In regards to your last two questions:
- Is it realistic to book a hunt focused solely on wolves, or is it usually just an add-on during another hunt?
It is realistic to book a hunt solely focused on wolves. It is going to be your most likely way to be successful on a wolf hunt. Although there are some hunts where you can add on a wolf and if you got a wolf while deer or moose hunting, you would probably be incredibly excited about the bonus for a much cheaper price than a dedicated wolf hunt.
- What should I expect in terms of success rates, cost, and timing?
Success rates are going to be reported and inflated differently, and greatly, at different outfitters. Generally speaking I have seen people say a good average for a successful outfitter is 50% sighting or shot opportunity. Again. This number is so variable, and often inflated. It's like asking people how much their bear weighed when it wasn't put on a scale.
To flat out say it, this is usually considered a low success rate hunt. They are also not cheap with good outfitters.
A good outfitter usually costs between $5,000-$9,000. There are some exceptions. As always, some offer lower prices and are good, and some people charging the highest cost aren't worth it.
Timing is usually in the winter/spring. A lot of places the season starts way before that, but the outfitters usually like that time because there aren't deer and moose hunts running during that time, the fur is better, the mating starts in the spring so they are out running more, and the young ones born earlier in the year before are now adult stage.
Most are over bait, that is the most successful method other than trapping. You could pay to go do a trapline experience, but you aren't really hunting them then, just checking and setting trap lines with a professional trapper.
Some places will do sitting over bait at certain times of the day while taking you to call at other times of the day.
If baiting is the primary method, prepare yourself mentally for a tough hunt. You could get lucky and see a wolf day 1. But there is a really decent chance you will be looking through a relatively small opening watching the same spot from sun up to sun down with nothing but magpies and eagles screeching and picking away for many hours on end.
A lot of people won't stick with it and put that time in, because it is a massive patience game. A lot of people go to sleep, play on their phone, or start only going in the evening, etc. You could be sitting there for 12 hours a day staring at the same spot for 9 days, and a wolf might appear for 30 seconds the whole hunt. Or never.
Some people get lucky and a whole pack comes in day 1 and runs around, plays around, and stays there for a long time. But a lot more people experience nothingness for many many hours.
I don't say all that to spook you off the hunt. But I have met a lot of spot and stalk hunters who are crawling out of their skin from 3-4 hours in a tree stand or a blind for deer or bear. And a lot of people aren't prepared for how mentally taxing the long hours trying to wait out a wolf can be.
Add in that a lot of times it is done at the coldest point of the year in some of the coldest places, and it can be a tough hunt. Some outfitters offer a heated wooden blind for this.
Also, some outfitters go even more extreme and you stay in the heated wood blind (sleep in there) for the entire 5-9 day hunt or with only a one day break in the middle.
That got very long, but I just wanted to give you or anyone else thinking of going the most information possible before going. I have seen many claims that the wolf is the hardest animal to hunt in North America. That would likely start an entire other thread of debate, and I'd leave it up to others to debate that, not me.
