Wolf vs Man?

Factual Questions
41

Im assuming that we are being fair here…a naked wolf, so of course a naked man.

That means not only do I have to protect my face/throat, I also have to protect my genitals. Wolfs are smart enough to recognize that a human will protect reproductive organs, they know what they are for, lets face it.

Im 140 pounds, 6’1’’…at 7% body fat. I have weightlifted alot, and would say im in really good shape…but the fact is that no matter how strong, that wolf has teeth like razors, and can move at speeds I can barely comprehend.

I think what I would do is turn tail and run in the opposite direction as hard as I could, until the wolf had almost caught me, then drop to all fours and kick backwards as hard as I could, breaking or severely injuring the wolf. From there is just a matter of carefuly places blows.

The key here is that the momentum of the wolf will prevent it from stopping in time.

42

Is the question if any man could kick a wolf’s ass or just at typical man? I am sure that some people could do it. Some people can wrestle full grown alligators without a problem.

First I think you would have trouble getting a wolf to fight you one on one anyway so I would guess it has to be rabid or injured or this has to be a forced cage match.

I am pretty sure that a large man is stronger than a wolf in almost every way except for the power of the jaws, he weighs more, and has more flexibility, greater range of motion, and more ways to attach.

People say that large breed dogs aren’t the same as wolves and that is true to some degree but the strength isn’t goin to be that much different. I had to imobilize my 100 pound Samoyed at the vet’s office once while he has getting treatment and I completely immobolized him. He is a wolf-derived dog that is built for strength yet I have 100 pounds on him and my arms and legs can be used for some basic wrestling moves. He tripped to turn and nip but I simply covered him completely while wrapping all my limbs as needed and used my hands to control is neck and my thumbs to force his mouth closed from the bottom.

I have had to do similar things with Alaskan Malamutes, German Shephards, and Chows. Their build and strength isn’t that much different than a wolf. The only difference is instinct but I would plan on immobilizing them in a few seconds anyway so that wouldn’t come into play.

The key to beating a wolf if to use offense instead of defense. That way he can’t use any slash and retreat methods. You just have to be quick and make a headlock move while wrapping your legs around him and throwing your weight on top. Keep the head controlled and you are all set. You can do whatever you like at that point including killing it by strangulation.

I have had to deal with enough psycho large breed dogs in my day to know that you just can’t be shy with them and you have to do what you want quickly. Large men have lots of advantages over them.

43

I would also like to add that in our house we have a Pomeranian. He is a small dog, cant be more then 8 pounds, and if that sonuvabitch goes for your foot, its hamburger. You don’t have enough time to pull your foot away before he wraps his front paws around it, and within a second’s time he has successfuly bitten you 5-10 times depending on how much you’ve iritated him. This dog can cause stiches-neccessary bites. Scale this up a bit for the wolf…roughly 15 times as much.

44

Yeah, I belong to a wolf fighting club, we go to the woods every Tuesday at 7:00, and rough up the local wolves.

45

The first rule about Wolf Fighting Club is that you do not talk about Wolf Fighting Club.

The second rule about Wolf Fighting Club is that you do not talk about Wolf Fighting Club.

The third rule about Wolf Fighting Club is that if this is your first night, you have to fight. Nekkid.

flees :stuck_out_tongue:

46

The OP states average guy vs average wolf. A 200 lbs kung-fu expert is not what we are talking about. The average guy has no combat training, and virtually no combat experience (maybe a couple fights during childhood?). I would even say something simple like knowledge of the “fist down the throat” trick could not fairly be ascribed to the average man. The average guy is basically going to have to get a shot at choking the wolf to win.

The average wolf has combat experience, although in the case of comabat against larger mammals probably experience in pack hunting only (wolves may hunt small prey individually). One can reasonably assume something along the lines of slash and retreat would be applied by the wolf.

So the question is would the guy be able to choke the wolf before he bleeds to death and/or gets his throat eaten. Depends on environemnt and circumstances.

