Wolves once ruled North America. In fact, they were the most widespread mammal species in the world at one point. That, of course, has changed. Canada has a fairly stable population of about 50,000 wolves. The United States has about 10,000 with 6,000 coming from Alaska, 2,500 from Minnesota, 1,500 from Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, and 100 or so from Washington, Oregon, and Arizona.
Like Mountain Lions, I have gone looking for Wolves on many occasions, and typically without success. You need to go to places with the most potential. But, there is never a guarantee. I have gone several times into Apache National Forest of Arizona where there are 40-50 Mexican Grey Wolves, but never any success. So, much of it is luck; even in places of high concentration. For example, Yellowstone National Park. Lamar Valley is a favorite "Wolf Watching" spot. There have been a couple of times when I have seen a dozen or more people standing along the road with their "spotting scopes". That is of little use to the wildlife photographer as I will show you. In the first photo, you see Lamar Valley. There is a Grey Wolf in this photo which was taken with a 400 mm lens. Now, if I were somewhere else and there weren't other people around, I'd be hiking down into the valley to see if I could get a closer photo. But, that is inappropriate at Yellowstone under these conditions. Anyway, the second photo is "blow-up" using Photoshop. The quality is miserable, but at least you can see the Wolf. Interestingly, there is also a lone Pronghorn in the photo. The Wolf had been trying to "sneak-up" on the Pronghorn, but that's a race the Pronghorn will win every time.
The Gray Wolf is the "spec" in the middle of the first photo. The larger "spec" in the first photo (more to the right of center) is a Bison.
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