This is the perfect justification for killing wolves. There should be NO "hunting" season. As the article states, people threatened by wolves already have permission to stop the problem. Anything else is a useless waste of a beautiful animal. If you hunt them, are you going to eat them? Wear them? Put a dog on the wall? Leave them alone unless they threaten your livestock or persons.

I don't understand the point of this story. Is the author saying the guy should have waited a month and then shot? Was he supposed to show the wolf a calendar and reschedule?

He should be charged. I would like to see hunting season for dogs. We could use a lot less of them.

Or so he says. Any witnesses to this, besides the dog?

@aanen1 - if the hunter shot the wolf with birdshot at "about 8 yards" as claimed, it would be pretty easy to tell by the wounds on the wolf. It's not remotely hard to tell the difference between shotgun wound and rifle wound on a carcass. A hunter certainly should know that, too, so I would tend to believe the story as printed.

Perfectly justified. I don't understand why this is news. These are wild and sometimes dangerous animals: beautiful except when they put human life (and our animals) at risk.

Embrace nature. Love wolves. They're an apex predator, designed by Earth to control prey populations. However, the species isn't dying out currently, and needs to be controlled. Reminder: the HUMAN species and CANIDS aren't on the endangered list, either, so: Let the wolves cull the deer population where they will. However, as a year-round predator, they should be targets WHEN THEY ARE THREATENING. Kill the openly-aggressive wolves, let their more passive friends live, and we might help evolution create wolves that balance the ecosystem (again).

I absolutely get the reason this hunter shot this particular wolf. If I were a hunter out with my dog, I'd do the same in the stated situation to protect my dog. Here's the thing...who do hunters (or any member of the population) get to shoot when a trap set for a wolf clamps down on their dog's leg?

The hunter wouldn't be out during deer season with his dog, its illegal to use dogs to hunt deer and any hunter is within legal bounds to shoot pet dogs that are chasing or interfering with deer hunts. To wait until 8 yards is better than I would have done. I know bird shot isn't much other than an annoyance to larger mammals at longer ranges but with a wolf bearing down on you... I would have pee'd myself. Safe hunting is no accident. Congrats on staying safe.

I would have done the same thing. Glad that your dog is okay.