Wolves change hunting behavior for fall
By WHITNEY ROYSTER Star-Tribune environmental reporter
Monday, October 04, 2004

JACKSON -- This time of year, hunters are a wolf's best friend.

It's an unusual relationship, of course. Hunter cries have been among the loudest against Canis lupus, as both are often hunting the same prey.

But this time of year, hunters perhaps unknowingly help wolves by leaving gut piles and other offal in the woods -- a tasty treat for a hungry wolf.

"When human hunting season starts, our wolves in areas with hunting pressure pretty much stop killing big game," Ed Bangs, Rocky Mountain wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said. "There are so many gut piles or wounded but unretrieved animals they can pretty much stop hunting for themselves. Wolves are very good at finding dead stuff. If you can find a meal for free, why work?"

Bangs said wolves don't become habituated to humans the way some people argue grizzly bears do -- equating gun shots with a dinner bell.

"If you come up on a whole bunch of wolves on a kill and you yell, they will disperse," he said. "They're still avoiding people."

If avoiding people is a year-long trait, September and October mark different activities for the gray wolf. It's the time of year with the most livestock depredations. Wolves are looking to fatten up for the winter, and livestock may be an easier prey than wild animals, as those animals are in prime condition and can often out-maneuver a wolf.

Just this week, Mike Jimenez, Wyoming's wolf recovery coordinator, was coming out of the Dunoir area after responding to calls about livestock depredations.

"This time of year we get a peak of livestock problems," he said. "It's typical. We try to put out some spot fires."

Two wolves were recently killed out of the Washakie pack, for a total of six this year. Four wolves were removed from a pack in Cody, and eight were killed in a pack in the Green River area.

Jimenez said about 19 wolves have been killed this year in control actions.

Outside Yellowstone where there are about 13 wolf packs, there are nine breeding packs in northwest Wyoming. That puts Wyoming's wolf numbers around 80 to 85 wolves.

So where are wolves in early fall?

Wolves are typically skinnier than at other times because prey can be hard to catch, Bangs said.

"This is kind of a tough time for them," he said. "Some of the data indicates that wolves are a little nutritionally stressed this time of year, more so than in the spring when big game is not in as good shape. You can see weight decline and pups can actually starve to death in extreme cases."

Pups, born in the spring, now weigh 50 to 60 pounds and are becoming more mobile but are not yet skilled enough to hunt on their own.

"Think of them as 12-year-olds," Bangs said. "In a pack of four adults that has five pups, it means you have to feed not only yourself but the pups."

Adults are moving to rendezvous sites, and leaving pups there while they go hunt.

Pups will try to catch grasshoppers and mice, and will wrestle with each other to determine social pecking order.

Meanwhile, pups a year older -- coming up on one-and-a-half years -- are "like an 18-year-old," Bangs said.

"They are out on the prowl more," he said. "They are trying to find a job. Hunting, but not very successful. They are honing their skills."

These wolves typically disperse from the pack come November, becoming the "lone wolf," and will try to pair up with another to breed in mid-February.

And, while wolves are losing their summer pelt and pay looking "kind of ratty," Bangs said, they continue to patrol their roughly 400- square-mile territory.

"They do that to protect their turf from neighbors," he said.

That's why wolves don't camp out in the winter where elk or other animals are, he said.

"They need to patrol that boundary to keep out the competition," Bangs said. "The wolf world is very competitive among wolves. It's like what people did years ago."

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