More Deer Hunting with Manitoba's Whitetail Outfitters
Trophy of a Lifetime
 Editor’s Note: One of the greatest adventures in the world is a wilderness hunt with Whitetail Outfitters of Manitoba. Traversing beaver swamps, rivers and creeks, hunters go into total wilderness, where they never see another footprint other than their own and the guides who direct them to their stands. Monster-sized deer, timber wolves and adventures of a lifetime await those who venture where few other hunters go. This week, we’ll learn more about the men who face the wilderness in search of monster deer. Steve Broderick of Old Tappan, New Jersey, was on his stand before daylight, when he had the adventure of a lifetime.
 At first light, I had a doe and a fawn come walking through the little valley I was watching. They stood under my stand for 10 or 15 minutes and then easedtheir way out of the little valley. About 15- or 20-minutes later, I heard timber wolves howling on the ridge. I’d heard wolves when I’d hunted here in years past. I’d made several trips with Whitetail Outfitters, and I’d enjoyed every hunt. But these wolves were closer than I’d ever had wolves when I’d hunted here. I estimated the wolves were only about 300-yards away. From the amount of howling I’d heard, I believed there were between six to 10 wolves in this pack just above me on the ridge. About 15 or 20 minutes after I’d first heard the wolves, I saw movement in the brush out of the corner of my eye. I instantly could tell that this animal was either a coyote or a wolf, but because I couldn’t get a clear view, I wasn’t certain. As I looked at the animal, I quickly realized that this critter was too big for a coyote. He stood much taller as well was bigger in body. I watched the wolf, and he turned sideways and started moving around my stand. I quickly raised my Thompson/Center Omega rifle to my shoulder, aimed the crosshairs and squeezed the trigger. One of the reasons the wolf didn’t see me, even though I was wearing orange, was because I was 30-feet high in the tree. I feel certain this wolf had never seen a tree-stand hunter, so he didn’t know to look up into the tree for danger. The wolf had no idea I was in the woods, even though he was only 50 yards from my stand. When the wolf took the bullet, he flipped over two times and then lay still.
Almost immediately after you take any animal, you begin to ask yourself, “Was that critter as big as I thought? Am I sure that’s a wolf, and not a coyote? I’ve seen coyotes in the States, but maybe coyotes in Canada grow bigger? Maybe it was just a big coyote, not a timber wolf.”
 I stayed in my stand until about 12:00 noon, and then I came out of my stand and went over to look at the critter. As soon as I got close enough to see the animal, I knew I’d taken a timber wolf. I really thought it was cool to see a timber wolf and to have a chance to take one of these wolves. I know that very-few hunters, at least in the Lower 48, will ever see a timber wolf, much less have an opportunity to take one. Although I’ve had wolves close to my stand when I’ve hunted here in the Interlake area between Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg in Canada, I’ve never actually seen a timber wolf. I’ll have the skull cleaned and mounted, and the hide tanned. This 70- to 80-pound wolf will be a fine trophy. Although he’s an impressive trophy, I’d rather have taken a whitetail because I came here to hunt deer. When my guide came to pick me up, I showed him the wolf and explained that because there were so many wolves in the area, I’d rather hunt another stand on Tuesday, the second day of my hunt.
For more information about hunting with Manitoba's Whitetail Outfitters, write Box 70, Stonewall, Manitoba, R0C 2Z0, call (888) 398-3459, visit
www.whitetailoutfitters.ca, or email hunt@whitetailoutfitters.ca.
Tomorrow: The Hunt for Monster Bucks
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