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.