NitroX,

The wolf is a highly sought after game animal up here in the Last Frontier. It is also an enigma,in that, while being a great game animal, the do-gooders and greenies have pushed through different legislation that extremely limits population control and, in many areas, the wolf has just hammered the moose and caribou populations to a point where hunting has become poor at best. Bear(black as well as brown) wreak havoc on the moose calf population each year and, I believe, that something will have to be done in the near future. I live in a moose wintering and spring calving area, on a salmon stream, and the bears are always around. We have at least two wolf packs in the area also.
Last season, one of the clients took a beautiful black wolf and we saw numerous others.(Brooks Range) While in the Brooks, the wolf scat was everywhere and full of white hair from the Dall sheep they feed on. We saw moose at 3000ft. obviously looking for relief from the local wolf packs. I believe, if I remember correctly, the resident limit on wolves in that area is ten. No matter on which side of the ledger you stand, it all comes down to the fact that the natural balance is way out of kilter and we have no one to blame for that but ourselves. I hope it can be rectified, somewhat, in the future but it will be a long row to hoe.
The Brown Bear (grizzly, etc.) is definitely the top of the food chain in the areas that I frequent, just an awesome animal. Two weekends ago, about fourty miles North of me, a young man had the bad luck to have a spooked sow brownie and her two, two year old cubs run up on him. He shot and killed one of the cubs as it broke through some bush, not knowing there were two more, and the sow chewed him up quite a bit. He's doing well now after a bunch of stitches.
This happened on a creek that I Dolly fish in the Fall. Lots of brownies in the area. I hope you get to see this all some day.

Joe