THE WOODSMANS’ KEEPER
“I heard a swift patter on the wet leaves behind me, and I looked over my shoulder to see what was coming.
“Standing less than 30 feet away was the largest caribou wolf I ever saw in my life. He was a shaggy, black, practical-looking beast with a head as wide as a packsaddle. In the gloom under the trees, his eyes glowed as green as switch lamps.
“I had a hunting knife and a .22 Colt automatic. At the moment there didn’t seem to be much choice between the two, so I drew the Colt and started shooting as fast as I could work the trigger. I ran through the clip of 10 cartridges in about 7 seconds.”
The demise of that wolf, as described by Russell Annabel, stuck with me. The article first appeared in the January 1933 issue of the long-defunct National Sportsman magazine. In Annabel’s articles about his Alaskan adventures, there are several in which he references a .22 pistol or revolver, prompting me to bookmark the mentions and adding to my belief of .22 handguns’ under-appreciated usefulness.
In addition to a similar wolf incident, titled “Wolves Look Better Dead,” (, September 1941), there was “Subject: .22 Handguns,” (, February 1967) in which Annabel relates a hair-raising tale of his pal, Billy No-Dogs, using his “.22
