On February 21 we also saw a single wolf running and looking behind several times on Ojibway Lake. Even when it saw a fisherman on the lake within 1/8 mile, it continued across to the opposite shore seeming most intent on avoiding whatever was on its trail. Presumably it had also been chased by a pack.
The cases of tolerance or indifference that we witnessed between wolves involved our lone animals. On January 27, 1051 was at a kill he had made the day before, and another wolf was sitting within 100 feet looking toward the carcass. Eventually the unidentified wolf left without approaching any closer. A lone wolf was also seen near 1053 in the general vicinity of a moose carcass, which probably both were feeding on at different times. Three such observations were made, on February 10, 15, and 18; and on February 21 another wolf was also seen near 1053 some 2.5 miles away from the moose carcass. In all cases, the two animals were 80 to 200 yards apart in open country and must have been aware of each other's presence.
The primary prey of most wolves in our study area is the white-tailed deer (fig. 29), but some moose (fig. 30) are also killed. We have examined the remains of six moose that were eaten by wolves, two of which were killed by them (fig. 31). One was found on February 25, 1967, on Gillis Lake and the other on March 7, 1969, on Twinkle Lake. These locations are within 3 miles of each other, suggesting that a wolf pack in that area may be more accustomed to preying on moose than other packs. The other four moose carcasses were found in other parts of the study area, but circumstances were such that the causes of death of those animals could not be determined. A discussion of the details of wolf-moose relations in our study area must await the collection of additional data.
[Illustration: _Figure 29.--The main prey of wolves in northern Minnesota is the white-tailed deer. (Photo courtesy of L. D. Mech.)_]
[Illustration: _Figure 30.--Moose are also killed by wolves. (Photo courtesy of Allan Taylor.)_]
[Illustration: _Figure 31.--Only a few wolf-killed moose were located during the study. (Photo courtesy of Laurence Pringle.)_]
The remains of 93 wolf-killed deer, and 49 probable wolf-kills, were examined for age, sex, and condition and were compared with a sample of 433 hunter-killed deer from the same general area. The wolf-killed deer were generally much older than the hunter-kills and had a significantly higher percentage of jaw and limb abnormalities (see Mech and Frenzel, page 35).