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).
[Illustration: _Figure 21.--Locations and range of wolf 1053. Only
selected lakes are shown._]
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.
[Illustration: _Figure 22.--Locations and range of wolf 1055. Only
selected lakes are shown._]
_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).
[Illustration: _Figure 23.--Locations and range of wolf 1057. Only
selected lakes are shown._]
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.
[Illustration: _Figure 24.--Location and range of wolf 1059 and pack.
Only selected lakes are shown._]
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.