the trees and forest to conceal the ground blind. We reviewed the best hunting ground blinds on the market today.

18. Set up a treestand to position yourself when hunting wolves.

19. Use hound dogs to track down wolves as you hunt them. Some states don’t allow hound hunting of wolves.

20. Be patient when hunting wolves as they are very cautious and can easily sense when you are setting them up.

21. Wolves have a very good sense of smell and good eyesight. Always set up downwind of the area you want to hunt a pack of wolves.

22. Howling works when you are locating wolves in an area.

The Bottom Line

Hunting wolves is very challenging as they are very smart, cautious, big, and tough. They also have a very good sense of smell and good eyesight which help them evade hunters. Hunting them requires a lot of patience, time, and dedication.

In this article, we discussed how to hunt wolves to help you be more successful in hunting them. If you are interested in hunting foxes, you can read how to hunt fox. You can also read how to hunt bobcats, how to hunt red fox, and how to hunt cougars.