No wolves here in PA (yet..)Surely some of our Alaskan and Canadian brothers will be chiming in on this one! I would say just set for them like B...I...G Coyotes. From what I have read you'll need some xtra heavy duty #4's or bigger. Can you snare or use cable restraints in Montana? I would think they would be your best bet if you gang set on trails leading to a kill like a dead elk or moose. Good luck , hope you get one and if you do , post us a pic!
I have tried before. MB750W's are your friends if you can't use snares. I would try pee posts. Set up a few hundred yards away from a kill and they will find it, especially on the downwind side.
I've used drags on coyotes almost exclusively. It seems if they have a little room to run away they don't tend to chew off the caught limb like a coon. A bundler chain bolted to a tree with a lag bolt seem like a good option though especially when stepping up on critter size. Thanks on the info FishinHank & 4100fps.
Never said I was an expert at trapping coyote dipchit. Tis why I'm inquiring from folks who know. I've been trapping yotes for about 2 years and have caught my fair share bumbling through it. I merely trap them and coons to help out the bird population and other small game. It's a pursuit I do to take care of things while I'm not around. Do share your expert knowledge as a greens keeper though. Nice try stalking. Do you really want me to make a little project out of you. Now leave this mans thread alone and go away with your Larrytude.
One of the best ways of trapping them, and of getting one with a really nice prime fur on it, is to snare them in the middle of the winter when the snow is as deep as its going to get.
Wolves are free rangers, traveling relatively long routes, but those routes are regular, and if you have patience they will come back - quite often on their very same trail they used the last time.
A few well placed snares on these trails are a good bet. You need patience though.
And if you cannot use snares, then use a good strong trap (newhouse 14 if you can find them) underneath their tracks. Don't disturb the track. Dig underneath the track from the side, and get the pan of the trap just underneath the old track. Then very carefully hide all evidence that you were ever there. Fill in your tracks with snow and brush them off so it looks like you were never there. But make sure to make some kind of mark someplace so you can find your traps later. Again, patience is the key.
I trap lots of them and host serious wolf trapping courses every year. A combination of snares & traps are best. ( if legal in your area) Stay away from the smaller cheaper traps like the MB750 if you are serious.......they will catch wolves but you will lose some too......then you have an educated wolf. The Alaskan #9 and the Sterling 800 are the way to go. Good Luck!
I know a buy who has caught lots of wolves, many. This is in predator sets. The common trap is an MB-750 & usually some beaver bait. At times just a 'blind set', private property old woods road.
These traps are hooked to an 8' chain with a stout 2 prong drag. Usually critters head for cover & are soon tangled up. If need be, most any hunting dog will follow the scent trail to the catch.
Look at WI statistics, more wolves were trapped than shot during the last season.
Some guys up here use the 750 too, because it is cheap, but often find the trap in pieces.......I had a big female bite clean through the spring on a Brawn #9 last year. I got there just in time. The big advantage to the bigger traps ( other than their strength) is their ability to punch up through snow.....the 750s just wont do it......plus its easier to get a wolf to step in a 9-inch circle than it is a 7.
The Alaskan #9 was developed by an Alaskan because he was having trouble with the smaller traps Have a quick look at the WI stats you will see that the vast majority of wolves trapper were the young of the year ( small wolves)....
If a wolf actually bit through a spring on a trap I would be questioning the quality of the steel used for that spring on that trap.
Wolves are powerful animals, but you don't want traps so big that you end up breaking the leg bone on the wolf. You want a just above the pad catch with a very strong quality trap, or a good snare.
We run about 60% snare catch and 40% traps. Most of the trapped wolves have been in #9's but just last year 2 visited sets intended for wolverine and 1 was in a 600 Sterling and another in a #14 jump. This wolf also had a snare on him so he couldn't escape!Big Guy in a #9!
I have not trapped wolves, but have a friend that did for the Fed in the UP of Michigan. Nephew to a friend of mine drew a permit this year and caught his the second day. He is one happy lad! Here is a picture of it. It is a cell phone pic and I had to trim it down a bunch to get it downloaded.
I'm on my phone and its hard to make it out, but from the phone it only looks like a 3. I have no knowledge on what it takes to catch wolves, but from the little reading I did here id a thought you'd need a bigger trap.
I use 3's for yotes along with some 1.75s.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." (Thomas Jefferson)
I trap coyotes for the live market and use 1 1/2 Victors with D-Ring baseplates welded on, #9 wire jaw laminations welded on, good swivels, and # 2 piano wire springs work great. Usually caught just over the toes. No foot damage and they aren't going anywhere. They will be waiting there looking foolish the next day. I've used # 2 and 3 offsets, most often damaged feet, and a higher initial cost. The only advantage to the bigger traps are a larger pan to step on. I would think any quality #3 would hold a wolf, but I would most likely opt for something pretty heavy duty. There are so few permits to be had here, I would not want to chance a big male tearing up my equipment and being gone. This would go also with chains, swivels, stakes/drags. I would not skimp on any equipment with regards to holding my wolf. From what I hear, they are not that hard to catch, but can wreck cheap equipment. I have some MB750's I use in the water for beaver. I would need to check if the jaw spread is legal width for land sets, but I can assure you they won't tear those up.
Yeah I went with some bigger traps to increase catch area. I love my Bridger 3's. Last year before trapping season I bought some MB650's offsets. That was my first time handling them--man are they powerful. I've been considering buying some MB 550's this year, but I already have a few dozen various makes and sizes 1.75's, 2's and 3's. I used Clint Locklear's dip he came out with a few years ago last year for the first time and loved it. Previously I dyed and hot waxed them every year. Man I love that dip.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." (Thomas Jefferson)
The boys took a second wolf yesterday. This one was also black. Took him about 5 miles way the crow flies from the first one. I'll shrink the pic down and attach it.
I trap coyotes for the live market and use 1 1/2 Victors with D-Ring baseplates welded on, #9 wire jaw laminations welded on, good swivels, and # 2 piano wire springs work great. Usually caught just over the toes. No foot damage and they aren't going anywhere. They will be waiting there looking foolish the next day. I've used # 2 and 3 offsets, most often damaged feet, and a higher initial cost. The only advantage to the bigger traps are a larger pan to step on. I would think any quality #3 would hold a wolf, but I would most likely opt for something pretty heavy duty. There are so few permits to be had here, I would not want to chance a big male tearing up my equipment and being gone. This would go also with chains, swivels, stakes/drags. I would not skimp on any equipment with regards to holding my wolf. From what I hear, they are not that hard to catch, but can wreck cheap equipment. I have some MB750's I use in the water for beaver. I would need to check if the jaw spread is legal width for land sets, but I can assure you they won't tear those up.
Topstock, how does that live market stuff pay$. That's pretty cool. You don't have to give me exact dollars, but is it twice as much, three times as much, four times as much or am I not even close etc.?
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." (Thomas Jefferson)
That is a hard thing to pin down. At the time i did it in OK. a guy had contracted a price ahead of time. You need connections with persons owning training enclosures. These are mostly in the South. Some are very large in acreage. Then you must check with the State and see what is legal. Most states will not allow animals brought in from another state. Some will as long as a veterinary checks them and provides health certificates. I had a training enclosure for 22 years. It takes 3 different permits here to trap, hold and then release them into an enclosure. I no longer have any interest in going out of state to do it. If you do, make sure that everything is above board and legal. The Feds have ran some sting operations involving the live market. When they take someone down for dealing in wild animals across state lines, it isn't pretty. Huge fines at a minimum and possible prison sentences. Also always results in a longtime loss of hunting/trapping priveliges.
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