The scope was turned all the way down to give me maximum field of view and the red firedot in the center of the duplex reticle was glowing as I sat on the ground with my back to a small tree . When sitting on the ground , I like to hold the rifle with my left hand which I then rest on my left knee . I keep the butt of the rifle up snug to my right shoulder . By holding the rifle this way I can use my call with my right hand , yet smoothly transition to the firing position with little or no obvious movement .
PREDATOR HUNTING CONTINUED
All the way up the mountain I had been trying to figure out my best option for calling , assuming that I did not get busted on the way in . I finally decided that instead of soft whining or howling I would just blast out a fawn distress and hope for the best . My theory being that if the pack members were separated but still in the general area , then each would think that one of the others had caught something and just maybe .........
After blowing three or four soulful " bleats " I sat perfectly still . Twenty seconds later I saw movement at about 35-40 yards . A gray colored wolf was coming through the trees at a lope , and heading straight for me ( their ability to pinpoint the location of a sound is exceptional ). I started tracking it with the red dot so that I would be ready to fire the moment it stopped .
Except it wasn ' t stopping , it was so intent on finding the injured fawn that I realized it was going to be in my lap if I didn ' t do something quick ! So I barked and it hit the brakes , hard . With the firedot already centered on its chest and the wolf facing me at less than 12 yards , I simply pulled the trigger and it collapsed . The 150 grain Norma bullet performed perfectly .
I instantly reloaded and scanned for other wolves but did not see one . I called , and then howled on the off chance the gunshot had been ignored but there was no response , just silence .
As I notched my tag and prepared for the pack out , I couldn ' t help but think how close I had come to giving up and going home cold and wet just 2 hours earlier .
Wolf hunting is just like the lottery , you can ' t win if you don ' t play . That day I hit the jackpot !
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