Unfortunately the OP does not state circumstances or environemnt.

Presumably we are talking combat with no preparation - random wolf meet random guy, ok, lets get it on.

If we are talking about an enclosed area small enough (small cage/cell) where the retreat portion of the wolf’s attack is negated then the average guy could pull it out just by being able to close with the wolf, definitely getting fucked up in the process, but ultimately size, brain and opposable thumbs could win.

If it is an enclosed area large enough that the wolf can take shots at the guy and keep away from those opposable thumbs then it has to go to the wolf. If an animal is fast enough that the only time you “touch” it is when it is biting off your fingers then yer screwed. I am not an animal expert but it seems reasonable to state that a wolf is in the “crazy fast” category of animals.

If we are talking out in the woods and the guy can collect a whole bunch of rocks and sit in a tree then thats not really a fight is it?

All in all I would say most cases go to the wolf unless it is forced by proximity to a stand up fight, even then it is not a for sure for the human, you get your femoral artery cut and you are not going to be grappling for long.

I would have to agree with the posters stating you can not draw on experiences with domestic dogs as a case FOR a human beating a wolf. I can pull my lab mutts jaws apart with my hands no sweat, with my friends pit bull mutt (BTW 30 lbs lighter than my dog) its like trying to pry apart a C clamp, and those are both domestic dogs (granted pit bull was bred for jaw strength, but what do you think natural slection is doing for wolves jaws?). The point being that the range of physical attributes, even among domestic dogs, is so great that being able to handle a “wolf sized” dog has very little to do with handling an actual wild wolf.

Someone had made point about a hunter gatherer type man going toe to toe with a wolf would have a better chance, I would have to agree, but at that point we are 8 layers deep in the debate about which no one has any real knowledge. I think 7 layers is the legal limit before someone says “wtf this is dumb”.

47

When I was hiking in a area that had mountain lions I did some research on them. Basically it boiled down to:
A: A man could win a fight with a lion IF he saw it coming (unlikely),
B: protected against attacts to the back of the neck and the rear paw ‘rake’.
C: Never gave up
D: willing to take massive dammage.

It also mentioned that a cat could take down a wolf, but, and this seems rather recently, wolf packs have been known to take down cats.

So if a man can take down a cat, and a cat can take down a wolf, could a man take down a wolf?

I know it is not a logical statement, as they have different fighting methods, but then again if you had to go up against one of them which one would you chose?

48

Even if a wolf did get to clamp onto your neck, wouldn’t this put him close enough to you to gouge out his eyes, or rip his throat apart with your hands?

49

If it’s the average man vs the average wolf, my money would be on the wolf – for the remainder of the fight.

However, wild predators need to be in top shape or they can’t hunt and survive. I’d give good odds that the human would be able to injure the wolf beyond its ability to hunt. This is why wolves rarely if ever attack humans in the wild.

50

Wolf easy. If I get my hands on a wolf I can choke him, if I get my hands on a lion he rips my stomach open with his claws.

51

As has been pointed out, wolves hunt in packs and man isn’t their natural prey. If they’re so good at killing people, you’d think they’d have a taste for it after thousands (millions?) of years of co-existence. By now, humans should resemble 175 pounds of walking ham to the local solo wolf. But it isn’t so.

Wolves are pack fighters that go for hapless prey animals by preference, of which man is not one. Bite and retreat, which I understand to be more of a fighting rather than hunting technique, works fine on bears and such, assuming that the rest of the pack is distracting your target while you make a run on its hindquarters. I’ve seen pictures of it being used by sled dogs, and nothing suggests that it’s for use by a solo animal facing off against an opponent that’s facing the wolf, with double the weight and far superior reach.

I’ll pick the man so long as he doesn’t panic and run, or otherwise lose his head.

