Prey Taken by Colonizing Wolves and Hunters in the Glacier National Park Area

The recent colonization of the northwestern United States by an endangered wolf (Canis lupus) population has raised concerns among hunters regarding competition for prey. Data on wolf prey selection may dispel misperceptions and thereby decrease human-caused wolf mortalities that would affect wolf recovery. We assessed the extent to which the early stage of colonization affected wolf prey selection by comparing our results with those from established wolf populations. We examined 243 prey killed by colonizing wolves in the Glacier National Park area of Montana and adjacent British Columbia during winters 1985-91 and compared characteristics of these with those of ungulates killed by hunters