It has been established that wolves hunting Dall sheep (Murie 1944),
caribou (Crisler 1956), moose (Mech 1966a), and other species usually
have a low percentage of success. In the case of a pack of 15 wolves
hunting moose on Isle Royale during winter, only 4.6 percent of all the
moose detected by the pack were killed; considering only the moose that
the wolves caught up to or held at bay, the kill rate was 7.6 percent
(Mech 1966a).
What little evidence there is about wolves hunting deer indicates that
the success rate is also low with this prey species, at least in
winter. The senior author has now observed a total of 14 deer being
chased by wolves in northeastern Minnesota, mostly by packs of five,
seven or eight wolves (Mech 1966b, and see Mech _et al._, p. 1). In
only one case (6.7 percent) did the wolves (a pair) succeed in catching
their prey.
Low hunting success rates imply that the circumstances influencing
hunts are seldom favorable enough, or the prey animals encountered are
seldom vulnerable enough for the wolves to succeed. When the evidence
cited earlier that most wolf-killed animals are inferior members of
their populations is considered, the most cogent explanation for the
low hunting success of wolves is that relatively few prey animals are
vulnerable.
_Table 8.--Incidence of various abnormalities and pathological
conditions in wolf-killed deer compared with that in hunter-killed
deer_
#: _Number_
%: _Percent_
---------------------:----------------:----------------:-------------
: Wolf-kills : Hunter-kills :
:------:---------:------:---------: Level of
Condition : Deer : Deer : Deer : Deer : significance
: in : with : in : with :
:sample:condition:sample:condition:
---------------------:------:---------:------:---------:-------------
# # % # # % %