Wolves and Trail - Riding on horses

[babalina]

The DNR has reintroduced wolves and rattlesnakes in the area that have decimated the deer population. I live in Central Wisconsin. A Wolf has eaten up a neighbor farmer’s calf and ate all the barn cats. A forester was chainsawing wood and a wolf came 10 ft to him. A pack of Wolves were seen crossing the bridge at the end of the driveway and I saw a huge timberwolf also, that is bigger than my Newfoundland dog.

Needless to say, now I am scared to go out trail riding by myself for this and other safety reasons. My husband is going to get me a pistol for Christmas, that I can carry with me on trail rides…but I was wondering if anyone heard of wolves attacking a horse or group of horses…

I have been trail riding with a friend where we see wolf tracks and bear tracks, but honestly, the 4 wheelers are more dangerous.

[AlmostDun]

Derailing the topic…I’m curious, since you’ve obviously put some thought into this. All my marksmanship training was done years ago with a .22 rifle, lying or kneeling. What kind of training do people need to deal with a pistol on horseback, and how do you get it? It would really suck to accidentally shoot your horse instead of the threat. It would also really suck to have the horse freak and dump you when you start shooting.

[katarine]

nope, never- and ride a bunch out west NW of Yellowstone with wolf tracks for days. I don’t worry about them.

[CosMonster]

I usually carry a gun when I’m riding in the back country just in case, but I wouldn’t worry too much about wolves, just like I don’t worry too much about lions or bears. Yeah, they all might attack you (heck, a Canadian folk singer was just killed by a pack of coyotes, of all things), but like you said irresponsible humans are more trouble. I’ve never heard of wolves attacking horses or riders.

Also keep in mind that reports of wolves tend to be highly exaggerated. I’m sure some of them are true, but a lot of them are actually coyotes or feral dogs which have been around forever. People are very afraid of wolves and in areas where they are reintroduced people tend to let fear get in the way of their common sense, at least IME.

[Guilherme]

[QUOTE=carp;4476808]
Derailing the topic…I’m curious, since you’ve obviously put some thought into this. All my marksmanship training was done years ago with a .22 rifle, lying or kneeling. What kind of training do people need to deal with a pistol on horseback, and how do you get it? It would really suck to accidentally shoot your horse instead of the threat. It would also really suck to have the horse freak and dump you when you start shooting.[/QUOTE]

See http://www.sightm1911.com/manual/manual.htm

We do some Cowboy Mounted Shooting, also.

Frankly, hitting a target the size of a large dog from a moving horse will not be an easy task. But at the first shot the do will likely “booger.”

Be sure to gun break the horse before trying any mounted firing.

G.

[Painted_Horse]

I’ve seen wolves while riding near Yellowstone. They run off pretty quick and want nothing to do with people. And they have not been hunted in that area yet. Once they have been shot at a few times, they will be even more elusive.

By carrying a pistol and firing it, Usually the noise will be more than enough to scare off the average predator. If and when you really felt threatened by a predator that didn’t scare. You could shoot. Most pistols won’t kill the larger bears, like a grizzly, fast enough to do you much good. Even a shot thru the lungs, the bear could cover 30-40 yards and maul you before it died. Wolves are not near as tough. A well placed bullet will kill. The key word is WELL PLACED. Which is almost impossible to do from the back of a horse. Cowboy Action Shooters are firing at Balloon ( which you can assume is about the size of the kill zone of a wolf) The balloon is usually holding fairly still. Shots are fired from a moving horse at a target 6-10 feet away. You will proably be firing at a wolf, probably both it and your horse will be moving, at distances much greater than 10 feet.

Bottom line is. any pistol you choose to carry on your person, Will be more of a noise maker than something that inflicts fatal wounds. Unless you are a skill marksman. Buy a pistol that is light enough that you will carry it. Something you are comfortable shooting, Not too powerful that you are afraid to shoot it. I have a 41Mag made out of Titanium. It weighs 22 OZ. So ver lite weight to haul around. But the noise is SOOOOO Loud, it hurts my ears to fire it. I carry it with me, And I’d fire it if threatened. But I rarely practice with it unless I have lots of Hearing protection.

A Wyoming Wolf. This is about as close as we got and this would be an incredible pistol shot.
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/Painted-Horse/2009/Grandview/GrandView-051.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/Painted-Horse/2009/Grandview/Wolf.jpg

[Guilherme]

In a windy arena the balloons in a CMSA match move around quite a bit! :lol:

I was watching R. Lee Ermy’s new offering, “Lock and Load,” on the History Channel a couple of weeks back and he took a stab at hitting a large jug filled with some colored fluid from the back of a cantering horse with a single action revolver. Lee is a good rider and a VERY good shot with a hand gun and he didn’t come close in three tries.

