Fauna Series No. 5

Fauna of the National Parks — No. 5 The Wolves of Mount McKinley

CHAPTER TWO:
WOLF (continued)

Food Habits of Wolves (continued)

CACHING

Wolves, in common with most flesh eaters, often cache excess food for future use. Once I noted a sheep horn which had been carried some distance and buried in the snow; another time the head of a ram was hidden in the snow; and again two pieces of sheep meat were cached only to be shortly consumed by foxes. But not always is the food cached. When there is an abundant supply the bother of caching the food is often omitted. I have found calf caribou on the calving grounds left untouched where killed. The wolves were seemingly aware that there was not much point in caching them since food was readily available on all sides.

A good example of provident caching was observed on July 19, 1941, after a wolf had killed a caribou calf on the bars of the East Fork River. At this time the caribou herds had moved out of the region so that food was not readily available, and therefore was worth caching. The wolf was hungry for she ate voraciously for more than half an hour, Three times during the meal she walked to the stream for a drink. After feeding she got my scent, circled above me, barking and howling, then retreated toward the den, still not having seen me. I waited for almost an hour before I saw her coming down the river bar along the opposite shore. She trotted directly to the carcass and after feeding on a few morsels she chewed until a foreleg and shoulder had been severed. With this piece in her jaws she waded the stream and trotted about 300 yards up the bar. Here she stopped, and still holding the leg in her mouth, pawed a shallow hole in the gravel, and placed the leg in it. Then with a long sweeping motion of her head she used her nose to push gravel over the leg. The job was quickly completed and she trotted hack to the carcass, chewed off the head, and buried it about 300 yards away without crossing the stream. On the third trip she carried another leg and cached it on the side of the river from where I was watching. When she returned to the carcass from this trip the wind shifted, bringing my scent to her. Without hesitating she trotted briskly across the stream and up the bar, not stopping until at least a half mile separated us.

Many of the caches made by wolves are utilized by bears, foxes, eagles, and other flesh eaters. These others probably use the caches about as much as do the owners.

Trapping Wolves

Many of the wolves in the park move back and forth across the north boundary in winter. When outside the park these wolves are roaming in territory that is being trapped, mainly for foxes. One trapper caught eight wolves in the winter of 1938—39 and three or four in the winter of 1940—41. He said that occasionally a trap-wise wolf is difficult to catch but that the average wolf is much easier to trap than a coyote. Wolves were continually springing his fox traps without getting caught because the jaw spread was too small. If he used bigger traps he was sure he could easily catch quite a number of wolves. On December 17, 1940, he showed me a black pup he had caught in a fox trap. Another wolf pup which he had captured that day was trapped by the tail and had dragged the toggle until it became tangled in the brush. On the same day, I saw tracks of still another wolf that had been dragging a trap and toggle. This trapper lost four wolves which had been caught in his traps. On December 2, 1940, along a wolf trail inside the park in Savage River Canyon, I found a trap with the toe of a wolf in it.

Another trapper caught an adult gray wolf which already carried a trap on one foot. He also had had many fox traps sprung by wolves.

Lee Swisher, trapping for foxes north of the park on the Teklanika and Sushana Rivers, caught eight wolves in the winter of 1940—41. They were caught in No. 3 traps, though they had sprung many others without getting caught. Swisher said that if he had been using larger traps he could have cleaned the wolves out of his trapping territory. He also said that he thought wolves as a rule are easily trapped but that occasionally there is a trap-shy animal. He once tried to catch such a wolf which he said was more canny than a wise coyote.

One trapper told me that about 1935 he trapped between Eagle and Circle, Alaska. A band of about 30 wolves appeared about three times each month. He thought they traveled over a range 50 miles across. There were also a few odd wolves whose movements were local. He found the wolves hard to catch, because they ranged so far. Other trappers also reported wolves hard to trap. I suspect that when wolves are only passing through a region it would be more a matter of chance that any would be caught. It might be difficult to have the traps set in proper order at the time the wolves appeared.

Caribou may spring many traps set for wolves or foxes. One was caught and nearly tore the clothes off a trapper with its hoofs when the trapper endeavored to free it.

In the winter of 1940—41 about 19 wolves were known to have been taken by trappers along the north boundary of the park between Wonder Lake and the eastern border. Some of these had probably wandered out of the park. The number captured by these trappers varies from year to year.

Last Modified: Thurs, Dec 20 2001 10:00:00 pm PDT
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