Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Oregon Elk Hunter Shoots Wolf in Self-Defense

Will Oregon crucify him after the whacko-bird wolf lovers chain themselves to the state capitol building in protest and hold a symbolic funeral for the dead wolf, complete with a doggy casket??

https://www.fieldandstream.com/hunting/oregon-elk-hunter-shoots-wolf-in-self-defense/

On November 2, an elk hunter in Oregon reported that he was forced to shoot a wolf in self-defense. The hunter, whose name has not been released, was stalking elk in the eastern part of the state, near Seneca, when a wolf approached him. The animal came out from the woods in front of him at 30 yards and wouldn’t stop coming toward him. After yelling at the wolf and waving his arms in an effort to scare it off, the hunter said he had to shoot it.

The incident is still under investigation, but authorities say that the man self-reported shooting the animal. “Preliminary investigation revealed the hunter acted reasonably in shooting the wolf for personal safety,” the Oregon State Police (OSP) said in a press release. “The hunter stated he feared for his safety and fired one round, striking the wolf and killing it instantly.” Officials found that the man was only 18 yards from the wolf when he fired.

“Like other large carnivores, wolves will tend to avoid people,” the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) said. “[Attacks] likely to occur when wolves are habituated to people, when dogs are involved, or if wolves are sick.”

According to a study by the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, wolf attacks on humans are extremely rare. There were only 489 wolf attacks worldwide between 2002 and 2020. The overwhelming majority of them involved wolves with rabies, and only 67 were considered to be predatory. Officials have not said whether the animal involved in the recent incident was rabid or not.

After killing the wolf, the hunter reported, another one came out of the timber, and he was able to scare it away with a warning shot. The OSP Fish and Wildlife Division, the ODFW, and a district wildlife biologist arrived on the scene after the hunter called the ODFW to report the incident.

“The hunter properly followed instructions and left the scene intact,” the State Police said. “The hunter then voluntarily led OSP and ODFW to the scene on federal property, southeast of Seneca.”

Oregon has around 178 wolves, and this one was in the range of the Logan Valley Pack. There is no hunting season for wolves in the Beaver State, and those who kill wolves illegally can face up to a $6,250 fine and one year in jail. The authorities will issue a report to the Grant County District Attorney’s Office for review.

Issue a report to the AG! WTF!

From the sounds of that particular article, Oregon authorities have everything but officially declared the incident a legal, justified shooting. Assuming that's even partly true, I doubt the state of Oregon will do anything more concerning the hunter but the ridiculous protestors are a different story.

It isn't the Attorney General....it is the county Attorney's Office that the report supposedly will be issued to. That is absolutely standard protocol, no matter how seemingly justified the situation is or what the investigation indicates.

I don't blame the guy for shooting the wolf, but I find his story hard to believe. A man is standing up, waving his arms and yelling and the wolf doesn't run off?

No way, unless the wolf was demented with rabies.

Somehow "only" is supposed to minimalize that there were 489 wolf attacks.

Wolves are predators with no fear of man. It’s absolutely possible that this event happened just as described.

Look, I've never seen a wolf live and in person. I have heard them howling at night in Quetico Park, Canada. Quite a sound, eerie.
I can see a pack of wolves attacking a man, that is what wolves do. But it is hard to believe that a single, non demented wolf would attack a hunter.

BFD. Peeps in MT are lucky to make it home from the grocery store there are so many wolves.

I can't say I have ever personally felt threatened by wolves and feel attacks on humans are insanely rare, but before they were legally hunted in Montana and Idaho I had wolves trot around the edges of my camp, wanting at the horses. I did plenty of waving of my arms, yelling and throwing rocks as well as shots into the ground. A couple of times it had absolutely zero effect on the wolves. I literally had to run at them screaming to get them to leave, and even then I am not sure they didn't just hide close by.

That isn't the case these days since they're hunted hard in those states, but in Oregon where they're still off limits I wouldn't completely discount the possibility.

