longrangehunterII
Well-Known Member
3:00 AM
Like out from a science fiction movie mother ship awakens me from deep space. I had heard the sound that eventually brought me from my sleep, but this was unlike anything I had ever heard? From the confines of plaster and wood the sound was too difficult to make out until I opened a window. It was so eerie to hear it's low hoarse voice and from only a 100 yards away it sent a tingle down my spine! This was a Wolf that was not happy I thought, he continued to howl unabated for the next hour of this story.
I quickly put on my thermal cloths that were already neatly placed on the dresser like a fireman's uniform. I told Zuri to be still and no bark, odd that she had not during my sleep before I awoke but she had been listening to it all along. I slipped out the back door to the deck armed with my M4 and the electric caller. The moon lit up the night through the cloud cover, but I could still see every part of the open terrain intermixed with the dark timber. He was out in front of me up the hill only a little ways yet I could not see him. I waited and listened as I scrolled through the handheld remote to find a coyote call. He continued to howl and howl, I went back in for the phone and he must have heard that door open due to his silence. He didn't seem to care and yet I still heard him howl again as he had moved west up the hillside. I listened and called for 30 minutes yet he was smarter then that, so I went back to bed only to hear him throughout the night until I fell back to sleep.
Zuri awoke me because she heard him again, this time it was light, I rushed to get up and out the door. He was very close again and to the Northeast of the house, once again he must have heard the front door and I didn't hear him until Zuri barked and he let out a howl. I moved across the deep snow in a old path to the No Name Creek to see if I could see him in one of the gas lines but nothing? I came back to the house for my rifle this time and have Zuri come with me, she barked and sure enough he called out his eerie raspy low howl like death from afar.
This time I knew where he was and raced up the steep frozen snow covered hillside hoping to catch a glimpse of him on the other side of the gully opposite of me. This is where I first saw his tracks..... biggest one so far, as big as my whole hand. He had been less then 100 yards from the back of my house from here, his tracks mixed with the tracks of Elk and Deer from days ago, even beds devoid of snow from them as I worked my way up the steep hillside. I was sweating and the snow was making my progress even more difficult, but I was gaining elevation on him. Every now and then I was able to see down into the gulch and the opposite hillside but he heard us eventually and moved back towards the house again. I looked down at his large tracks and saw fresh Deer tracks that were very small on top of the snow. The snow was frozen hard making stalking impossible due to the crunching of it under my feet, yet as large as he was he had no problem walking over the top of it.
I had to give up on my plan to shot him from the opposite hillside since he moved back from his original direction and once again hoped I'd catch him moving across the pipeline? When I got the the bottom I set myself up dead inline with the cleared pipeline, the distances ranged from 100-450 yards up hill. I waited and no luck. I went back in to fetch the caller and got back to my hideout but after 30 minutes of using crow calls, and even Coyote howls he still wouldn't show himself, so Zuri and I went back in for breakfast, it was 9 AM.
His eerie super low hoarse howls were amazingly long. This guy would not shut up unless he heard me braking through the deep crusted over snow every now and then. This was the most vocal animal I have ever run across! Had the snow not been rained on over a week ago, I might have faired a lot better.... 100% better but not enough to bet on it. There is no such thing when hunting these wolves around here.
Either way it was once again a mind game. Had I made it to where I was headed, I would have had a full view the the entire hillside from my position other then the very bottom of the gully. Honestly he was lucky, the area behind my house I know like the back of my hand and is rather open for the surrounding area, unlike the rest of it around here. I had just cleared the trail he was on this past fall that runs along the ridge line all the way to the top. These are then used by the animals as well as myself simply because of there location and allowing for a fast and direct line of movement.
The old snow will need to melt away if I'm ever going to catch enough luck at one of these guys. Every time I've been burned except once a few years ago at getting a crack at one. That was a chip shot, but that one I let go..... Oh well, no harm no foul on my part. Hey, I didn't have a license back then, but I have ever since then. One year I had five!
I thought this guy took off yesterday as he didn't call back late last night after dark..... no he walked up right to my front door last night sometime.