If I were concerned and didn’t want to inflict serious damage on an animal I’d use a .45LC blank. At close range this will cause minor injury to a dog. If you want to do a bit more harm then get some rat shot or snake shot rounds. This puts a miniature shotgun in your hands. But it’s quite easy to nick your horse if you’re not real careful. Using a standard round will likely kill, or very seriously wound, a large canine but is the most difficult one to use accurately.

CMS is a real hoot and goes a long way towards making a horse “booger resistant.”* But taking the time to properly train the horse is vital.

Frankly, most folks who live in wolf country tell me that it’s not the wolves they fear, it’s the feral dogs. We’ve got the latter around here and they are a concern in more than one area.

G.

*I hate the term “bombproof” as it implies way too much. Any horse can have a “Monday.” Well trained horses have very few, but the number is never zero.

[Mersy]

If the wolves are becoming less fearful of humans I would be concerned. Although I have never heard of anyone being attacked on horseback, here in Alaska we have had attacks on humans and dogs on the trails. These are trails near major cities. Some of the wolves have been found to be rabid.
Wolves are very smart and cunning. They are “silent” stalkers and plan well when they hunt, don’t underestimate them.
If you do plan to carry a firearm for protection make sure you have trained yourself well in the handling of it. If you intend to shoot from horseback you need to practice this with your horse before exposing yourself and your horse to a excited situation.

[Kyzteke]

Ah, the wolf hysteria…it near dies does it?:no:

Again – there has NEVER been a documented case of a healthy, non-rabid wolf attacking a person in the lower 48. NEVER. EVER. EVER.

Here in Idaho, since the reintroduction of the species, people see wolves behind every tree & bush. Yet according to various expert sources there are only between 1800 - 3000 wolves TOTAL between the states of Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Washington. That’s how many square miles? Actually, because the alternative is cleaning the kitchen, I decided to do alittle research on this.

The total square miles for the 4 states listed above is 319,741. So that works out to be a wolf every 110-180 square miles. Yet ask around – EVERYBODY’S cat, horse, dog, brother & cousin is being eaten by wolves.

Exactly how many wolves are in Wisconsin anyway? Did you or your neighbor SEE these wolves eat the farmer’s calf or kill the cats? Couldn’t be the neighbor’s dog or (most likely) coyotes, could it? Since wolves were pretty close to decimated, coyotes have taken over their spot in the food chain and I think they are now present in just about every state in the lower 48.

Per my research, Wisconsin has about 680 wolves spread over 65503 square miles – that’s one wolf every 96 sq miles. They aren’t exactly standing on every street corner.

[Kyzteke]

What Ever Happened to Shadow?

I kind of miss him? Did we just drive him off or what? He was always good for a stimulating discussion…

[Kyzteke]

@CosMonster;4477049

(heck, a Canadian folk singer was just killed by a pack of coyotes, of all things),

Oh – it wasn’t Gordon Lightfoot was it? :eek:

I loved that guy…:yes:

[Cashela]

I wouldn’t be afraid. I wish they would reintroduce the wolves to Maine, although I live in NH. We rode in very close to Yellowstone twice and didn’t see a bear or a wolf on those rides. We only saw the wolves one day and they didn’t want to have anything to do with people at all. And I have been there twice once for a week and we were looking hard for animals and then once again for a couple of days.

[CosMonster]

Kyzteke, no, it was Taylor Mitchell. She was only like 19 years old I believe, just starting her career.

[Kyzteke]

@CosMonster;4478552

Kyzteke, no, it was Taylor Mitchell. She was only like 19 years old I believe, just starting her career.

What happened, exactly?

You know, I’ve read alot about coyotes and their “evolution” lately…apparently the usual coyote unit was just the parents and that year’s cubs. But in the last few decades coyotes in some areas have started to “pack up,” like wolves.

Because of that, they’ve also started to change the prey they go after…from stuff like mice & rabbits to larger prey. Nature cannot be denied…

[cloudy18]

I live in NW WI and this is the least of my worries. Yes, I would crap my pants, but I ran into two bears this summer and that made me crap more. Most people in WI are so anti-wolf and I have a hard time believing they are coming within 10 feet of people. Also, I have a hard time believing they are decimating the deer population, since I see lots of deer still dead along the roads or standing alive and well in ditches and fields. CWD is a bigger threat to the deer herds than wolves. It’s called an ecosystem-not trying to be sarcastic, but people here forget that deer survived very well for a long time with wolves before people decided to wipe out their prey and manage nature themselves.

