Wolf Killed with Pellet Rifle in Minnesota

AmmoLand ^ | December 1, 2025 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

In the winter of 2014, an adult female wolf was found dead in northern Minnesota, on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation. When the necropsy was performed, the cause of death was determined to be from a single wound from an ordinary pellet gun. Described as “low powered”, the pellet was almost certainly either .177 or .22 caliber.  Although this incident occurred in 2014, I only learned of it this year. Ordinary pellet guns have been powerful enough to kill humans and even a black bear.

The wolf was a lone female who had been driven out of the pack on Isle Royale. It had a radio collar as part of the Isle Royale study. Researchers said the wolf had almost been killed twice, in fights with another female wolf, presumably, to keep her out of the pack. During the winter, ice had allowed the wolf to reach the mainland, 18 miles from Isle Royale.

It was suspected that the wolf was shot not far from where it was found on the Indian Reservation. Investigators speculated the shot was intended to drive the wolf away, rather than to kill it. The pellet entered between two ribs and punctured an artery, leading to death. The Isle Royal pack was on the edge of extinction, with only eight members left in 2014. It was reduced to one animal by 2019. The moose population was also down, as it had nearly eliminated aspen on the island, subsisting on the far less nutritious balsam pine.

The wolf probably weighed about 70 lbs. Wolves are not particularly hard to kill. A .22 rimfire in the same area would have easily penetrated wolf ribs if the bullet encountered them, causing serious bleeding in the thoracic cavity. Death usually occurs within minutes.

[Paal Gulli]

"I don’t think a .22 is considered a 'pellet'"

Spend much time in the airgun world and you'll find that .30-cal+ airguns are quite common in places where firearms are heavily restricted. YouTube has tons of videos from enthusiasts blasting pigeons and such such from 200 yards with big-bore PCP guns.

That's without getting into Dennis Quackenbush,* who builds air rifles up to .50-cal, and which have been used to take American buffalo, black bear and African plains game.

http://www.quackenbushairguns.com/index.htm

* No, he didn't get his name from a Groucho Marx character. In fact he is distant relation to H.M. Quackenbush, who built airguns in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Quackenbush

[Paal Gulli]

"ICYMI Lewis and Clark took along air rifles to 3xplore the north west territory, and that’s how they survived."

They were Girandoni air rifles, which became their primary meat-getters because they were quieter, didn't leave a tell-tale gunpowder smell, and didn't delete their precious stockpile of black powder.

Thomas Jefferson owned a Girandoni, and he made sure Lewis & Clark had two.

For a time, the Girandoni was the primary infantry weapon of the Austrian Army. You could reload it from the prone position (until the air charge ran out) and was impervious to rain, so it had some material advantages over a black powder flintlock.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girardoni_air_rifle

[Paal Gulli]

"...Very low powered BB guns...

Girandonis fired a ball from (roughly) 150 to 200 grains at about 800 fps. So power-wise, it was neck-and-neck with a standard velocity .38 Special.

Which is A TON more power than a "very low powered BB guns."

[NorthMountain]

It would be nice if folks would read an entire post before responding to it.

Oh, well ...

People around here (too many of them, anyway) are too damn dumb to read an article before making a knee-jerk response to the headline.

[ETCM]

I have a fine little pellet gun collection. My favorites are my Crosman 600 pistols. They are .22 and are quite accurate and hard hitting!

I have my late father's Crossman 600. Unfortunately, the seals are shot, and it dumps Co2 as soon as you pierce the cylinder. He was on a shooting team, and used the 600 to practice in the backyard. I really need to either fix it myself or send it off for repair.

[Max in Utah]

I have a .22 cal. pellet rifle, a U.S.-made Benjamin Marauder. It has slightly less power than a .22 Short round, with a muzzle velocity of about 850-900 feet per second and a projectile weight of about 20 grains. Small but potentially deadly... you should be just as careful with airguns as you would with a firearm.

[Bartholomew Roberts]

That’s a shame.

One of mine was sent out to Crosman in the late 1970s to have the seals redone. Still have all the correspondence from that in the box.

The other just keeps on working fine!

They are still in business!

Maybe Crosman will still service the 600! Worth a try!

[TheThirdRuffian]

I believe it’s the early model of the air ordinance SMG .22. I’m not at home or I’d go look.

