I feel like they are designed to be fearsome at the current point, and something to come back to when players have somewhat progressed into the next biome. Currently, I treat them with respect, especially when I can't split up the group. I kite them with the help of fire arrows and tall rocks ( but remember that they can stomp holes in the rocks if they feel so inclined), or I use Black Forest when available. It's not just the enemies that are helpful, but the dense forest also slows them way down. Letting them fight it out with tar pits also works out well.
With high-end food, highest padded armour, and porcupine, I dare go into melee with them, but dodge roll or parry is essential, and I'm not good enough at timing to reliably pull that off.

For resources, it's really best to tame and breed them, even if it takes forever.