You don't need a hoe or atgeir to deal with wolves. You don't even need a shield if you are skilled enough with a weapon of your choosing (in terms of both skill levels and actual player skill). You can use the terrain to your advantage without manipulating it. Mobs don't understand what tar is, and since the wolves are hostile to every plains creature out there, you can pit the foes against one another. You may also run to a fuling village and circle around it without endangering yourself too much. You can also use shallow water to slow down the short-stature enemies like wolves and fulings, and punish them afterward with frost weapons. Swords are very good against wolves since they don't have cleave penalty and their damage output is enough to stagger wolves. Axes will work in a pinch but will require more hits when cleaving. Even if you're still using an iron axe, it can be sufficient: It has lower stamina cost than higher end weapons but should still be able to stagger wolves.

If you are in mountains, you can find the nearest rock and either use it as safe spot or take advantage of the ledges and make the wolves chase around while you proceed to leave the area and possibly lead the pack into another biome where they will attack other creatures. You can also find a frost cave or other overworld structure to defend yourself in, though I'm not sure how events work when you enter a dungeon instance.

If you have a combat-ability Forsaken power at hand – and you always should have one equipped when you are adventuring – now is the time to activate it. Eikthyr or Biomass power will trivialize most random encounters and should be saved for situations like this.