So the story is that the guy took a wolf for a coyote and shot it because he was afraid . . . of a coyote? 

He shot it from 27 yards, according to the earlier story; with a rifle, that's not a snap shot exactly. I used to be able to sight in a scoped 10-22 offhand from 25 yards. But I had to breathe and draw a bead to squeeze off each round. 

A charging 80 pound canid at 27 yards? The guy must have been a pretty good shot. And what sort of inquest was it that decided on self-defense? Americans have weird ideas about wolves, very weird.