Now you may "Having spend a few minutes hunting..", but you are oblivious as to how effective bowhunting can be.
Check the cable TV hunting channels any day of the week, and you will see bow hunters get their elk.
As for hitting the wolf a non-fatal head shot...it's quite easy on a straight-on shot to be off center and only take a long slice out. I did the exact thing many years ago on a charging hog...the 44 mag hit his cheek and ear, but it only cut him up, but it did turn him, and I was able to get a side shot and finish him.
It sounds to me as though your hunting experience was indeed limited to "a few minutes".
Wrong little one, I have taken about 8 bucks with a 44 mag, I know very well what they do, and those people you watch on tv are normally on game ranches. But my old rusty pre 64 winchester 100 is what I normally kill deer with. You do not hunt elk in open country on foot if you want to kill one, you ambush them are you use a blind, are a tree stand. Now get a life. Open as in a none fenced game ranch.