Baiting, Morals and...WOLVES.

[Ourea]

For those that don't know me from Adam I am extremely active with trail cameras.
Yes, I am one of those horrible people that solely puruses only trophy animals.

I had set up some cams in the Weedy West Kootenays in August when we were over cutting trail in our hunting area in anticipation of our elk hunt.
I am sure some saw a few of the pictures I posted up that were coming in from my cell cam in real time.
I was quite surprised to get pics of wolves coming in as we had never seen so much as a track in the previous 15 years in this area.

I have a commercial lick that I use in support of my cameras. Through lots of testing with numerous blocks being laid out together we easily determined one that was the hands down favorite.
I dropped one of these blocks in front of my cell cam.
The elk habituated to it within a few days and some would spend the entire night on it.
Three weeks into the program I started getting the wolf pics.
They basically set up shop by the block and appears they were pursuing the elk as they were going to and from.
(I was suprised how aggressively the elk patterned to the lick in this area compared to the many other areas I cam in)

So, my issue is this.
My unatural attractant "repatterned" the elk and ultimately placed them in a situation of vulnerability from a predation perspective.
I have a real issue with this. I am and have always been a conservation first person. This bait program has ended for me in high predator areas as a result. I can't do it with a clear conscious as an outdoorsman. ........just a lot of bad mojo for the sake of a pic.

I wanted to call this experience out.....pass on the information as an FYI.

ourea out

[Stone Sheep Steve]

While I'm mostly just a "meat hunter" I encountered the same thing last yr(although I don't use a trail cam). Not wolves but a cougar. Deer gave up on the "attractant" but I still witnessed cat tracks coming back to the site weeks after the season was over.
Even saw the cat at 18 yards while I was in my stand with bow in hand...and no cougar tag. Tracks told me the cat had gone after a deer in the early hours of that same morning.

SSS

[coach]

Great thread, Ourea! Good on you for being honest and sharing your experience. Hopefully a few more guys will chime in with stories of their own. Always good policy to reflect on how our own seemingly innocent actions could be affecting the animal population.

[Rattler]

Too bad to hear about the wolves. I don't use trail cams myself, but if I were in your shoes I would do the same. Good on you for raising this issue.

[BlacktailStalker]

What would be even better is to whack one of these wolves on the bait. They aren't stupid and would wise up to them and be less likely to hang around them so freely (that one anyways)
The wolves move so much as well, they have to it is part of their lifestyle just like cats. But nonetheless good on ya, you didn't want any of those little bulls anyways

[Gunner]

I had a similar thing happen 4 or 5 years ago,I was feeding whiteails through the winter.Got up one morning and there were a dozen ravens at the back corner of my property.I grabbed a rifle and walked up on 2+ feet of frozen snow to find a dead fawn buried under some branches.Tracks said it was a female cougar with a grown kitten,she waited right where the deer were jumping the fence to come in to feed.I had 20+ does and fawns coming in each night and any time you create a situation that concentrates prey animals you have to expect a predator to show up and take advantage.I cut my feeding way back and subsequent winters have been milder,I have many less deer and no predator problems.Theres always coyotes around but they seem to avoid my place for some reason! Gunner

[dana]

I have yet to see any results from trail cameras in this province that make me think I need one. I had one of the old film style ones years ago and only got one roll of film from it with nothing but clouds and a spiker on it and then the camera ate the second roll and wouldn't work again. I had set it on a natural lick where I had observed big buck tracks on a regular basis. Never felt the need to get another after that bad experience. But I can tell ya I had observed both lion and wolf tracks on that lick in the past and in the time since. Makes sense as the predators will be where the target animals hang out.

[hunter1993ap]

I have yet to see any results from trail cameras in this province that make me think I need one. I had one of the old film style ones years ago and only got one roll of film from it with nothing but clouds and a spiker on it and then the camera ate the second roll and wouldn't work again. I had set it on a natural lick where I had observed big buck tracks on a regular basis. Never felt the need to get another after that bad experience. But I can tell ya I had observed both lion and wolf tracks on that lick in the past and in the time since. Makes sense as the predators will be where the target animals hang out.

the best thing about a tcam is you get to see some nice pictures of some prety respectable animals. but i agree for the five years i have had my cams they have not helped me a whole lot with hunting an area. thats great to know about the lick attracting elk and the wolves soon to follow. i guess packing those heavy rocks way up the mountain didnt give you as good of a reward as you thought were the elk still using the lick when you went in there or did the wolves push them out?

[bugler]

I suppose whether it is a natural attractant or a bait station the results are likely the same. I got a cougar pic at a whitetail bait station during the late bow season. Obviously attracted by all the deer hanging around there. I also have griz and black bear pics at a natural elk wallow where I've taken a couple of bulls. Anything that concentrates the prey will concentrate the predators, including me!!!

[j270wsm]

Are your camera's up all year? Just a thought but why dont you find out who has the trap line where your camera is? Let the trapper clean out the wolves.