sjemac
New member
Was out deer hunting NW of Sundre today. We had my former neighbor, his 10 year old daughter, a young teen friend of the family (names deliberately withheld) and myself. We hunted deer all day letting the young fella take shot after shot at bucks (3 attempts, 3 misses) -- he shot a supp doe the night before. It was about 30 mins left of legal light in an area we call the Serengetti (strictly a road hunt -- too large and open for stands or still hunting) when we came around a bend in the road. The little girl yells, "There's some coyotes!" . Her dad says, "Those are deer". I look and say, "Those are wolves!"
We all bail out and I get the scope on the rearmost of the pair a big black and white bugger about 200 yds off. "Yep, that's a wolf", I say. The young fella chirps up, "Let me shoot it!" I think for a second and realize the kid has missed sub-100 yard shots for two straight days. I've hunted Alberta for 13 years and have had 4 cracks at wolves screwed it up 4 times. The wolves are about to bolt. I ask the kid,"Do you see them?".
"No".
BANG!! I fire.
The wolf tears off. I watch him in the scope, thinking I hit him, but he's running like stink. Then he has a hitch in his step and then he tumbles. Just then my neighbor fires (at the second wolf -- he missed). I lift my head and look and forget to mark where I saw the first one tumble. OOPS.
I go down to where I think he fell. It is all humped up slash with burnt logs and patches of snow everywhere. Black and white landscape. Black and white animal. No wolf. We search back and forth, the light is getting really dim. I am starting to question myself. "Did you see it go down?" I ask the neighbor.
"Nope".
I ask the young fella.
"Nope".
I ask the little girl.
"Yes, it went down around here", and she points to the general area.
So the rest of my search revolves around my belief in the word of a 10 year old girl. I keep quartering the area, getting up on stumps trying to get a better vantage point. I am sick that the 5th attempt on a wolf will end in a lost animal.
Then a "log" materializes with fur. There it is. My first wolf despite more than a decade of being around them, hearing them, seeing them, following their tracks and kills. Big male. The 140 grain .280 Rem bullet entered high behind the left shoulder and exited at the rearmost rib. The wolf weighed just shy of 120 lbs. I'll let the pics speak for themselves from here.
We all bail out and I get the scope on the rearmost of the pair a big black and white bugger about 200 yds off. "Yep, that's a wolf", I say. The young fella chirps up, "Let me shoot it!" I think for a second and realize the kid has missed sub-100 yard shots for two straight days. I've hunted Alberta for 13 years and have had 4 cracks at wolves screwed it up 4 times. The wolves are about to bolt. I ask the kid,"Do you see them?".
"No".
BANG!! I fire.
The wolf tears off. I watch him in the scope, thinking I hit him, but he's running like stink. Then he has a hitch in his step and then he tumbles. Just then my neighbor fires (at the second wolf -- he missed). I lift my head and look and forget to mark where I saw the first one tumble. OOPS.
I go down to where I think he fell. It is all humped up slash with burnt logs and patches of snow everywhere. Black and white landscape. Black and white animal. No wolf. We search back and forth, the light is getting really dim. I am starting to question myself. "Did you see it go down?" I ask the neighbor.
"Nope".
I ask the young fella.
"Nope".
I ask the little girl.
"Yes, it went down around here", and she points to the general area.
So the rest of my search revolves around my belief in the word of a 10 year old girl. I keep quartering the area, getting up on stumps trying to get a better vantage point. I am sick that the 5th attempt on a wolf will end in a lost animal.
Then a "log" materializes with fur. There it is. My first wolf despite more than a decade of being around them, hearing them, seeing them, following their tracks and kills. Big male. The 140 grain .280 Rem bullet entered high behind the left shoulder and exited at the rearmost rib. The wolf weighed just shy of 120 lbs. I'll let the pics speak for themselves from here.
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