If you are lucky enough to see one I think your best bet would be to be noisy. As others have said, if you carry a gun to make noise with, and your horrse is used to that, great. Or maybe get some heavy duty bear spray for your peace of mind, but again I would not use that from the back of a horse. You run a huge risk of spraying your horse. As Kyzteke said, there’s no documented case of a healthy wolf attacking a human. But I do beleive people have been attacked by deer in rut. Also, don’t believe all the tales you hear. Some may be true, many are not. You have more to fear from an antisocial dog.

[Kyzteke]

@cloudy18;4479837

I live in NW WI and this is the least of my worries. Also, I have a hard time believing they are decimating the deer population, since I see lots of deer still dead along the roads or standing alive and well in ditches and fields.

As Kyzteke said, there’s no documented case of a healthy wolf attacking a human. But I do beleive people have been attacked by deer in rut. Also, don’t believe all the tales you hear. Some may be true, many are not. You have more to fear from an antisocial dog.

Actually, I was going to tell the OP she had far more to fear from a moose attack than a wolf attack, since there are plenty of documented cases of moose attacking AND hurting people.

But then I did my research (still trying to put off cleaning the kitchen), and found that, as of 2006, Wisconsin only had 40 moose!! Who knew? Around here the place is lousy with moose…in fact one crossed my pasture just last week…those guys have a better trot than my dresssage-bred WB (better suspension for sure) and MAN – can they JUMP!!

As for wolves decimating the deer population – PLUEEZZE! We get that same load of bull$h*t from the hunters around here. All I can say, is whoever is counting the deer needs to count the number of near misses from suicide deer who are trying to “decimate” my Geo Metro every night as I drive home.

Where the hell is a wolf when you need one?

People are just hysterical over the “wolf myth,” and I find it really interesting that it still lingers.

Meanwhile some bonehead 1/2 mile from me had been feeding the coyotes in her back yard “because the babies are SO cute!” Like eating my barn cats aren’t enough chow for them…:dead::mad:

[Piatt_Farms]

Kytzke, apparently you have the same suicidal deer up there that we have here in OK. I just assumed ours were depressed from having been born in a state famous for red neck living. And kudo’s to you and your assessment of wolves. You took all of my lines.
Babalina, a gun is good but as others have said, unless your horse is “gun proof” you may end up getting dumped which could be dangerous with a loaded weapon. We have a rather healthy population of coyotes and bobcats around here…neither of which seem to be very fearful of humans given the number of times I see them watching me from across the field or edge of the woods near my house, so when I go out with the kids for a walk or a trail ride I bring the dogs. They may not give a dang about me, but a couple of 100lbs+ dogs making a half hearted dash at them, makes them scatter faster than just about anything else I’ve ever seen. I am partial to my Anatolian Shepherds but I’m sure just about any large breed would do.

[Guilherme]

Predators were eliminated by our ancestors not because they attacked people but rather because they preyed upon livestock upon which the people relied. Foxes, weasels, wolves, etc. all can decimate a farm and, back when the family farm actually supported a family, meant famine for that family.

So my heartburn is not that people are going to be eaten but that these predators will seek the easiest prey they can get. If that’s deer then that’s fine; it it’s calves, kids, and lambs then that’s not so fine.

G.

[CosMonster]

Yeah, statistically speaking you do need to worry a lot more about deer than any predator…not even counting traffic accidents, they are responsible for more hospitalizations every year than bears, coyotes, and cougars combined (not sure about wolves, though ;)). I’ve known 4 people who had to be hospitalized due to deer attacks; one of them nearly died when a buck gored him pretty badly. Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?

Kyzteke, here’s a link to a news article. Sounds like a really freak thing.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/10/29/2009-10-29_coyotes_kill_musician_taylor_mitchell_while_hiking_in_cape_breton_highlands_nati.html

[cloudyandcallie]

@carp;4476808

Derailing the topic…I’m curious, since you’ve obviously put some thought into this. All my marksmanship training was done years ago with a .22 rifle, lying or kneeling. What kind of training do people need to deal with a pistol on horseback, and how do you get it? It would really suck to accidentally shoot your horse instead of the threat. It would also really suck to have the horse freak and dump you when you start shooting.

I would assume that OP would only shoot if she was on foot. My horses were stabled around the gun club for 3.5 yrs, and had one BO whose husband often shot his 45 right near the barn. And of course for the past 4 yrs in the country we’ve had the hunters blasting away in the woods by the pastures. Still I wouldn’t have shot off of my horses, altho I would think I could dismount and blast away without having one bolt.

For good insights into wolves and their social lives, read David Mech’s book, “Of Wolves and Men,” he studied the wolves on Isle Royale in Michigan, and ready Farley Mowat’s wonderful book about Alaskan wolves, “Never Cry Wolf.” As with any wild animal, be cautious, but don’t “cry wolf” unless you do have some reason to do so. I’ve always carried a gun, in the cities and in the countryside, as the human predator is far more dangerous that animals, including wolves.