Part 5

Dec. 18, 1968--Chased by loggers with axes

Dec. 25, 1968--Almost shot by trapper who saw collar and withheld fire

Jan. 5, 1969--Returned to Area A

Jan. 13, 1969--"Bumped" twice on logging road by loggers in auto but no apparent injury

Feb. 4, 1969--Moved to Area C

Feb. 26, 1969--Began long-range southwest movement considered to be dispersal

Mar. 14, 1969--Seen feeding on old carcass within 200 yards of houses, dogs, and a man walking

Mar. 27, 1969--Chased two deer across 4-lane State highway 53

Apr. 3, 1969--Found with another wolf at point farthest south in his range

Apr. 24, 1969--Last contact with this animal; was seen traveling NW

Wolf 1053.--This wolf was basically a scavenger who subsisted for long periods on the remains of old carcasses. She was known to have visited the remains of at least four deer and three moose, and she stayed near one moose carcass from February 8 to 20, at least during the day. Between her date of capture, December 10, and February 28, 1053 traveled about in an area of 31 square miles in the Arrow Lake-Maniwaki Lake region (fig. 21).

Between February 28 and March 6 she suddenly moved 13 miles to the east-southeast near the Sawbill Trail, and during the next week she traveled a straight line distance of 24 miles southwest to a point southeast of the town of Isabella. Her subsequent travels eventually took her over a much larger area. Before February 28, 1053's average weekly straight line distance was 2 miles, but after that date it increased to 11 miles.

Wolf 1055.--The range of this animal from January 5, when she was captured, to February 23 covered about 40 square miles near Stony Lake, Slate Lake, and the Jack Pine Lookout Tower (fig. 22), and her mean weekly distance was 4 miles. Between February 23 and 24, however, she traveled 13 miles northeastward, the beginning of a series of long moves. By March 5, 1055 had reached Crescent Lake, a point 39 miles east-northeast of her previous area of intensive use. She then gradually headed back toward the west and south during the next 10 days and within the next month repeated this pattern. When her signal was heard last on May 30, 1055 was near Martin Landing in the center of her range. Her mean net weekly distance after February 23 had increased to 22 miles.

Wolf 1057.--The movements of 1057 cannot be considered normal because freezing of a front foot prevented her accompanying the pack of which she was a member. Nevertheless, even data from an abnormal animal can provide some information. On January 13, 5 days after capture and release on Red Rock Lake, 1057 was located 4 miles from the capture point with a pack of 10 other wolves. She was limping and fell behind when they moved. Five days later she was again seen with the pack 12 miles away between Knife Lake and Kekekabic Lake. She then remained in about 14 square miles of that general area through April 17 (fig. 23).

Suddenly on April 24, 1057 was found in Ontario some 31 miles northeast of her location of the previous week. That was the last time we heard her signal even though on May 2 we scanned an area with a radius of 35 miles from her last known location and listened for her signal during every subsequent flight.

Wolf 1059.--This animal was a member of a pack of three to five wolves (see next section). The movements of the group varied little and were concentrated in the August Lake, Omaday Lake, and Keeley Creek area in about 43 square miles (fig. 24). Contrary to animals 1051, 1053, and 1055, this pack did not suddenly begin a series of longer weekly movements in late February. Both before and after February 28, the average weekly straight line movement of the pack was just less than 3 miles.

Probably these animals did begin traveling more in late February, for their net daily distances did increase at that time along with those of the other wolves (table 4). However, the increased travel took place within the restricted area of the pack's usual range rather than in new areas as occurred with the other wolves.

Because 1059 was later found to have bred and carried five fetuses, her movements during whelping season (late April and early May) are of interest. Her locations on both April 24 and May 2 were within 250 yards of each other, which might indicate that she was denning. On May 9, however, she was 2.5 miles east of these locations, on the 17th and 21st was 2 miles west of them, and on the 30th was 3 miles north of them.

In early January 1970, Wolf 1059 was killed by a trapper in the southeast corner of her pack's 1969 range.

Summer locations.--Signals from only 1053 and 1059 were heard during summer, and then tracking attempts were made only on June 28, July 29, and August 29. Locations for 1053 on those occasions were near Kelly Landing and Isabella Lake, within her previous range. Wolf 1059 was found each time within 2 miles outside of the southwest corner of the pack's winter and spring range.

Wolf Associations, Social Behavior, and Reproduction

In our study area, population units of wolves exist as both single animals (lone wolves) and packs. In a total of 77 observations, lone wolves constituted 32 percent of the sightings (fig. 25), with packs of from 2 to 13 members making up the remainder (Table 1). On the basis of the number of wolves seen, rather than the number of observations, lone wolves accounted for only 25 (8 percent) out of 323.

These figures compare favorably with reports in the literature as summarized by Mech (1970). In five areas studied, lone wolves made up from 24 to 60 percent of the observations of population units, and from 8 to 28 percent of the wolves seen. In our study area during 1948 to 1953, lone wolves constituted 43 percent of the observations and 15 percent of the wolves (Stenlund 1955).

The average size of the population units observed during our study (total number of wolves seen divided by the number of observations) was 4.2, which is significantly larger (95 percent level) than the average seen in this area (2.8) from 1948 to 1953. This is also larger than that reported from any other area of comparable size (table 6).

Table 6.--Mean sizes of wolf population units reported from various areas

---------+------------+--------+------------+---------+--------------- | | |Mean size of| Largest | Authority Area |Observations| Wolves | population |pack size|calculated from | | | unit | | ---------+------------+--------+------------+---------+--------------- Number Number

Alaska 310 1,041 3.4 12 Kelly 1954 Alaska 1,268 4,823 3.8 21 R. A. Rausch Lapland 118 311 2.5 12 Pulliainen 1965 E. Finland 460 984 2.1 12 Pulliainen 1965 Minnesota 112 318 2.8 12 Stenlund 1955 Minnesota 77 323 4.2 13 Present study ----------------------------------------------------------------------

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