Chased by wolf pack while out on dogsled, Labrador man returns to hunt
From prey to predator, Guido Rich hunts down wolves that chased him
A Labrador man turned from prey to predator this week, when he tracked down and killed a group of wolves that chased him on his dogsled.
Guido Rich hunted the four animals — 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 five wolves.- Guido Rich
Rich says 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's Labrador Morning.
He outran the wolfpack into Rigolet, and went and picked up his friend and their gun. Rich and his friend returned to the trail, and found the pack close to the community.
That's when Rich started firing, killing two of the animals and pushing the others into the woods.
The next morning, Rich went 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, Rich found 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 five wolves," he said. "I was more afraid for the dogs than myself."
Rich said he never had a wolf encounter 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."
With files from Labrador Morning