Like out from a science fiction movie mother ship awakens me from deep space. I had heard the sound that eventually brought me from my sleep, but this was unlike anything I had ever heard? From the confines of plaster and wood the sound was too difficult to make out until I opened a window. It was so eerie to hear it's low hoarse voice and from only a 100 yards away it sent a tingle down my spine! This was a Wolf that was not happy I thought, he continued to howl unabated for the next hour of this story.
I quickly put on my thermal cloths that were already neatly placed on the dresser like a fireman's uniform. I told Zuri to be still and no bark, odd that she had not during my sleep before I awoke but she had been listening to it all along. I slipped out the back door to the deck armed with my M4 and the electric caller. The moon lit up the night through the cloud cover, but I could still see every part of the open terrain intermixed with the dark timber. He was out in front of me up the hill only a little ways yet I could not see him. I waited and listened as I scrolled through the handheld remote to find a coyote call. He continued to howl and howl, I went back in for the phone and he must have heard that door open due to his silence. He didn't seem to care and yet I still heard him howl again as he had moved west up the hillside. I listened and called for 30 minutes yet he was smarter then that, so I went back to bed only to hear him throughout the night until I fell back to sleep.
Zuri awoke me because she heard him again, this time it was light, I rushed to get up and out the door. He was very close again and to the Northeast of the house, once again he must have heard the front door and I didn't hear him until Zuri barked and he let out a howl. I moved across the deep snow in a old path to the No Name Creek to see if I could see him in one of the gas lines but nothing? I came back to the house for my rifle this time and have Zuri come with me, she barked and sure enough he called out his eerie raspy low howl like death from afar.
This time I knew where he was and raced up the steep frozen snow covered hillside hoping to catch a glimpse of him on the other side of the gully opposite of me. This is where I first saw his tracks..... biggest one so far, as big as my whole hand. He had been less then 100 yards from the back of my house from here, his tracks mixed with the tracks of Elk and Deer from days ago, even beds devoid of snow from them as I worked my way up the steep hillside. I was sweating and the snow was making my progress even more difficult, but I was gaining elevation on him. Every now and then I was able to see down into the gulch and the opposite hillside but he heard us eventually and moved back towards the house again. I looked down at his large tracks and saw fresh Deer tracks that were very small on top of the snow. The snow was frozen hard making stalking impossible due to the crunching of it under my feet, yet as large as he was he had no problem walking over the top of it.
I had to give up on my plan to shot him from the opposite hillside since he moved back from his original direction and once again hoped I'd catch him moving across the pipeline? When I got the the bottom I set myself up dead inline with the cleared pipeline, the distances ranged from 100-450 yards up hill. I waited and no luck. I went back in to fetch the caller and got back to my hideout but after 30 minutes of using crow calls, and even Coyote howls he still wouldn't show himself, so Zuri and I went back in for breakfast, it was 9 AM.
His eerie super low hoarse howls were amazingly long. This guy would not shut up unless he heard me braking through the deep crusted over snow every now and then. This was the most vocal animal I have ever run across! Had the snow not been rained on over a week ago, I might have faired a lot better.... 100% better but not enough to bet on it. There is no such thing when hunting these wolves around here.
Either way it was once again a mind game. Had I made it to where I was headed, I would have had a full view the the entire hillside from my position other then the very bottom of the gully. Honestly he was lucky, the area behind my house I know like the back of my hand and is rather open for the surrounding area, unlike the rest of it around here. I had just cleared the trail he was on this past fall that runs along the ridge line all the way to the top. These are then used by the animals as well as myself simply because of there location and allowing for a fast and direct line of movement.
The old snow will need to melt away if I'm ever going to catch enough luck at one of these guys. Every time I've been burned except once a few years ago at getting a crack at one. That was a chip shot, but that one I let go..... Oh well, no harm no foul on my part. Hey, I didn't have a license back then, but I have ever since then. One year I had five!
I thought this guy took off yesterday as he didn't call back late last night after dark..... no he walked up right to my front door last night sometime.
