Wolf hunting this fall

[leech~~]

What will be your strategy? Call, stalk, bait if legal? May as well start talking about it since it's coming and not many have experience in hunting them.

[TonkaBass]

From guides Ive talked to they are very very very smart once any pressure is put on them. Success rates will be low. Normally they hunt the wolves over a moose carcass in a ground blind for a week straight or until one shows up. They are also the most difficult animal to trap.

[mntatonka]

I intend to shoot any wolf I see as soon as it comes into view. Pretty simple philosophy really, treat them like a coyote and the same rules apply. Assuming you're in the southern zone anyway.

[Gofishleech]

This is a very good question. We have wolves here but I have only seen one in 10 years. Have seen lots of sign but if I were to hunt them im not sure where to begin. I have seen some numbers of harvest reports from out west and they are a very low percentage

[mrklean]

can you bait them? i watched a hunting show once i think they were hunting in canada they used dead rabbits as bait

[Boar]

Now theres would make a cool mount.

[eyehead]

IF i get drawn...I'd use all the above. Gonna hunt them up at my grandpas deer shack. Be fun to call one in at night, but I hear thats pretty difficult....So, probably bait!

[leech~~]

I don't want to give up my Deer hunting spot, but if I don't get a tag. Try the Remer-Outing area. Lot's of Wolf's up there!

[InTheNorthwoods]

From guides Ive talked to they are very very very smart once any pressure is put on them. Success rates will be low. Normally they hunt the wolves over a moose carcass in a ground blind for a week straight or until one shows up. They are also the most difficult animal to trap.

I have no personal experience to base this on, but what I have heard from experienced trappers is that wolves are actually not that difficult to trap, and that one I know well seemed to think the quota would be quite easily filled. He also indicated to me that he personally knows an individual that has unintentionally caught 7 wolves this year in coyote/fox sets in N. MN (releasing and reporting them all). I am hopeful that there is a high success rate, as I am convinced the wolf numbers are quite substantial in N. MN.

[mrklean]

how do you release a wolf that is trapped?

[Heartman]

I'm all for the wolf hunting season. I am very curious about the kind of advice the state will give all the average Joe's who obtain a tag and go a-huntin'. Trappers can take animals relatively quickly if needed - this has been documented.

But hunting? Spot and stalk? Stand hunting? Over bait - maybe over bait but I bet it will be prohibited - but you never know. And 400 confirmed kills as a management target seems really optimistic. Incredibly optimistic, IMHO.

[graf703]

We saw 20 wolves in my hunting party this year. I saw 5. If there is no baiting I'm going to try calling and sitting in the stand where I've seen them.

[Hoyt4]

We saw 13 this year deer hunting but didn't bother us none. We still tagged out. I really think after the frist couple seasons it will loose it's appeal and the #'s will go back up to what they are now. The two years we will meet the quota because it's new and people now have a legal tag in the pocket. After this I don't think it will keep up the # of hunters.

Once they determine the seasons then you can decide how you will hunt them. You could easily get during deer season if allowed.

[InTheNorthwoods]

how do you release a wolf that is trapped?

Again, I am no trapper, but my understanding is that the wolves were caught in snares or leg hold traps. The wolf would be subdued/held in check with something (probably a pole with a neck loop at the end - not sure what its called) and then the snare is loosened or the leg hold released. Just my understanding.

[Random guy]

Catch pole and a couple good men on the pole and some brave soul to go in and realease the hold. Then comes the fun of finding out if the wolf is going to flee or is it going to feel cornerd and defend itself after the pole and trap are released.

As for the hunting trapping season, I think several minnesota sportsmen and women are going to be in for a surprise when they start targeting wolves. It's not going to be as easy as you would think.

[rkhinrichs]

be fun!!!

[mntatonka]

how do you release a wolf that is trapped?

You take a sheet of plywood, cut a notch in the middle of one edge big enough to get the trap and part of the animal's leg through, and slowly work your way towards the animal until you get the leg in that notch, then open the trap.

That's one way anyway, that doesn't require you getting anywhere close to the business end.