Chased by wolf pack while out on dogsled, Labrador man returns to hunt

A Labradorman turned from prey to predator this week, when he tracked down and killed a group of wolves that chased him on his dogsled.

Guido Richhunted the fouranimals two on Wednesday night, and two more on Thursday morning after they chased him back into Rigolet.

I don't think my dogs would have had a chance against four or fivewolves.- Guido Rich

Richsays he was about 10 kilometres away from town with his dogsled Wednesday night, when he realized what he originally thought was nearby snowmobiles was actually a pack of wolves and they were headed in his direction.

"I was there bawling at my dogs and trying to get them running fast to get back to town," he told CBC Radio'sLabrador Morning.

He outran the wolfpackinto Rigolet, and went and picked up his friend and their gun. Richand his friend returned to the trail, and found the packclose to the community.

That's when Richstarted firing, killing two of the animals and pushing the others into the woods.

The next morning, Richwent out to the trail again to look for the surviving animals, who came too close to his home for comfort.

"I said it's just as well try to get them instead of running into an encounter with them again," he explained. "Either drive them away or get them, I figured."

On Thursday morning, Richfound two more of the animals and killed them.

Lessons learned

The experience gave him a bit of a fright, Rich said. Being alone with his dog sled, and without a gun, he said he worried for what was going to happen to his dogs.

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"I don't think my dogs would have had a chance against four or fivewolves," he said. "I was more afraid for the dogs than myself."

Richsaid he never had a wolfencounter like this before, but now promises he won't leave town without his gun again.

"I guess it was pretty close to fighting for my life," he said. "I should have had my gun then, but I wasn't thinking about wolves."