Wolf

Wolves are a species of canine pack animal, found throughout North America at the time of Red Dead Redemption. Wolves are predators and scavengers, and will usually hunt in groups. Wolves are known to chase down their prey, relying on speed, agility and their ability to cooperate and separate their prey from other animals of the species. The player can encounter wolves in the wilderness and hunt them. Wolves may also prey on the player, their mount, and other NPCs. Players need to stay alert, as they will often attack from behind. Listen for them howling or barking in the background. Like Cougars, they are notorious for interrupting the player in the most uncalled for moments while he/she is in the middle of something.

They hunt in large groups (10+ wolves), so if a small pack (4-5 wolves) has been taken down then either move on quickly or get ready to take on another group of them. Wolves, unlike coyotes, are not afraid of gun fire, however, they may begin to run away if another wolf is killed; or if they are shot at.

Wolves are needed to be killed for Master Hunter: Rank 3: Kill 5 wolves with a knife and also need to kill Lobo the Wolf at Aurora Basin, for Master Hunter: Rank 10.

A pack of wolves can quickly dispatch a sleuth of Bears; this can be witnessed by getting a pack of wolves to chase the player, then running into a bear territory. When both are chasing the player, go full speed, and they should give up pursuit and attack each other. Watch on with binoculars or a sniper rifle. Return after to skin the animals for profit.

Location
Wolves are also found in abundance north of MacFarlane's Ranch and south of Armadillo. Be warned while hunting in Tall Trees. There are even more to be found south of Blackwater, near but not on, the river. A group of 15-20 wolves resides there.

Hunting Tips
Wolves are very fast, therefore a kill by gun fire can be difficult without Dead Eye. A substitute is using the Hunting Knife, wolves have low health and can easily be killed with several slices, be wary however, of how easily a wolf can drain a player's health. When a wolf latches onto a players arm, the player cannot fire until the beast is shaken off, and it only takes around 3 to 4 bites to kill a player. Usually when using the knife an entire pack attacking at once is not a problem, as wolves do not keep a constant speed with each other, so one will usually follow another, not them all attacking at once, a few quick stabs can easily kill off a wolf, and usually dispatch the wolf before another arrives.

Quick profit
For this trick, get some Bait, Medicine and Tobacco (Moonshine/Snake Oil/Tonic also helps). It is also useful to be near the Manteca Falls and Butter Bridge area. Having a horse deed means calling a new one if the wolves kill the horse.

To easily amass money find a spot where there are wolves, then drop down 2-3 baits. Kill and skin all animals that come into the area. After a relatively short time, there are Wolves howling. Using a combination of Dead Eye and rapid aim, shoot to kill as many of the incoming wolves as possible. They usually attack in packs of 3-6 animals. Not need to kill the whole pack at once - killing one or two, the rest will usually flee and come back later. Don't skin the wolves as this would leave you open to attacks.

Eventually, players end up with a spiraling effect where dead animals lures more packs, which leads to more dead wolves in the area, which leads to even more packs.

Trivia

 * The vast majority of Wolves featured in game have black fur which in real life typically indicates that they posses dog ancestry (see Black Wolf article from wikipedia for more information)
 * In game Wolves are quite fond of barking while in reality wolves only rarely bark and when they do this is usually when a wolf is startled or otherwise surprised.

Achievements
The player must kill a wolf to successfully complete the following achievement: