15 Seconds of Excitement

It was the third morning of the hunt and it was clear and cool with a light September frost. We were up and gone by 6:00 AM and headed to high ground where my guide had found bull moose chasing cows before. Our jeep made its way along the logging roads of southern BC and up the two-track on the side of the mountain as the sun began to crest the horizon. I had made the mistake on the first day of the hunt when, Ross, my guide asked me if I liked to hike. I answered yes without thinking but by then it was too late. We spent a lot of time walking after that. We parked the jeep out of sight and began, yep, another morning hike up the mountainside. Ross made cow calls several times along the way and we listened each time for a bull to return the favor. We had walked and called for over a mile when we came to an old clear-cut on the mountain. We were walking a game trail and had just entered into the clear-cut about 50 yards from the tree line when Ross made another cow grunt. We waited and listened… nothing. After a few minutes he called again. Ross was in front and a little to my right when I saw movement on the trail in front of us. Unconcerned I asked Ross. “Is that a coyote?” “No, it’s a wolf” he said. The morning was still clear as a bell so the scope covers were already off. All I had to do was raise the 338 and shoot. The wolf was coming directly towards and slightly down hill with his head lowered so all I could do was try and place a shot above his head into his back. The growth around us was chest high weeds as the area had not been replanted yet. This obscured our vision from anything that was shorter that the height of the weeds or not on the trail in front of us. Following the shot Ross shouted “you missed there he goes.” At this point the wolf had jumped up on a snarled pile of logs just uphill that, because of the growth, we couldn’t see. The wolf couldn’t see where to go to get way either so it had jumped on the logs in order to see over the growth. I had already ejected the empty and put the case into my pocket when the wolf appeared on the log pile. As I raised the rifle the wolf dropped out of sight only to once again jump up onto another log a few feet to the left of where it had been. It stood there for about three seconds which was two seconds too long. Again the 338 went off and the wolf dropped. Both shots were less than 15 seconds apart. Ross, after the usual con-gratulatory hand shake walked to where the wolf was for the first shot. When he arrived he looked back at me in amass-ment and stated (“stated” might be too light of a description) “you got two.” After looking over the first wolf, a 150 pound, light gray male, it was clear the shot went precisely where I had intended, well almost. I had clipped the very top of the back of his skull and broken the skin between his should blades. The cape and skull were intact and for the most part undamaged. The second wolf was shot broadside and was a beautiful all black female. The male scored a silver and the female was a bronze. I might never see that 15 minutes of fame they talk about but I had a pretty exciting 15 seconds once.

by Tom Johnson