Half a dozen interesting points about wolves

At the fall Fish, Wildlife and Parks Citizens Advisory Committee, wolf management specialist Kent Laudon gave members some interesting facts about wolves.

• Packs — The Northwest Montana/North Idaho study area (more than 15,000 square miles) is now home to 52 wolf packs, up from 11 packs in 2004. The average pack has 6.7 wolves, so more than 700 wolves total.

• Density — Using numbers cited above, there is one wolf for every 39 square miles. By comparison, Region 1 wildlife manager Jim Williams estimates the black bear density is one per square mile. And estimates are there are three times as many mountain lions as wolves.

Wolf densities don’t appear to increase; instead, they disperse. Males and females pair up and travel to other areas. Actually there are no more wolves in the Flathead’s North Fork now than in 1998 or 2004.

• Travel — Wolves are big-time dispersers with home ranges as large as 200 square miles. It’s not unusual for wolves to travel up to 20 miles a day. A wolf from the Ashley Lake area, west of Kalispell, was found dead in Grangeville, Idaho. Wolves often travel on roads, making them more visible to people in the woods.

• Disease — Ninety percent of wolves tested show contact with parvo virus.

• Feeding — Wolves hunt primarily at night. In winter, wolves are constantly checking various winter range drainages looking for food, especially elk. If they can’t find easier food (cows, calves, young bulls), they move on but may return to each drainage several times.

Mature bulls move to tougher places off the typical winter ranges thereby, perhaps (according to Laudon), saving anti-predation energy. Moose can also winter in very high places to browse and conserve energy.

• Reproduction — Wolves breed in February and den in April. Two litters per year is rare.