The ranchers think any number of wolves is too high; the environmental groups think the proposed number of breeding pairs is too low. It seems to me that WDFW is trying to thread the needle and come up with a compromise that is reasonable, considering the state's human population, the amount of wilderness and near-wilderness habitat, and the resource base necessary to sustain wolves.

As for coming face to face with wolves in the back country, I did just that in Yellowstone a few years ago. A couple friends and I had spent quite a bit of time "wolf watching" in the Lamar valley where the initial packs were re-introduced. Then we went hiking up a ridge trail west of there, then went off trail and found hundreds of shed elk antlers. We came on a bouldery promontory and noticed that it stunk badly of urine as we saw five wolves wandering away from us down the hill slope. I think we stumbled on their day bed area. What was interesting is that they strung themselves out in a line up a hill slightly to our right, maybe one hundred feet apart, and layed down. We sat on the boulders, where I think they had been, and watched them for over an hour as they watched us.

The lowermost wolf on the hill was near an established game trail. A large bull bison came along with not a care in the world. He completely ignored the wolves, and by all appearances they ignored him as he trundled along on his way. This was in the late spring when there were a lot of fresh elk and bison calves that has just been born.

We saw a fresh cow elk that had been killed in the Lamar. Wolves ate it, coyotes, bears, and numerous birds all scavaged it. In three days it was gone. I mean gone down to just a few of the bones and a bit of hide. My friend and I hiked over there, and I took photos of what remained. The elk fed a lot of critters. We didn't linger there because a grizzly sow with one cub lived in that general area. We'd seen them a few times.

The upshot is that there is only one instance, and a recent one at that, where wolves have been known to attack and kill a human. And as long as you don't encounter a pack when it's actively hunting, you have nothing to fear from them, and probably not even if they are. But who wants to find out?

Sg