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Alaska Wolf/Predator Hunts
Our predator hunts are conducted in the Alaska Range throughout the months of January, February and March. The hunts are 7 days in duration and we’ll utilize predator calls, spot/stalk and traps in our pursuit of your trophy fur bearer. Wolf, wolverine, lynx, fox, coyote, river otter and marten are available. Snowshoe hare, rough grouse, sharptail and ptarmigan are also available at no extra charge. I have several comfortable cabins throughout my 110 mile trapline. Snowmachines will be our mode of transportation while in the field hunting. Helmets are provided along with snowshoes. Alaska temperatures will vary between 40°F above 0° to -45°F, a complete gear list will accompany your contract should you decide to try this adventure. Your trophies will be professionally handled and prepared for your return trip home or can be transported to a tannery in Anchorage, Alaska. The hunt price includes one night lodging before and after your hunt, and all accommodations while in the field. You’ll see Dall sheep, moose and caribou in our travels through the beautiful Alaska Range and they will really appreciate our successful predator hunting efforts! Call or email for a list of references for this unique Alaska hunting/trapping adventure!
WOLF HUNT 2007J.D. Fitterer
BACKGROUND
Paul Russell and I decided to do a trap line wolf hunt in Healy, Alaska which is about an hour and a half south of Fairbanks. This beacause I wanted to go back into my childhood and reinvent some minor trapping that I did as a teemeager and because of my interest in wolves. We read 1000 pages on wolves and 3 different books on trapping. The trip was planned in an even more compulsive manner than previous trips because of 2 variables that I felt we were at risk with regards. The first being temperature. It had been anywhere from 30-50 below zero the preceding year at the time we were going up for this hunt and I was not sure we could stand the elements. The second being snowmobiling which neither one of us had any experience and really something we could not prepare for. After all of this reading on wolves I came away with a profound respect for the animal and really feel strongly that the animal needs to be looked at not as a predator but as a supreme big game animal and respected for the wolf’s ability to hunt, a prowess that we has humans strive to emulate. I told people that asked about the hunt that there was a significant likelihood that we would not see wolves and certainly not call wolves in and that if fortunate enough to do do it would probably be at ranges which might make it difficult to actually kill a wolf. It was my feeling that trapping the wolf was our most likely chance to actually get one and that trapping was a higher form of hunting the wolf that trying to hunt over bait or call the animal in. This proved to be true. We never saw a wolf, but we saw lots of wolf tracks. We saw where wolves have peed on stumps, frolicked in the snow in playful manners, and trekked for miles. We never heard wolves in spite of calling to them and it was my feeling that we probably were in a place where we had intercepted their travel cycle on the “just after they had been through” time frame and that another few days to a week will tell. Brent Keith, our guide, has agreed to leave a traps and snares into work for an extended period of time and it was our hope that the traps would be successful. It turns out that they were and a large gray male wolf was taken shortly after our departure from Alaska.
The trip itself was everything I thought it would be and more. 182 miles on snowmobiles with no groomed trails! We were on glacier ice for 20% of the trip if not more and at least another 30% of the trip was cross country through brush, tundra, and trees. The balance was on old cat track roads with terrain that would challenge a 4 wheel drive vehicle! Thank goodness that we had 4 inches of snow for the week we were there because the gravel was not far below and often presented itself. The Alaska weather gave us its best shot. The highest temperature we had in the entire week we were there was 6 below zero and the lows probably were in the mid 40 below zero without factoring the wind chill. A 10 mile an hour wind which we experienced for a period fo time with 20 degree below zero temperatures gave us a -45 wind chill.
The snowmobiles really stopped functioning or in danger of not functioning well at 30 below zero or colder because of congealed oil flow. It took from 10-11, sometimes 12:00 before it would warm up into the mid 20 below zewro level and allow us to go out and hunt. It was interesting that if the sun was on you at 18-20 below zero that you could sit comfortably for hour sna we did so. Once the sun went off the temperuture dropped at least 10 degrees within just a very few minutes and it became more difficult to sit! Our clothing held up well and we were warm with the exception of a few fingers and few toes at periodic intervals. This with five layers on the bottom and six layers on the top of insulation plus a scarf around the neck, a face mask that covered scarf as well as the face, and a riding helmet for the snowmobile or our hood parka over the top. I do not think I will ever wear out the sets of long underwear I have!
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