In early November one year, my Lab and I were surrounded and shadowed at very close range (10 yards and less) by a pack of 5 or 6 back in heavy brush alongside the trail we were on. After 100 yards or more of this, a 9 month old female pup came out about 20 yards ahead, inviting him to "come play" and she became a very nice, if not overly large pelt on the wall downstairs. This was after I had commanded the dog to get him right back right in front of me on spotting the first wolf crossing the trail ahead (saw 2), initiating the surround, so my voice had had no effect.

I've seen wolves hunt before, and I've shown the pics before.

The dog took this to mean he wasn't to play with wolves, apparently.

Same dog (should have been named "wolf bait" instead of Tripper. ) sounded off in the yard one day a few years later. When I stepped out on the deck, yelling several times to shut him up, he took this as back-up and started to enter the woods, only to come backing out again (still yapping), followed by a wolf a few yards away. I ran for a rifle, and when I stepped out the ground floor door, the wolf headed for the woods. More backup!!!, as the dog went in after it again, and would not come to my calls, so I fired a shot (always works with a Lab!), and out he came. I grabbed him and got him in the house, parked the rifle beside the door, went upstairs to the phone and started calling doggy neighbors, only to look out the window to find the wolf crapping on my lawn.

Of course by the time I got to the rifle, it was gone again.

Come to think of it, the first day I had to leave him in the open-topped outside kennel when he was 10 weeks and I had to go to work, I came home to catch a glimpse of gray in the woods as I pulled in. Little chit probably had been lonesome-howling during the day.

After that, he stayed in the entry room when I was gone , and I just dealt with any accidents...He died at 12 1/2, 6 years ago, and I miss him yet.

The yard wolf incident also confirmed to me his "wolf bark" was what I thought it was. He had an identifying bark for every critter. In the trail incident, his initial bark was the one he used when meeting another dog on the trail. Shooting the wolf changed that to one that I wasn't totally certain of until the yard incident.

His caribou bark was nearly the same as his moose bark, with slightly different inflection and a question mark on the end!


in 18 years.

Officials found that the man was only 18 yards from the wolf when he fired.

Not gonna gain-say this, but I'd have held out for 15 yards....

Pretty area there around Seneca. I can see wolves living there.

Now, besides the second wolf the hunter saw, were there others back in the trees he didn't see? Was the first one testing him to see if he was injured, going to run, possibly a meal, and the others were watching?

Still waiting to see one in our local area. They pass through and have set up shop south of us a couple hrs drive. But reports have them showing up around here on occasion.

Predators have to LEARN fear. To a predator it’s either food or danger.

Oregon has around 178 wolves - righttttt

That looks like someone's pet not like the wolves I've seen around here.

Bb

Side bar to my yard-wolf incident.

John Toppenburger was a retired CO LEO who moved in a half-mile or so down the road and went to work for a "Wildlife Advocacy" group. Yeah, right. He had a couple beautiful Golden Retrievers who sometimes ran away from home and came here to play with Tripper, so I knew John fairly well. He's moved back Outside since.

A couple days after my yard thing, he told me, "That's probably the same wolf that has played with my dogs a couple times, in the big open field in front of my house"

I thought several times about my response, then said, "You know John, if you would take your dogs hunting, they wouldn't have to play with wolves for entertainment".

He laughed.

Its a joke. A demented bitch shot a huskie, thought it was a wolf and posted it online.

SSS

I struck up a conversation with a cattle rancher that runs cows in the high country each summer. He was talking about wolves moving into the area. He asked if my buddy and I carried cell phones. Yep. He said if a wolf with a collar dies they'll get a mortality signal and ping any cell phones in the area at the time. He suggested when hunting in that particular area people need to leave their cell phones at home.

Good idea.

Story does not surprise me at all. Two years ago I drew an elk tag north of there and did not see an elk, heard k e shot far away and saw wolf tracks and scat everywhere. Contacted ODFW and once they heard where I was they just said no need to even come verify since they knew a pack lived there in the valley.