Elk and wolf experience

Wrench

WKR
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
5,596
Location
WA
I had a first for me last weekend. I was hunting in North idaho and had been working a bull for about 40 minutes. I had 10-15 exchanges of bugles and the action was heating up just like a tv show.

Out of nowhere, a lone wolf let out a howl about (guessing) 1/2 mile or more away. Not 5 seconds passed and a bunch of yotes piped up for a second and then about 6-10 wolves over powered them. As this happened the elk I was working were about 50-60 yards away and I heard several "gasping" pants and a few gutteral sounds followed by complete silence.

The wolves around us were close enough to be loud and I instantly put my bow down and went for my pistol. I sat on that spot for 1-2 minutes and decided to get downwind as fast as I could sneak and made about 3-400 yards and began making elk talk and moving away and getting louder.

I had to return to where I was working the elk and grab my backpack, so I sat and listened.....after an hour or so the elk were back to talking, but at MUCH lower volumes. I simply cannot make a bugle as quiet as he did. Within 3 hours I was able to get a decent response from the bull and he was thrashing away. I ran out of time to put him down, but the opportunity to witness such a chain of events was something that went very different than I had imagined. I fully expected 100% silence and the elk moving away...but they just held tight.
 

Ross

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Messages
4,674
Location
Liberty Lake, WA
Yes they have learned how to adapt and survive with this land shark in the mix they will go quite and can then return vocalizing when the the threat is gone .......I hear much less cow mews than I used to a decade ago we have to adapt like the elk have👍The wolves are always on the move
 

md126

WKR
Joined
Apr 16, 2013
Messages
690
Anyone hunt wolves while elk hunting? I hear they are very hard to kill, even with a rifle. Would be an interesting hunt
 
Joined
Dec 17, 2017
Messages
941
Location
N Idaho
Very cool. Found 3 old piles of wolf scat in my honey hole on sunday morning. Didnt seem to bother the bull i was working. Wrong time of the morning, wind was killing me. Inside 100 and had to keep retreating to keep it going. Eventually he lost interest with my shenanigans. Hunting partner comes in tomorrow though. Packs are about to get heavy:)
 

sneaky

"DADDY"
Joined
Feb 1, 2014
Messages
10,024
Location
ID
Same thing here in MT. One howled, and all the bull would do from that point on was like a moan at a real low volume.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

Coach529

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 8, 2016
Messages
294
Location
Idaho Panhandle
Hunted North Idaho last week. Went out on a logging road in the dark, cam back 3 hours later with wolf tracks on top of our tracks.

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