WOLF .Caliber ??

[Lloyd Smale]

why would some recomend a rim fire or a 223 when theyd get bent out of shape if you suggested using the same on a whitetail. A wolf is as big as an average whitetail in body size and bone size. tell me why its ok for a wolf or coyote or varmit to suffer a slow death but do that to a whitetail and most here want to linch you.

 

[The_Armed_Therapist]

why would some recomend a rim fire or a 223 when theyd get bent out of shape if you suggested using the same on a whitetail. A wolf is as big as an average whitetail in body size and bone size. tell me why its ok for a wolf or coyote or varmit to suffer a slow death but do that to a whitetail and most here want to linch you.

That kind of blew my mind, too. .22mag perfect? LOL... If he didn't have 21K posts, I'd assume he was trolling. That isn't even enough for some rabbits (1-shot kills)... and rabbits aren't dangerous.

 

[Art Eatman]

Lloyd, haven't you figured out that folks look differently at varmint-type critters than they do at game animals? Different attitude. And it's very strongly negative among those in any way involved with livestock. Always been that way; always will be that way. No point in worrying about it.

And the Spelling Nazi notes that it's "lynch". On an old farm wagon, you'll find a linch pin. Holds the wagon tongue to the wagon.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

Art i appologize for the spelling. I still cant figure it out though why its ok for one animal to suffer a painful death and not another. When we do crop damage shooting the deer are nothing but varmits themselves that destroy crops just like ground hogs or wild bore destroy grazing land. Me i like to kill something i shoot at. Its probably why i get flak for using mag rifles hunting deer. About the only thing i hate more then a deer running off wounded is having to track it and drag it out of a swamp! I sometimes think to many grew up watching bambi and shouldnt be out there killing them to begin with.

 

[Sav .250]

One does not need a "cannon" to put down a wolf. The shot is the ticket!

 

[txcookie]

I would go with a 243 set up for yotes!

 

[Skyshot]

All bullets are killers and some are stoppers.

 

[Art Eatman]

Lloyd, and anybody else, for that matter, anybody in this country has the right to own a gun, hunt, and vote. Not everybody is wise, skillful and rational in how they choose to act. No point in wasting psychic energy over their lacks.

Wolf, coyote, prairie dog, Bambi, feral dog or feral cat: I want a quick, clean kill. I don't see any point to having anything suffer.

So, when it comes down to a choice of weapon, for a wolf I'd pick the .223 as an adequate minimum. Odds are that even a first hit "gone wrong" would put a wolf down long enough to use a second shot to put an end to it. My opinion is that lesser cartridges wouldn't do that.

(Shrug) I'd likely use either my .243 or my 7mm08 if I were seriously hunting for a wolf. "Just because". Nuthin' wrong with low-recoil "overkill".

 

[DM~]

Well, i've been around a lot of wolves, and a lot of deer too... I've yet to see a wolf as big as even an average sized doe around here, let alone a nice buck!

The only advantage i've found that a CF has over a 22 Win. Mag. on a wolf is, i can shoot them further away, AT LEAST that's been MY experience...

Perhaps you guys have shot more wolves than i have??

DM

 

[Art Eatman]

I freely admit I don't know anything about hunting a wolf, but I do know a pretty good amount about killing critters around that size. I figure I'd use a centerfire on a large feral dog, rather than a .22 Mag.

 

[sk8r]

When it's real cold up here, I get a lot of wolves comin' around my place. I like to use the pelts, so my .22 Mag is always the ticket. Never take a shot outside 80 yards, and always right in the boiler room. I could go with my 22-250 or even my .308 if I just wanted them dead, but I need the fur.

 

[CPLofMARINES]

Folks, I've never shot one, let alone see one in the wild,
But I think the folks who think a .22 MAG or even a .223
Is the right medicine are very optimistic. The above calibers
Are fine for coyotes, but I think a wolf is a different animal,
No pun intended. The article I read, the author was
Shooting at a good distance, so he wanted something
That would take care of and anchor his prey. As they are
Wired a little different than your local yote. I think I feel
The same if I ever had the opportunity to hunt them.

 

[caribou]

Ive shot plenty of Wolves, ~DM, my reference to the .22mag is when I call them up and within 100 yards of myself. Thats usually in the trees around here, as the trees grow where the permafrost is a bit deeper melted.
Much like you, I would take a high powerd rifle, as my Tundra is wide open
I prefer 7.62X54r simply for the 'reach' it gives, with FMJ's to keep the hide as it should be.

