In unarmed combat to the death, where both combatants are prepared and there is no ambush factor, who would win: The average adult male gray wolf, or the average adult man?
My money’s on the wolf.
With an average human, the wolf would win, no contest. An exceptionally strong or quick human might have a chance.
I think a human would have to immediately break one of the wolf’s legs in order to have a chance.
My father had two timber wolves that he raised from puppies. He lived by himself and had tons on land and these turned out great. Someone called him one day and said that they were having trouble with wolf/german shephard cross and would he take it. He agreed and the man brought the hybrid over. A couple of days later, my father was walking through the woods with his two wolves and the new hybrid when he heard something behing him when he turned to see the hybrid in mid leap about to take him out. He sort of caught it in mid air and they fell to the ground. My father instinctively grabbed around the hydrid’s neck and squeezed as hard as he could. They wrestled for a few seconds and my father did get some assorted teeth marks around his face. By that time, the wolves had rushed over to help my father and they somehow established dominace over the hybrid.
MY father weighs over 200 pounds while wolves come in about have that or maybe a little more. Their main weapon is their mouth so if you can reach all the way around the neck and hold on, you have a chance and could even kill the wolf.
My father called the man that gave it to him and told him he had one hour to pick it up before he had to shoot it. In that case, I would say that man won the fight. MY father still insists that wolves can make good companions for isolated people but wolf hybrids can be deadly because they mix traits that shouldn’t go together.
With a name like mine, it is difficult to say I’d be impartial.
However, I’d have to go with the wolf as the winner.
Yes, that would be a scenario in which I could see the human winning - if he could manage to get a good enough grip on the wolf’s neck to strangle it. But at 200 pounds, your father would be above average in size.
A standard hunting technique for wolves is to slash at the prey and then allow blood loss to weaken it. If the wolf employed this tactic instead of a direct assault even a large strong human wouldn’t have much of a chance.
One other thing - the animal in **Shagnasty’s ** example may have been attempting to establish dominance rather than actually kill his human opponent. (Of course a dominance fight with a wolf is likely to be fatal to a human anyway.) If the wolf-dog had regarded the human as prey, it is likely it would have used different tactics, such as slash-and-retreat.
I once read a book that suggested this if one unavoidably had to tangle with a large dog: shove an arm into its mouth and make a fist in its throat. This would choke the dog while exosing only a portion of the arm to whatever biting the dog could muster in that state. Obviously this is only to be tried in dire circumstances.
I can’t help but wonder if this would work against a wolf. Seems plausible, but I don’t want to prove it myself.
I would place my money on the wolf IF we are talking about the average ‘city slicker’ guy. But take a *Real Man *™ who has some experience with dealing with the wild and I would give him the edge. As with anything else knowledge is power.
The hunter and taxidermist Carl Akeley used this method to kill a leopard that attacked him in Somaliland in 1898, so it does work. (Scroll down for an account of the event.) Akeley was very lucky that the leopard attacked him in such a way that he was able to do this, and that it was a pretty small leopard besides.
And what tactic is this “real man” going to use against a wolf using the slash-and-retreat technique?
Some Wags come to mind, like 1st realising that it is the method that the wolf use, and try to defend agaist that. Other things like improvized weapons, both offensive (like throwing rocks, ) and defensive (like long sticks). Using the terrian to his advantage (limiting the avenue of attacks of the wolf). As well as knowing ways to seriously hurt/kill the wolf.
How, exactly?
Weapons are specifically excluded by the OP.
Of course, the wolf can do this too.
If the wolf is using slash-retreat, you’re not going to have much opportunity to grab and strangle it, which is about the only chance you’ve got. Knowing how isn’t going to help if you can’t actually manage to do it.
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I think this is a good thread for IMHO rather than GQ, to be honest.
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Although I doubt if I could kill a wolf with my bare hands, it certainly doesn’t seem unreasonable - Shagnasty’s anecdote would appear to confirm this. There are similar tales of men going up against crocodiles sucessfully. While the average man might lose against the wolf, I would be inclined to bet on a man (or woman, for that matter - the 18/00 argument raises its ugly head?) in good physical condition and with a knowledge of hand-to-hand combat.
The larger agressive mammals, I doubt it. A lion, perhaps, although my money would be on the lion in that case. A bear, no. A hippo - * laughs *.
Let’s say the real man is Chuck Norris, Someone who knows how to use his feet and maintain his balance. Slash and retreat is going to have it’s own problems if it can’t get past the guarding big boot of Chuck.
I think in this match, since the wolf is a natural-born predator, it would be only fair to stipulate that we use a non-sissy-man, someone who has at least a little experience in rough-housing/wresting/bar-fighting.
With that stipulation, I think you’d be looking at a draw with the man injured more than the wolf. A man with fighting smarts would be able to avoid the most damaging attacks and put up enough resistance that the wolf would give up and move elsewhere (wolves are pack hunters that go for weaker targets).
Now if it’s a cage match with a hungry wolf that does not have the option of moving on to easier prey, all bets are off.
Please don’t think this is a sick experiment because I was very gentle and we wrestle all the time. I have a giant samoyed (that isn’t a breed, he is just bigger than Samoyeds are supposed to be at 100 pounds). Samoyeds are hardy sled dogs that are very powerful and are more directly related to wolves than most dogs. They were only introduced to the West from the remote Siberian Samoyed people about 1900.
Like I said, he is a sweetheart but he likes to do full fledged wrestling with me. He is about as big and at least as powerful as the average wolf. I got him into a wrestling match and was easily able to pin him by grabbing him around the neck, therefore controlling his head, and then using body weight to pin the rest of his body. I am sure that I could kill him by choking him.
I weigh 205 pounds and have big hands so it wasn’t a problem. Powerful dogs are strong but male people have a large weight advantage and a much greater range of movement. I even put him in a headlock and that is an easy move. All they can do is try to turn and bite but it is easy to restrict their movement.
I doubt that a wolf is going to keep it up once they are defeated. They understand dominance and will eventually submit. My vote is on the person as long as it is a single wolf and the person uses effective offense rather than defense.
Sure, someone with martial arts training or other special skills would have more of a chance. Otherwise, those better be pretty big boots - and I think that would qualify as a weapon of sorts.
The OP did specify a “fight to the death;” allowing a draw changes the specifications of the match.
I used to own a timber wolf-malamute hybrid. I’m above average in size (6’4" and 250 pounds), but I don’t think I’d stand much chance unarmed against a 120 pound wolf. Not only is he faster and very strong, but those canine teeth of his were a full inch long! The lunge and slash attack could perhaps be fought off with good enough boots and gloves, but woudn’t those count as weapons (or at least armor)?
A lion? Have you ever seen video of a mountain lion going against a dog? A pack of dogs can take one, but one-on-one, that kitty’s got teeth and 18 nasty claws. I don’t think there’s a human alive that could take a full-grown mountain lion in unarmed combat without armor or heavy protective gear. Now triple or quadruple the size of that cougar and you have an African lion. Just give it up.