I was looking on line to send you a link and they still have them where you can use co2, Nitro, or compressed air to run it but it looks like they throttled the velocity down to 650fps to qualify to sell in Canada.

Mine is the older one at 1150fps. You can still buy the used ones, but they’re expensive. Look to be $3k. I paid $650 or something like that. More than 500 and less than $1k, anyway.

There’s a little tool and you just shake the pellets in and then press them into the belt. Takes about 5 minutes to load 300 which is what fits in the magazine.

I know it’s just a pellet gun, but shooting 300 .22 rounds into someone sure as hell would kill them.

[Getready]

Haven’t checked but there has to be a rechargeable electrical portable compressor that one can use in the field. Or an apparatus that allows multiple co2 canisters to recharge the guns compressed air reservoir. I’ve seen commercials on tv for portable air pressure tools that look like a cheap drill hooked up to a device which compresses air to refill a flat tire.
If not...someone could easily invent one. IMHO

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Well, we were talking about Lewis and Clark’s air rifles, not modern pre-charged pneumatic (PCP) guns, so they didn’t have portable rechargeable electric anything. There are hand pumps that will get modern PCPs up to pressure, but it’s a lot of work. Those tire-inflators won’t do you any good at all, since PCP reservoir pressures go into the thousands of psi.

[Omnivore-Dan]

It’s much leaner and better for you. There are so many deer where we live, I could eat venison several times a week, and I am going to start shooting some again, since the price of beef is crazy.

[Freedom4US]

Why would they want to do that?? The pioneers and settlers went to a lot of trouble to get rid of them

[gundog]

Have you seen the videos by the guy that hunts deer and black bear with one of those blowguns you find at flea markets, and gun shows?

[GenXPolymath]

“In Texas it isn’t classified as a firearm though we do have numerous laws concerning their usage.”

Correct, PCP air rifles are the only legal rifle you can now shoot in Texas river beds since firearm rifles were banned for rich land holders of the upper part of the cut banks. Shotguns with shot not slugs still legal too. The Red River has hogs and deer in the flood plains everywhere , turkeys too. You also cannot shoot arrows in river beds anymore either. What they really wanted to do was ban hunting but they are prohibited by an an amendment from an outright ban on public lands so the corrupt legislature passed as much of a ban as they could.

45 and 50 cal 3000+ psi PCP rifles shoot 220+ gr bullets with the energy of a 357 magnum they will kill grizzly bear or black bear , deer are easy peasy.

Most Texas municipalities prohibit projectile weapons from being fired inside city limits this means by any means air, bow string or gun powder if it’s a projectile it’s banned usually a class B misdemeanor charge. Frisco for sure as I have lived in the past and had issues with shooting a 177 or 22 cal air rifle at squirrels eating the wires under the truck hood.... Melissa and Anna too this is why I only do unincorporated lands now, F HOA and F municipalities.

https://www.cabelas.com/l/pcp-guns

Some good ones at the big C.

Airbows can be used in archery season except in like 4 North Texas counties where only disabled people can use anything other than a traditional bow. You can get combo rifles that shoot full sized arrows way faster than any bow can, and still shoot 50 caliber lead bullets too.

https://www.airgundepot.com/sam-yang-dragon-claw-air-rifle-twang-n-bang-combo.html

Or just shoot as arrows for half the cost.

https://www.budk.com/Umarex-AirSaber-Arrow-Rifle-Airgun-With-Scope-Toug-49057/49057.html

This is a great gator getter and airbow combo.

https://alligatorhuntinggear.com/product/air-bow-full-kit/

I mean if you gonna use pressurized air.... Cook dem hogs!

https://www.budk.com/Pulsefire-Long-Range-Torch-Flame-Thrower-Shoots-Fl-51411/51411.html

[philman_36]

I have a .177 caliber break barrel Gamo air rifle for small game myself. I looked up the the laws just to be sure I knew them. Even though I'm pretty rural I'm still in town and can't shoot anything in my own yard...which would be useful for varmit elimination and squirrels for eating.

It is what it is. I can hike or bike about one mile and be out of city limits if I really want to hunt.

[Omnivore-Dan]

The same reason why they re-introduced them into some north western states. They didn’t know what they were doing. They thought it would keep the deer population down and other animals under control as well. Now there are too many of them.