Ive posted this before, but its a good example of the extra reach a good rifle will have;
Klik it, its a vid......


As it was noted, ALL bullets are killers, and a .22mag does the job quite well on Wolves within range, or finishing one off in a trap, as Wolves here in the Arctic are valuable 'fur'. Your choice of rilfe/bullets would have little to do with its lethality (Wolves are not bullet proof or magic by any means) but by where and how far you can place the shot. At least 50 over the years have been caught with my .22mag, and none got away, but 5X 's more with a higher power'd rifle. Its not optimism, its shot placement and opportunity, of which I have plenty of.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

Im sure not saying a 22 mag wont kill a wolf. Ive seen them kill a number of whitetails and even black bear. My point is if this were a what to use on whitetail post everybody would be crusifying the poster who suggested using a 22 mag. by the way around here an average doe barely goes a 100 lbs and most are around 90 and the wolves around here can easily go that big. I know Art im not going to get anywhere with this argument but it does make me chuckle. Kind of like if i post at the end of the summer that i shot 50 deer crop damage shooting in a farmers field where the deer are destroying his crops and taking money from his family a good many poster will about want to shoot me. But if i posted the same saying i was in TX and shot 50 hogs tearing up a farmers field or shot that many coyotes or ground hogs id be getting patted on the back. Same guys that go out themselves and kill deer think because i shoot a couple more then them im wrong. We are all killing animals be it a wolf, pig or deer. Theres not fancy word to change that. WE ARE KILLING and in my opinion owe it to the animal to do it cleanly and quickly. A wolf feels pain just like a deer does! If you doubt that check out your family dog next time hes hurt. To those who do use a rim fire i have to ask WHY? Its no harder to carry something like a 223 or even a light weight 243. I dont think anyone here needs to save the money that one shot of 22mag saves you over a 243 and if you handload which most of us do its probably not a penny more expensive. So why? Is it a stunt just to say you can do it? I guess ive said my peace and have done enough preaching for a sunday morning. So ill bow out of this one.

 

[caribou]

at least here, its Cold. Things snap crack and pop in the cold all the time, ice, ground, trees.

When howleing in a Wolf, or a pack, a .22mag isn't very loud at all, so when the Alpha and Beta are down with the first couple shots, the youngsters will still come in, howled right back in. This , in the dense trees where I do my callings along small rivers brings them into range, especially in deep snow. A Winchester 61 pump action is the BEST Fur gun around, as you don't take the sights from your eye and get the full power of the round.

Most times I hunt Wolves, I am checking traps, and the .22 mag is what I used to finish any Wolverine, Wolf, Lynx, Beaver or Otter held in leg holds or snare. Deep snow really helps slow them down.


Nothing wrong with having them get close as possible and use the gun you have in hand.

A larger rifle for open country is mucho better for such doings

 

[MCgunner]

Just to what Art was sayin' about vermin, my wife's uncle only owns one gun, a Ruger 10/22. Hogs come up to his house all the time. He takes 'em out with CCI mini mags to the head, HOGS, some pushing 300 lbs. He don't care if they crawl off into the woods and croak. As Josie said in a GREAT western movie, buzzards and worms gotta eat. He's put quite a few down DRT, though, with head shots. That don't make the .22LR a great choice for hog huntin', however. As I've stated, I took ONE large feral dog with a .22LR from a NAA mini revolver, 1 5/8" barrel from 20 yards or so, head shot. That bullet might have been packin' 50 ft lbs. Dog just fell over. He was a big dog, my bud's Great Pyrenees was having a hard time with him and my bud called the dog off him so I could get the shot before his Pyrenees got hurt. That Pyrenees is one HELL of a big, bad dog, too. I don't want him on ME! That dog has killed, by himself, a 40 lb bobcat and numerous 'yotes. The little NAA was all we had at the time. Larry was impressed. I'd rather have had a rifle to do it, but I didn't since we were working with his goats and I shoot the little NAA quite well.

A Winchester 61 pump action is the BEST Fur gun around, as you don't take the sights from your eye and get the full power of the round.

I'd argue with you about my Remington 597 Magnum, a super accurate, reliable (in Texas) semi auto. That thing's pretty awesome, but I think up there in that cold I'd probably want the pump. I don't know how the semi would take that. I'd probably freeze first, though. LOL!

