2021 wolf hunts/trapping with Babine
Contributors to this thread:Small Game
From: Babine Guide
10-Dec-20
It's that time of year again even though we might not have any clients to take on the trips. We might end up with a few Canadian clients though. I have already put out about 25,000 pounds of bait and have wolves hitting 3 of the baits. Today I put out 30 snare at one bait sight. I'll try to get at least one more sight set out before next week. It's a bit of a later start but I spent the beginning of Dec. running the dogs for lynx before the snow got too deep.
From: Babine Guide
10-Dec-20
From: Babine Guide
10-Dec-20
From: Medicinemann
10-Dec-20
I always enjoy this annual thread. I have heard that lynx is pretty darned good to eat. I imagine that it is similar to Mountain Lion. Would you be able to corfim/refute that?
From: kakiatkids
10-Dec-20
One of the best threads each year. Can't believe it's that time again.
From: Ucsdryder
10-Dec-20
Great thread! What is the “bait”?
From: Babine Guide
10-Dec-20
Lynx are real good to eat. Most people wouldn't think so. The one Jen shot we cooked both hide quarters one night. Probably comparable to cougar but it's been a long time since I've eaten cougar. The bait that we use is road/train kills of moose, deer and elk. Horses and other farm animals that got to been put down and scraps from the butcher shops.
From: tkjwonta
11-Dec-20
Awesome, one of my favorite threads to follow every year. Good luck and hopefully you guys get a few Canadian clients to help things along.
From: Chris S
11-Dec-20
Favorite thread of the year. My dream trip someday!!
From: BULELK1
11-Dec-20
Dang Lloyd--------->
This is going to be tough to follow this year! haha
Good luck, Robb
From: 3arrows
11-Dec-20
Wish i was there, your the best.
From: Rgiesey
11-Dec-20
Enjoy this thread! Don’t know if it’s safe to have these images cross the border.
From: Bowbender
11-Dec-20
Always enjoy this thread.
From: dm/wolfskin
11-Dec-20
Good stuff!
From: wisconsinteacher
11-Dec-20
Do your cats tree or bay up on the ground? What is the average weight? I would like to chase them someday!!!
From: Pat Lefemine
11-Dec-20
I think everyone will be relieved to see this thread. One of my favorites!
From: Babine Guide
11-Dec-20
Our lynx will always tree or get away. It's not like a bear bay up. A good size cat is about 22-25 pounds but I have gotten them up to 35 pounds. Robb if you can't get up here by Feb, I have you marked for your same dates in 2022. With everyone being moved a year the next opening won't be till 2023 so if any Canadians want to do this trip then this will be the year to get in.
From: Babine Guide
11-Dec-20
Just went and got the dogs from the pen to go for a run and seen there was a wolf that came to the bait in the parking lot during the night. If someone want a trip next week I think it would be successful both on snaring wolves and shooting. Pm if interested
From: t-roy
11-Dec-20
Like others have stated, this is definitely one thread I look forward to every year. Good luck, Floyd!
From: Altizer
11-Dec-20
My favorite. Look forward to it every year.
From: T Mac
12-Dec-20
A bowsite favorite
From: Wv hillbilly
13-Dec-20
I sure would like to make this trip one year! Good luck ! Keep the pics coming
From: Babine Guide
13-Dec-20
Yesterday I prebaited 2 more sites that I will set snares at sometime this month. Today I was going set snares at a site I prebaited last week but I got sidetracked with a fresh lynx track. With the dog's already in the truck it was a good opportunity for training a couple of the young dogs. They jumped it in about 400 yards and had it trees in under a mile. I ended up taking this one. On the way back a black wolf ran across the road close to the spot where I was going to set the snares. I'll try to get them set later this week now. Next year we'll offer a couple lynx hunts with the dogs in the middle of November to middle of December.
From: Goat Guide
14-Dec-20
My daughter Robin holding a lynx that paid the price for killing all six of her ducks.
From: Babine Guide
15-Dec-20
Checked the station that I set last Friday. 4 wolves and a coyote. Pretty good first check. Got dark on me so I didn't get very good pictures. Tomorrow I'm going to set out another station.
From: Babine Guide
15-Dec-20
From: Babine Guide
15-Dec-20
From: wisconsinteacher
16-Dec-20
Interesting you had a coyote with all the wolves. I've noticed that if a pack of wolves travels into the area, the coyotes leave for a while and then filter back into the area.
From: brettpsu
16-Dec-20
Good grief Robin looks so grown up. I will always remember that little girl baking me a birthday cake 5 years ago.
You guys running your own dogs now?
