How to adapt to wolves.

[Unreal_tk]

Now that wolves are becoming more and more present in Oregon. I want to hear how folks deal and adapt to wolves. Are you hunting areas with no packs, are you following the pack movements, are you hunting silent dogs, etc.

I hope to hear from chillicton hillbilly on this and any others who've dealt with them for any lenght of time!

[tylers dad]

Look for fresh wolf sign and try to avoid those areas. Keep close to your dogs if possible as you may have to catch them quick if the wolves move in while they are out. I always used bells too. Don't know if it helped but never had any problems.

[catdogs]

Some of the area we run are infested with wolves. 1 or 2 I don't think is much concern. If he see frrsh track of packs, watch out. Know that wolves prefer elk and wil most likely be hanging above the larger herds of elk. Try and loop cat tracks and make sure sure they are fresh. Run with another person, so one can walk with the dogs and one can stay with a vehicle to try and finding a shorter route in. Running GPS collars instead of beep beeps, not turing out to late in the day. All common sense type stuff, I know. Most importantly having the gear and the commitment to get those dogs back without leaving them overnight!! There are areas, we just don't flat run anymore too.

[mike martell]

Hunting in areas infested with wolves is going to be the normal for most soon enough. Thomas,
you are in the zone. I went up into Lookingglass Cr. across from you in the Wenaha unit on a return hunting trip from Montana lion hunting and cut a wolf track in a location I only found lion tracks for decades. Makes you sick! Ted had a female lion treed and was doing some collar work along with ODFW Biologist present that day, I reported my find to the biologist,he stated he and ODFW were so excited to have them and as soon as they had enough breeding pairs they could manage them?

I hunt with Chilcotin and both Doug and I talk quite alot about a breeding program of different style dogs that are unlike many other breeds and strains. I strive for dogs that don't stand on there head while trailing and so does Doug for obvious reasons. I have owned dogs over the years that were all about your listening pleasure and could make an old track last all day. THOSE TYPES DIE FIRST IN WOLF COUNTRY.Doug is very fortunate to have the abundance of game in his guide area. What this translates to is the ability to select a location and track suited for wolf country.

Like most hound hunters who hunt for the right reasons, listening to a race is what drives most of us, not all and I will cull a silent lethal dog that can catch all bobcats, you might as well set steel! I want open mouth dogs to announce to the World the dogs are coming and let your track style bred hounds do there job.

Leaving dogs out over night is another thing you just don't do in wolf country, even if you must go well into the night to recover your dogs, it is a responsible thing to do. Treed dogs are an easy mark for wolves. Kyle lay(Top notch wolf trapper and hound hunter in B.C.) claims the lay's have never lost a hound to wolves when hunting more than six hounds in a pack. Even hunting in snow is not good enough to know when wolves are present,I and Doug just put out on a lynx and were listening to the dogs smoke the cat when we heard wolves howl a few hundred yards behind us. I told Doug i'm going to the dogs, he said, you want to wait for them to tree? I said, not really! going to head that way!

The bell concept is interesting. Here are my thoughts on that, I would think this would become the dinner bell for wolves. I got called on a rogue sheep killing bear thirty some years ago down on the coast towards J.C'S area. When i arrived I found dead sheep all over and the one thing they all had in common? all the sheep this bear killed were wearing bells and those not were fine. This boar killed them evidently for irritating the bear is all i could figure out since it could hardly eat as many as it killed.During his rampage it killed over twenty sheep according to the owner.I didn't confirm his count I just killed the bear on the ground bayed up to the dogs.

We just put one of Doug's dogs on a bear track two years ago in the spring hunting season and was trailing when I spotted a wolf locked in on the dog, we made a road in a reprod that didn't have one prior to cut the wolf off. B.C. law prohibits the carrying of a loaded gun in the vehicle, by the time I loaded the clip and bailed out, so did the wolf. Doug went with the dog and I monitored his movement with the vehicle. Doug probably will not be on here since he is guiding a hunter that just rolled in from Idaho for a week of Hound hunting.I will talk to him tonight and mention your thread. Did you check out the two he killed last week on his trap line?

What a stupid idea this reintroduction of wolves was. I had a conversation with ODFW head Ronald Anglin some time back and he claims these are the same wolves that we had previously and once were indigenous? I call B.S., I called them the larger Canadian wolf. He claims not. So much for only killing the weak and aged game in the herd! Ask those in Yellowstone and surrounding areas if they still buy this crap! You all can make up your own mind. They were sent here by satan!

[Unreal_tk]

Mike you should've called. Yes that area is the one of the acknowledged packs here, but there are way more than they will let on. Every GMU I have been in here has them. Thanks for the advice and I will keep it all in the back of my mind. I did check out Dougs wolf post and I think its awesome. Awhile back a government trapper caught a youth in a coyote trap just north of here maybe 5 or 10 miles, the ODFW collared it and I hear its back in Idaho already.

[mike martell]

Thomas

Should have killed it, if you kill them collars aren't needed! That story reminds me of a lion Ted collared many years ago in the Catherine Cr area South east of you and it disappeared.....Found a few years later in Idaho on the Salmon River taken by a sport hunter.

Just had another thought about wolf experts. Brent Sinclair in Alberta would be a tremendous resourse for knowledge and dealings with wolves and his take with hounds. I'm guessing he too is busy guiding. This man has forgot more about hunting than I will ever know!

Take Care and Good Luck!

[horshur]

I have always had wolves..probably most of the strategies just make us feel better not sure they amount to much bettering of the odds.

[nait hadya]

kinda evens the playing field ...dosen't it. there are some issues with using electronics while hunting,especially the gps models. wonder what the houndsmen of old did? lol

I'd be interested in knowing the name of that CO in BC that said NOT using a gps was irresponsible, as im not aware of it being LEGAL,yet!

I'll wait for the experts to chime in,suffice to say if yer gonna hunt my boot tracks....lol your gonna see wolves,lots of wolves.