52

Well my .02 worth

Everyone seems to be aiming for choking out the wolf but the fist thing that occurred to me when I read the OP was that if I can get a good grip on the wolf in question I would probably try to pin it down and basically try to bear all my weight down on one knee somewhere on the torso, an average human adult male should be heavy enough to break mutiple ribs or possibly seperate vertebra on the wolf. It would also require less accuracy and or taregeting of an area close to the wolfs primary weapons. With broken ribs and or possibly a punctured lung, mr wolf is going to lose alot of its speed and ability to exert serious force for any real period of time.

53

And I can trim the claws on my housecat without getting hurt, so I’m sure I could do the same with a bobcat or a lynx. Sheesh.

You’re kidding, right? I’ll repeat my question: have you ever been up close and personal with a wolf? Have you ever seen one catch a running deer or rip a dead animal to pieces? You really think you’re fast enough to kick a wolf without having it grab your foot in its jaws and shred it? These animals are very fast, their jaws are extremely strong, and their teeth are big and sharp. And, as several people have pointed out, they don’t always go right for the neck. If he can hamstring you, you’re toast.

And you also said you’d just grab the wolf and immobilize it. Sure, it’s easy to get a grip on a dog that’s playing and trying not to hurt you, but just try to grab a wolf in battle. Have you ever tried to grab a limber animal that doesn’t want to be grabbed? I’ve been attacked by agressive sheep (rams) and goats (bucks) and it’s quite difficult to get hold of them unless you can grab their horns. And they’re not much bigger than a wolf. In fact, if you’re that good at grabbing animals that don’t want to be grabbed, you can come help out at a branding. You could show the cowboys how to catch a calf without roping it!

I’d go with the wolf in a heartbeat. A cougar’s claws are nasty weapons, and we don’t have a thick fur coat to protect ourselves from them. I’ve gotten some pretty nasty bites and scratches from 15-pound domestic cats, and it’s very difficult to outmaneuver them. I can’t even imagine trying to fight a 200-pound lion barehanded.

54

The weight for the cat IIRC is 80-100 lbs, which is your biggest advantage as they have a simular power to weight ratio as man has. Then again part of what I found out is if you are hiking in cat country don’t worry because most of the time you won’t know what is happening till it’s too late, and for the time that you actually see the cat you won’t have enough time to do anything anyway.

55

I’ll start with a personal observation that the nature center in our town has two male cougars. One is 220 pounds and the other is 240 pounds. Now for some more authoritative cites:

According to the San Diego Zoo:

According to the Colorado Division of Wildlife:

And, per Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks:

I found other cites listing even higher weights. My reference books are all at home, so if you’d like to continue to argue that point, let me know and I’ll give you some print cites as well.

56

Perhaps that was kg then, thanks InvisibleWombat

57

Whats with the attitude?

58

Sorry, Treis. Didn’t mean to sound snotty. It’s just that I found your statement amazing. A domestic dog half the size of a wolf can cause some very serious damage without getting anywhere close to your neck. How could you believe that a wolf can’t?

59

The problem with the grab-and-strangle technique is that the wolf is going to be fighting to the death while your hands are inches from its teeth. We’re talking kicking, lunging, wildly wiggling, snapping, growling and basically doing anything to get its teeth on your wrists. It will be fighting at 78 rpm compared to your 16.

My guess on the best defense would be a hail-Mary, full-force kick directly in the sternum as the wolf lunged at your throat. A hard-as-hell kick with boots might shatter ribs. Another possibility, grab its hind legs and start spinning. With luck, you’re 6’5" 300 lbs and can slam the dog against a tree or fence.

Still, average against average, my money’s on wolfie. Your average guy would panic and freeze. A wolf wouldn’t. Game, set, match.

60

Heh. [hijack]An AD&D reference? Yanno, that fantasy RPG that discriminated against women by penalising the Strength scores of all female characters right across the board, recognising that in a like-for-like comparison, women are way weaker than men? Oh wait, no it didn’t. :stuck_out_tongue: [/hijack]