 

[Willie Sutton]

Funny how the guys that actually shoot them regularly know less than the armchair wolf hunters...

Having *humanely* culled over 100 deer from the airport where I used to live over a period of some 30 years, using a .22 Mag, with 100% success (lung shots kill deer before they get to the edge of the airport), I do not doubt at all that a .22 mag is perfect wolf medicine when shots are well placed. Hunting for fur? Small hole(s) are better. Humane is as humane does: A reliable low-trauma kill is a humane kill. Poke a small hole thru a major blood vessel and the animal dies before it really knows that it's been hurt. Painful? I don't think so. Generally they don't go more than 10 yards.

Now.... a 7mm Mauser with military FMJ's (non-expanding) would be about perfect if you want to use centerfire, methinks. It's a "Bigger" small hole. It worked on 1000 Elephants for Bell, BTW...

.223 will sure kill them, but that exit hole ruins the hide....


Willie

.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

Having *humanely* culled over 100 deer from the airport where I used to live over a period of some 30 years, using a .22 Mag

in most states even the law makers stepped in and dont allow rimfires for deer hunting because there so underpowered. If i got caught shooting crop damage deer with a 22 mag it would be the end of my crop damage shooting. But then in michigan we cant just shoot them and let them lay or run off either.

 

[jack44]

In hunting 1 thing is key.......... SHOT PLACMENT!.My Savage Axis .223 can shoot a dime at 100 yards so yeah I would use that rifle and shoot the wolf under the ear into the brain steam once that cut it death is just seconds away.
PS that 55gr.bullet would make the brain into jelly!

 

[Art Eatman]

No argument, Willie, but airports are generally wide-open areas. That same distance in thick brush could easily result in a lost deer.

Circumstance and situation. No such thing as one size fits all.

 

[Falcon]

I would think the .270 is too much, and would cause extensive fur damage.

 

[MCgunner]

Hmm, well, how's about a .490" round ball?

When it doubt, go retro. Never was broke in the first place. If you are paranoid of a wolf pack attacking after the shot, just take along your '58 Remmy or ROA. Worked well on Dingos in "Quigly Down Under".

 

[Justin Holder]

If I was hunting somewhere where chances were good I could run into a half dozen or more of these, I'm sure as heck not going to be packing a .22 magnum as my first choice!



A .243win. would be my bare minimum. A .270 or .280 would be at the larger end of the practical scale IMO, but surely not overkill.

 

[Willie Sutton]

"Circumstance and situation. No such thing as one size fits all"


Precisely my point: What's best someplace might be worthless elsewhere.


"in most states even the law makers stepped in and dont allow rimfires for deer hunting because there so underpowered."

There's a difference between Nimrods hunting, and farmers culling. The airport is surrounded by pumpkin fields, and we are on a farm cull-permit. No minimum caliber is specified.

Second data point: My partner in deer-culling at the airport uses a single shot .22 with basic long rifle loads. He doesn't miss (average range 25 yards), and the deer go down and stay down. This is a noise-sensitive area in a place where suppressors are illegal, so... what works.. works. This works. Now if I could shoot suppressed, I'd use a .300 Blackout, but that's just me.



"But then in michigan we cant just shoot them and let them lay or run off either."

And neither do we, and I cannot remember ever not retrieving any. BTW I don't think the residents in the county old-folks home have eaten beef in a decade.



Obviously, Wolves go down when shot with a variety of things. Personally, I'd probably use a .223 for the darned things "just because". For those so inclined any of the 6mm stuff would likely be great too.



Willie

.

 

[caribou]

Definitly use a Rifle/Caliber combo you can place the shot with, with total confidence.

Rifles and calibers may vary wildly, its placement that matters. The lungs are good, but often the only shot is in the butt. Often its a dead right there deal, sometimes they still go a couple hundred yards and you have to finnish them off. Depends on what vitals you hit.
I go for the double lung on Wolves when possible, they have a very narrow chest, and a very thin hide, with most of the fat around the organs rather than under the skin in Winter 'Prime'

Try to get close. Wolves have excellent eyesight and sense of smelling ,but they are also curious, and bullets fly faster then they can run.
Try howling, if they are young, they will come straight in out of curiosity, if they are old they will come cautiously out of natural Territory. Get the Alpha and Beta first, then howl the young ones back in a couple hours.
Ive done this when the A&B were in snares, and had the kids come right over.