From: deserthunter
16-Dec-20
Mind me asking what snares you are running ?
From: Babine Guide
17-Dec-20
I make my snares about 10-12 feet and 7x7 3/32 cable. I use the cam biter locks. Brett, we are running our own dogs now.
From: Pop-r
17-Dec-20
Hate to dog you to death but show us a pic of that snare setup if you get a chance. Thanks
From: Babine Guide
18-Dec-20
Last night we had the lynx that I shot last weekend. I cooked it in the crock pot with veggies and then broiled it in the oven for a few minutes at the end.
From: Babine Guide
18-Dec-20
From: Babine Guide
19-Dec-20
Today a friend came out and we ran the dogs. We got on a lynx right away about 5 minutes from the lodge. The snow conditions were about Waist deep and the dogs pulled off after a hour. We then we went to spot that I knew was better conditions and found 2 sets of fresh tracks. We picked one and after 3 hours of running, crossing the road back and forth 4 times we got the lynx in the tree. Tomorrow I'm going to go check a few wolf snares.
From: Babine Guide
20-Dec-20
Today I got wolf and had wolves go close to another station
From: Babine Guide
21-Dec-20
From: Babine Guide
21-Dec-20
I seen this lynx yesterday while I was out
From: BOWNBIRDHNTR
21-Dec-20
Always one of my favorite threads! Thanks for taking the time to share everything with us again. Best of luck, Jeff.
From: Babine Guide
22-Dec-20
Today I went out again and ran the dogs on lynx. Today one of our guides was the shooter.
From: Babine Guide
22-Dec-20
This is one of my topical snare set ups. I set my bait in an opening that is big enough that birds can land at the bait. If the bird's have to walk into the bait from from a ways away then there's more of a chance that they'll get hung up. I will snowshoe trails from the bait out for the wolves to walk in on. I will hang 20-50 snares 30-100 yards from the bait.
From: Babine Guide
23-Dec-20
This is a topical snare. 18-22 inche loop depending on how big the opening is that I'm setting in. 12-14 inches of the ground. I use a little stick at the bottom of the snare to help it hold it's shape. The snares I make are around 12 feet long.
From: Medicinemann
23-Dec-20
Do you spread the number of snares evenly around the bait, or do you tend to put a few extra on the predominant downwind side of the bait?
From: Medicinemann
23-Dec-20
double post
From: Babine Guide
23-Dec-20
There is no order on where the snares are set. It more has to do with the spacing between the trees and where a snare will hang properly. As the year goes on we always put more snares in spots that the wolves make new trails to the bait.
From: Pop-r
23-Dec-20
Thanks! Never closer than 30yds to the bait?
From: Buckeye
23-Dec-20
What kind of dogs are those ? good lookin pups.
From: kakiatkids
23-Dec-20
What caliber do you shoot the lynx with?
From: Babine Guide
24-Dec-20
You can set a few snares closer then 30 yards but it seem that you tend to catch more birds. After the bait is set for a while you can see where you have to put more snares and sometimes there is a good spot closer. The dogs that we have are 2 black and tan hounds, 2 karelian bear dogs and a blue tic hound. We shoot the lynx with a .22 with hollow points or a .17. Some people use a .22 mag. This morning I walked down to a bait that I have set up for shooting wolves with a friends daughter (13) who really wants to shoot a wolf. The wolves were howling but 45 minutes before light but didn't make it to the bait today. It sounded like 2 different packs in 2 different directions. We did see 2 coyote but didn't shoot because we were still hopeful on a wolf coming. She still thought it was cool to listen to them though.
From: Beav
24-Dec-20
Love this thread every year!
From: Babine Guide
26-Dec-20
With no family around this Christmas morning, Jen and I decided to do something different. We started the day walking down to the bait in the hopes of a wolf on it for Jen. We seen 3 coyotes and a lynx on it. We then then went and checked 2 snare stations. The first one had no visitors since I was there last. The second one had wolves just outside the edge of the snares but didn't go in. I did catch a lynx in a wolf snare there though. After that we placed baits at 3 different spots that we'll snare or hunt at sometime after the new year.
From: Bowboy
26-Dec-20
Your trapping skills are amazing! Thanks for posting!
From: Rupe
26-Dec-20
What a great thread.
From: Kodiak
26-Dec-20
Lynx are probably the coolest critter ever. Man are they pretty.
From: t-roy
26-Dec-20
Do you set your snaring bait setups in the same spots every year, or do you have to find different spots, due to the animals tearing up the spots after getting caught in the snares?
