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I spoke to a man at the USDA Wildlife Services in Boise on Thursday. I wasn't there for this purpose but asked him about the lady shooting the wolf with a pistol. He said that she never said that the wolf attacked. He said, she had a tag. The wolf came into her view (possibly due to her elk call). She shot the wolf.
Wildlife Services assists Fish and Game by investigating and solving issues with wildlife.

What this lady did was crazy amazing.She is an excellent marksman and has ice in her veins or it was the luckiest day of her life. Do not expect to be able to do the same unless you are over prepared. With a wild animal coming at you, your heart will be beating faster than ever before. You will have no fine motor skills. Do not just put a pistol in a holster and think you are ready to defend yourself.
The biggest threat, by far, when out hunting, is getting shot by another hunter (dress to be visible). The second biggest threat is bear. They will often stomp or false charge, so you may have some time. Cougars are the third biggest risk. The are stealth hunters. You may know they are their when they knock you to the ground.
So: DO NOT HUNT ALONE, dress to be seen, if you carry a weapon for self defense - practice, practice, practice.

What this lady did was crazy amazing.She is an excellent marksman and has ice in her veins or it was the luckiest day of her life. Do not expect to be able to do the same unless you are over prepared. With a wild animal coming at you, your heart will be beating faster than ever before. You will have no fine motor skills. Do not just put a pistol in a holster and think you are ready to defend yourself.
The biggest threat, by far, when out hunting, is getting shot by another hunter (dress to be visible). The second biggest threat is bear. They will often stomp or false charge, so you may have some time. Cougars are the third biggest risk. The are stealth hunters. You may know they are their when they knock you to the ground.
So: DO NOT HUNT ALONE, dress to be seen, if you carry a weapon for self defense - practice, practice, practice.

“That is true, they kill for the sheer joy of it sometimes.”

I know dogs and cats (some, not all) kill just to kill. I know that humans kill just to kill (trophy hunters). I recently watched an on-line video where two young boys chased down a fox with snowmobiles, with a couple of older men, in the background, cheering with glee with each almost hit of the fox. Finally the fox was hit and killed.
At this point I assume that wolves must kill some for the thrill of the kill. None of this activity was observed either in the Yellowstone project or the Sawtooth (Dutcher)project. The Yellowstone project did observe “surplus killing and wounding” where wolves would be chasing elk and a small group would take a wolf in one spot while another small group of the pack would take another elk. The researchers did state that the wolves would come back later and eat the excess elk (if it hadn't been already eaten by other scavengers”.
I could easily see that wolves used to hunting elk would get into sheep and kill several because in the high adrenaline state they are in and the fact that sheep are easier to kill, they would kill more than they could eat.
I would like to here from someone who directly observed wolves killing for the joy of it.
I have been studying wolves for less than one month. For some reason, I am motivated to understand the truth (whatever that turns out to be).

141 lbs. is the very heaviest one. This past hunting year, the average weight was about 95lbs. Adult wolves can live in 40 degree below weather. They have three coats of fur - this makes them look bigger than they are.
Wolves are less of a threat to humans than any other large carnivore. Fish and Game has data on this.

Driftdriver,
I have heard many conflicting stories regarding wolves. As a result I started doing research. I said there has been no violent encounters by wolves against humans since the reintroduction in 1995 - in the lower 48 states. That is true. No statistics are kept on wolves harassing people so I don't know the truth about that. A woman was killed in Alaska in 2010. The Alaskan paper that originally reported, said the killing appeared to be by a bear. They also said that there was wolf footprints in the area. The Alaska Fish and Game got the story and reported it as a wolf kill. The Alaska Fish and Game was taking lots of heat at the time for their areal killing of wolves.
“Wolves are not peaceful creatures” - Wolves kill fewer people than any large carnivore or domestic dogs. I have the statistics on that. I don't have statistics on this but overwhelming anecdotal information says that deer have more violent encounters with humans that wolves do.
As to deer and elk populations, I have only looked at elk since that is the wolfs primary prey. In Montana, the statewide population of elk is above objectives set by the state game agency.In Wyoming, their numbers are 50% above state objectives. And in Idaho, the elk population grew by 2,000 animals in the last year.With the wolf back, elk spend less time lingering in meadows and riverbeds and more time maintaining vantage points where they can detect approaching threats earlier.
I have been studying wolves and their affect on the environment for a very short time. I will continue to learn. That is the reason I logged on to this site in the first place. I will always say when things I state are fact or just my opinion.

