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Originally Posted by MK2750
This is my experience as well. Wolves move through, maybe grab a deer or two and deer disappear. I am not saying they do not eat them, I am saying they are not their target species and that they don't eat up all the deer and move on.
Once deer know that wolves are in the area, IMO wolves would starve to death targeting them.
When I was a kid there was no coyotes in the province I grew up in. When the coyotes arrived on the scene, the deer population dropped like a stone. The majority of these were determined to be crossed with wolves on their travels through Ontario and Quebec. The Whitetails adapted and the numbers recovered.
A good sized doe would feed maybe 2 or 3 wolves, certainly not a pack. A decent sized pack would have to be killing 2 or 3 deer a night. That would be a tough way to make a living.
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I guess, from what I can see, the only source of food in high enough supply to support the wolf population in my area are whitetail deer. So, for lack of a better answer for their current numbers I believe that wolves do target deer. I think that part of the explanation for the greater numbers of wolves now, than in the past, is due to the whitetails being more successful now than in the past due to development. In the few large tracts of undeveloped boreal that Alberta has left, there tends to be few deer and far less wolves in my observation.
However I do not believe that wolves show up and clean out an area as has been suggested. IMO they have a large range that they travel about constantly, taking whatever they can as they go. Once the game gets used to them they learn how survive with wolves around.
But I do admit that you make some good points.