Oops! A wolf! - Try just walking away

[JAFO]

Yesterday I had the mind-blowing experience of walking almost the entire length of Milton, a town of passable size, with a very suspicious wolf trailing just a few metres behind me the whole way. He really sounded right on my heels, and the deep growls and snarls he was making were communicating 'WTF are you doing on my turf?' and 'I'm pretty sure I don't like you' in equal measure. Hairs were standing up on the back of my neck, and chills were running up and down my spine. Literally. I kept muttering 'holy shit.. holy shit.. holy shit..' over and over. The term freaked out doesn't do it justice.

When I reached Grey Mother's place, he followed me up onto the verandah, and halfway around the house right up until I opened the door and went inside. Untouched. I spent the next few minutes coming to grips with what had just happened. It wasn't the first time I'd had this experience in Wintermute, but it was by far the closest a wolf had been to me, and far more intense for that reason.

The TLD old-timers used to talk about doing this, but somewhere over the years, as most of the old-timers dropped away from the board, it never got talked about much anymore. I had vague recollections of people talking about walking away, but it was witnessing it happening in a recent Youtube video that brought home what an amazing tool it is for dealing with unexpected wolves.

The advice used to go, "If you suddenly find yourself confronting a wolf, just turn around, and walk away. Do not make eye-contact with the wolf. Do not run, and do not look back. Just keep walking. After a while, you'll draw him far enough away from his usual turf that he'll give up, and wander back home." (Or you'll reach a building, like I did.)

That advice still works. By the time I'd spent 2 days in Milton, I'd already done just this twice already, once in town, and once out of town. But nothing had prepared me for round 3. I was sure I was gonna get chomped any second, for most of that walk.

If you've never done this, give it a shot.. it takes strong nerves, but it works!*

* Of course, if you happen to be out on the ice in FM and encounter a wolf, a quick prayer to Randomious Factoria, the Goddess of Fate, wouldn't go astray either!

[IsVaz]

I wish i knew this befor. One time i had to move to my base but i was carrying lots of things so i was unable to run. I was going down a little hill and i heard the bark of a wolf and i look around i couldn't spot it. After that i saw it strafing at me i light up a torch and tried to scare him but it didn't work, so i was walking away and also i felt that i walked to long with this animal, but the mistake i did was that i looked back, lighted a flare and trying to scape, (for that moment i was able to run because i dropped some things after trying to scare him the first time), but that thing just made it came closer to attack me. So what you say seems legit, if the wolf was sure to attack me it would do that when i spotted it.

[LucidFugue]

I thought this was common knowledge. They will close distance at a reasonable pace until they are close enough to charge. Your walking speed is actually faster than theirs ,so you can get to safety reasonably well. I look back frequently as I have been pounced on from behind before.

If you manage to break line of sight, you can sprint. Get enough distance and they'll lose you completely. Otherwise, just walk to shelter.

 

[JAFO]

On 05/08/2017 at 2:21 PM, LucidFugue said:

I thought this was common knowledge.

That's the thing.. a lot of newcomers don't know about it, and the ones that do know, think everyone knows that, so they hardly ever talk about it..

[JAFO]

On 05/08/2017 at 2:21 PM, LucidFugue said:

Your walking speed is actually faster than theirs

So long as you're not too tired and/or overburdened, of course.. 

That's why the one in my tale above was breathing down my neck for a couple hundred metres or more.. it was the end of the day, and I was all looted-up. He was only a few metres away from me all that way, but he never charged. And I think that was because I never once looked back.

[LucidFugue]

Strange. I find whenever I take my eyes off them is when they suddenly get much much closer. Like this: 

 

[Monsarona]

I know its irrational but I have such a phobia of the wolves.

I get almost full body shakes when I know one is stalking me. It is so hard not to run.