From: spike78
27-Dec-20
I can’t believe the wolves don’t see and smell the snares.
From: Screwball
27-Dec-20
Wolves are easier to catch than most animals. They are the alpha of the environment and thus have little fear and walk into sets as such.
From: Babine Guide
29-Dec-20
I do normally set my bait stations at the same locations every year. But your right, the area can get tore up so you do sometimes have to move where you set your snares. The wolves do sometimes see or smell the snares, I have quite a few wolves every year walk up to a snare and walk around it even if the snare is camouflaged in the willows. And then sometimes you'll get a wolf walk right into a snare in the wide open. I do find wolves to be one of the harder animal's to trap, you have to put alot of time, use alot of snares and alot of bait.
From: Babine Guide
29-Dec-20
Yesterday morning a friend of mine came out with his daughter and walked out to one of my baits. She got a shot at a coyote, it was a long shot and I think she shot a bit low. Then we went and checked a snare station and got nice wolf and coyote. The wolf was number 5 from that spot.
From: Babine Guide
29-Dec-20
From: Babine Guide
29-Dec-20
A good sized coyote
A good sized coyote
From: TRnCO
29-Dec-20
pretty wolf, ugly coyote.
keep em coming
From: JL
29-Dec-20
Do the snares mess up the fur?
From: Babine Guide
13-Jan-21
I hope everyone is having a good start to 2021. Sorry for not having any updates for a while but I pulled most of my sets for a while. My father in-law had a heart attack over the holidays and had to get a triple bypass. He's recovering good now though so I will start getting a few sets back out.
From: Babine Guide
13-Jan-21
The sets that I did still have out I got a wolf, a coyote and a lynx in them yesterday.
From: Babine Guide
13-Jan-21
A lynx eating on a piece of wolf bait
A lynx eating on a piece of wolf bait
The snares don't normally damage the fur.
From: South Farm
13-Jan-21
Sorry to hear about your father inlaw, but hopefully 2021 finds him on the mend and doing much better!
Just want to say I stumbled onto your post here for the first time and it is really cool to follow your tips and how you go about trapping these amazing animals. SO FAR wolves are delisted and we're hoping for a season down here next fall so this thread has really got me excited to give it a try myself! Thanks for the follow along; you do a great job!! I would've never in a million years considered eating Lynx, but if you say they're good I believe it.
One quick question...do you use the carcasses of wolves you've trapped for bait or won't other wolves go for that?
From: Bou'bound
13-Jan-21
Always a great well done thread. Gorgeous.
From: TrapperKayak
13-Jan-21
Awesome. Those cats look alot bigger than 25# though. Our golden pup at 4.5 mos. is 40# and doesnt look as big as those cats.
From: Babine Guide
17-Jan-21
The last few days I set out 2 more snare stations for wolves. Both of them had some wolf activity at them. I seen lynx at both spots on the bait while setting snares. I have seen a few wolves on my hunting baits during this last week too. I was hoping to get a Canadian client to come and hunt them but had no takers. I'm going to spend a couple days this week and try to shoot a wolf myself I think. I don't use the wolf carcasses for bait for other wolves but I do normally put them out on the trap line and bait in wolverines and marten with them. It's more of just a way to put them to use.
From: Babine Guide
18-Jan-21
Today I collected a bunch of bait and checked a snare station close to town. I caught this big lynx in one of the wolf snares.
From: g5smoke21
19-Jan-21
This is a trip I would love to do. How many skins can one take back home with them?
From: Babine Guide
19-Jan-21
Here's a good comparison between a coyote and wolf track that I seen this morning
From: Babine Guide
19-Jan-21
The skins all need permits ordered to in order to get them out of the province so they would have to be shipped. The trip includes 1 of each species caught or shot during the trip. More can taken home on a trophy fee bases.
From: Babine Guide
21-Jan-21
A couple lynx that have been camped out on one of the wolf baits
A couple lynx that have been camped out on one of the wolf baits
This week I got a couple coyotes in the wolf snares. I'll check some more Sunday.
From: Babine Guide
23-Jan-21
I had some challenges this week with my snare locks freezing but was able to hold onto this one
From: Babine Guide
24-Jan-21
From: Rupe
25-Jan-21
Absolutely awesome. Looks like a banner year. Wolverine too huh???
From: Babine Guide
27-Jan-21
I boiled up some more snares this week. You see the difference between the ones that have been boiled in spruce needles.
From: Babine Guide
30-Jan-21
I got this big grey today
From: Babine Guide
31-Jan-21
Nice wolf in a leg hold this morning
From: Babine Guide
31-Jan-21
