Rookie Wolf Set Up

[Anzacron]

My partner and I (Jordo99) pulled all our marten, etc sets early this week and now we are focusing on under ice beaver and wolf.

We have a sweet spot for wolf and have a lot of sign. Tracks, poop and more tracks.

We created a "pee cup" in an area off trail, and surrounded it with snares. We did our best to keep scent off all the snares, anchors etc as well as trying to keep our foot print minimal.

We will likely set a foot hold at the pee cup tree as well, might as well!!

Couple things:

1. Should we collect wolf poop?! Is it good for anything!?

2. Even with the pee cup, should we add a bait pile!?

this is AnzacRonJr - we told him if he wasn't good, we would tie him to a tree and he would be wolf bait. He's a very well behaved mini-trapper in training.

Our wolf snare set up.

Beauty evening in NorthEastern Alberta.


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[D4l3k]

here are some suggestions if you want to put bait with your set:

hang a beaver carcass from wire off a branch high up away from the tree by the pee cup

put some foot hold under it or around it

the beaver suspended hung up away from the tree will cause good smell/drawing power, but wont get eaten quickly by birds because it will be challenging for them to stand on the carcass as it swings around

if a wolf tried to reach it and stands on his hind legs he might hit a foot hold that is under it by his back paw

if you using other carcasses for your bait pile, wire them down by the neck to a tree so they dont get dragged away, they will last longer

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by D4l3k

hang a beaver carcass from wire off a branch high up away from the tree by the pee cup

put some foot hold under it or around it

the beaver suspended hung up away from the tree will cause good smell/drawing power, but wont get eaten quickly by birds because it will be challenging for them to stand on the carcass as it swings around

if a wolf tried to reach it and stands on his hind legs he might hit a foot hold that is under it by his back paw

That's a tried and true set, but it takes a special trap to hold a Wolf reliably.
Make sure you have a good heavy drag and a long chain on that trap or he'll pack it off like a loose bone.
The only thing in the bush stronger then a Wolf is a Bear.

Set the trap a bit to one side so the Wolf can approach the bait without stepping on the trap. He'll forget about the trap when he goes for the bait and will step on it as he dances around trying to get the bait.

It works and it catches almost anything with fur that tries for the bait.

[KegRiver]

I never targeted Wolves. On my line, at that time, they didn't hang around one area for long. Predicting when and where they would return was impossible.
But I did catch a few, mostly by accident rather then design.

I learned how to trap them from my dad and I know his methods work because I taught them to a friend up in High Level and he catches a lot of wolves every year.
He was just learning when I met him, now he's twice the trapper I ever was.

We never used the hanging bait set but a neighbor used it almost exclusively for everything from Marten to Wolves, with great success.

Our trap lines were next to each other and I used to see his sets along a shared trail.
Very simple to make and effective.

But it was old school and I like using conibears better so I focused on sets using them. I only used leg hold traps for Weasels and Coyote.

I had only one pack of Wolves on my line and they ranged over several townships. I'd track them only a couple of times in a winter, so I didn't target them.
But my neighbor with his hanging bait set used to take a few every year in those sets.
I didn't have any traps that would hold a Wolf and I didn't think it made sense to buy some for one or two Wolves a year.

[Anzacron]

Originally Posted by D4l3k

here are some suggestions if you want to put bait with your set:



hang a beaver carcass from wire off a branch high up away from the tree by the pee cup



put some foot hold under it or around it



the beaver suspended hung up away from the tree will cause good smell/drawing power, but wont get eaten quickly by birds because it will be challenging for them to stand on the carcass as it swings around



if a wolf tried to reach it and stands on his hind legs he might hit a foot hold that is under it by his back paw



if you using other carcasses for your bait pile, wire them down by the neck to a tree so they dont get dragged away, they will last longer

Thanks for the tips.

Hanging beaver.

Just need some anchor material for our foothold and we'll set that as well.



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["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

Looks great!

Glad you added bait, I am sure you'll be fine handling Wolf carcass and being out in the area yet wouldn't advocate for messing about with/handling Wolf poo in case of hydatid.

Best of luck on these Wolves.