DarylS
(.700 member)
20/10/25 02:49 AM
Re: A discussion on the differences between wolves and dogs

I'm no wolf expert, first of all but I do have "some" experience with ours, not with the smaller Alaskan wolf, nor the quite likely now-extinct smaller brush wolves of Yellowstone. Those were about the size of large German Shepherds, maybe 90 to 100lbs tops. The Alaskan wolves, a big one will run 145, according to a friend who's dad was trapping them up there.

Back in the 80's biologist said the males sold to the US Gvt and let go in Yellowstone were about 180lbs.
4 wolves very easily pull down a full grown, trophy size bull moose. 3 hold it down, while one feeds at a time. When it's dead, they will just go catch another, if in an area where they are plentiful. The hunt and grab is the "big deal".
These wolves were found to have meat caches on Francois lake, about 2-3 hours West of where I live, during the winter, on the ice. Doug Klinkinbeard, taxidermist from Smithers, (snow) skied quite a lot of the lake back in the 70's and saw there were moose meat caches on the South lake shore, on the ice, every 100 or so yards. This, he related to me, back then, about 1977, 78 or 79.
Here around P.G., they have decimated the moose and elk population, along with the deer of course. Around here due to hunters, they hunt mainly at night and hole up during the day. It is illegal to hunt at night, here.
The way I understand the breeding, is as long as the alpha female can keep (brow-beat, apparently) the other females in the pack from going into estrus, she is the only one that does that and breeds. If there is plentiful food, she loses this ability and all or some other females in the pack will get bred. They will then leave the pack with a male, have the pups and those will start a new pack. That is how they spread. When a pack is small, they will allow lone wolves to join, but usually only females, I think, as any male is a direct threat to the alpha male.
The initial 80 B.C. Grey wolves sold to the USA Gvt. for the "Re-Introduction of the Grey Wolf to Yellowstone" now number way over 3 to 5,000 and are spread from Northern California to Michigan. They migrate as noted.
That is what they do.
Peaks and valleys. That is nature. In the wild, with large ungulate populations, the wolf numbers grow exponentially. When the ungulate population is reduced to the point of not enough food for the growing wolf population, the wolf population is reduced by starvation and by those moving from the pack to 'greener' pastures. This is what happened to the huge Spatzizi wolf population. They moved down the Stikine and Skeena drainages, all the way to the Bulkley Valley, which runs East and West. Moose, goats and sheep fed them on this journey until they hit the valley. There, there were humans with beef and horses to feed them. They split at Kispiox, travelling West to Terrace and to right here, over several years.
Poisoning is the only effective way of reducing their numbers. This was done back in the 1950's, wholesale poisoning of 'baits'. Cattle and horses were butchered, lace with Arsenic but not likely 10-80, and set out for the wolves. Lots were killed, yes. A local Smithers trapper told me back in the late 1970's that the wolves smartened "right quick" and wouldn't even walk over a sled (dog sled or snowmobile) track, but would clear it by at least 6' on each side, they became so afraid of "man".
Here in the 90's, the local guide and trapper associations offered $500.00 bounty per wolf, but went broke fairly quickly as I understand the situation.
Brief summary of what I know about this animal. BTW- the poisoning program of the 1950's, only subdued them for 20years. They are like a plague that keeps coming back.
I know nothing of Spanish wolves.



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