>>2280930If they operate like coyotes, they likely don't have a firm alpha. Coyotes form into larger mostly non- hierarch packs when food becomes so scarce that larger numbers are needed to take down prey that a lone coyote or a small pack couldn't handle itself.
A lot of the fatal wolf attacks on humans seem to have occurred at times of great scarcity when the wolves seemed half crazed with hunger. That's why the victims could kill over a dozen wolves and still not drive them off. They don't have social cohesion. They are behaving more like a swarm of locusts than a ordered pack.
In 2009 a small female Canadian county singer was the only adult ever known to be killed by coyotes. The coyotes were so aggressive that her would-be rescuers had trouble driving them away from her.
The largest male there was 42 pounds. It's not a stretch to think that a dozen or more 110 pound wolves could be more than a match for an armed and stout hearted mountain man.