The Yellowstone study weighs every wolf thay catch to radio collar, transport or whatever. The heaviest wolf every caught weighed 141 lbs. The average male is just under 100 lbs. Females are lighter.

Since the wolves were reintroduced in 1995, there has been no violent encounters between wolves and humans in the lower 48 states. Every single large predator has more violent encounters with humans than wolves do.

The average weight of the wolves killed last season was 95 lbs. This info. is from Fish and Game. Some people really like to exaggerate the wolf size.

Yellowstone has done a great study of wolves. They weigh every wolf they capture to radio collar, transport or whatever. The heaviest on record is 141 lbs. The average male is actually under 100 lbs.Females are lighter.

Just spent a fair amount of time researching this so thought I would share it here. Two people have been reported killed by wolves in the past 100 years in North America. Bear killed 59 people in the last 10 years. Cougars killed 11 in the past 10 years. Domestic dogs kill 20 to 30 every year
The 2010 kill in Alaska was originally reported as a bear killing, noting that wolf tracks were also in the area. The Alaska Fish and Game (which was under scrutiny for areal killing of wolves) then reported the killing to be by wolves.
I guess the moral of this story is that wolves are not much of a threat to humans.

You are right in stating that “wolves are a low threat to humans”. There has been only 2 cases of wolves being implicated in human deaths in North America over the past 100 years. One in 2005 and the other in 2010(Alaska). Both were nears dumps where wolves, bear and coyote frequented. There was no proof of which of these animals did the killing but wolves were implicated. Since 1990 bears(brown and grizzly) have killed 59. Since 1990 cougars have killed 11. Domestic dogs kill 20-30 people every year.

‘Good post. But in case you didn’t notice rickk doesn’t belong on this site - he’s a troll. He joined yesterday to progressively support wolves.”

Some the folks on the other side of the wolf debate did not like my questions either. If only people of like minds talk, nothing gets solved.

Some hate wolves,some love them, most don't care. I am in the unfortunate middle of the debate. I admit that I have somewhat of a fascination with the wolfs ability to have a positive affect on an ecosystem and with their strong family ties. I have no toleration for wolves harming people or killing animals on a ranchers owned land.

I had contacted a couple that does wolf research. They and one other source told me that there has been no verifiable cases of wolf kills of human in the U.S. They did mention the Alaskan woman. They were suspicious of the report. They said the Alaska Fish and Game was under heat for their policy of aireal shooting of wolves. I found the Alaska paper report of the killing. The article said the killing may have been wolves. It also mentioned the possibility of a bear being the killer. Papers outside of Alaska, picked up on the story and indicated wolves did the killing.
I am sounding like a defender of wolves. What I am attempting to do is understand for myself. As I said before,there is more misinformation than true information. For example one gentleman on this thread talked about a 80% reduction in elk due to wolves. I have found from a couple of sources,that there are about 110,000 elk in Idaho and only about 1,600 wolves in the entire mainland U.S.

I am reading a book “Yellowstone Wolves In the Wild”. It appears to me that the study taking place in Yellowstone may be the best ever done on wild wolves. This study does claim that the wolf reintroduction revitalized a struggling Yellowstone ecosystem.

Jeff,
I am not certain how I feel about wolves. Seems there is more mis-information than true information. I did thoroughly investigate the human risk from wolves. There has never been a wolf kill of a human in the United States. Mountain lions, brown and grizzly bear yes but never by a wolf.