White-tailed deer (_Odocoileus virginianus_) killed by wolves (_Canis
lupus_) during winter in a relatively unhunted wilderness area and in
an immediately adjacent hunted area of Minnesota were compared with
deer killed by hunters in the same general area, and with a
hypothetical population. Deer killed by wolves were significantly
older. Statistical comparisons also showed the following: (1) hunters
generally killed an even sex ratio of fawns, and a disproportionate
number of adult bucks, (2) wolves took a higher percentage of female
fawns than female adults, a disproportionate number of bucks in the
wilderness area, and a higher percentage of does in the hunted area.
The latter fact evidently reflects the higher hunter success on males
in the hunted area. Significantly higher incidences of abnormalities
and pathological conditions of both mandibles and lower limbs were
found in wolf-killed deer than in hunter-killed deer, and these
conditions are described. It is concluded that wolf predation on
white-tailed deer in the study area during winter generally is
selective in that it tends to remove members of the prey population
that are old, debilitated, or abnormal. Apparently these classes of
deer represent such a small percentage of the population that they are
seldom taken by human hunters.