[throwaway2048]

I have hunted and been an outdoors man all my life.

This is total nonsense, one shot and they would all be running. Wolves are deathly afraid of guns, and what predators fear is confrontation. Its easier to run away and go after something that isn't going to result in you dying.

They are animals, with a strong desire for self preservation, not a mindless army of killing machines out for human blood.

If it was truly this dangerous hundreds of people would be dying a year.

Your hyperbole adds nothing but disinformation to the conversation.

[jboggan]

Not an example of using a gun, but this wolf did not seem deterred by confrontation and repeated shots of bear spray to the face:

http://www.montanaoutdoor.com/2013/07/wolf-attacks-bicyclist...

[throwaway2048]

Its a one off situation, any number of things could have been at play, the pepper spray could have been a dud, he could have missed in a panic or been too far away, etc.

People going into environments like that need to carry guns, and they need to understand that running away, especially in a panicked manner makes things worse. I'm not saying they aren't dangerous animals, they clearly are. That's why people need to understand how to handle them, its no different from being prepared to climb a mountain.

But hyperbole about needing a mini-gun or you are surely going to die to a pack of wolves is just utter, complete bullshit.

[narrowrail]

This is what I was talking about elsewhere in this discussion about city people ready to believe there are packs of wolves out hunting humans. 95% of the time in the back country (over 25 years in the rockies) when encountering these large predators, I only see their backside as they run away.