In my neck of the woods, wolves are allowed to roam their territory under the proviso of local citizens that nothing goes wrong - even the perception of it.  Take for example the latest rumor about the pack I study in northwest Montana.  Reportedly, these nine wolves have eaten all the deer in a nearby valley this past year, which apparently didn’t leave much for the bears, cougars, and coyotes that live there as well. 

Even a forest gnome, such as myself, knows that deer are as common as dirt in our area.  An outfitter friend of mine recently remarked that ungulates are in record numbers as evidenced by the unusual number of twins sighted for deer and moose.  “They don’t have much pressure on them from predators this year,” concluded my professional hunting friend.  Even the coveted elk herds are doing well.  By the way, his information is similar to the conclusions found by the limited scientific studies regarding the population trends of ungulates in Montana.  Nevertheless, our nearby wolf pack has apparently, in effect, rendered the neighboring valley “deer less.”  There are survivors of course, but not nearly enough to hunt this fall, which is the real issue.
 
However, I thought that perhaps these locals may have had a point, so I turned to my study of wolves for some answers.  When I survey for wolves each day, I keep track of all the wildlife I encounter along my routes.  This includes deer, elk, moose, bears, and other assorted creatures.  From June 1, 2004 to June 1, 2005, I recorded over 600 sightings of deer in the “deer less” valley alone.  The wolves were not there very often this past year so neither was I.  However, I occasionally traveled through the valley to get from one area to another which only took about 10 minutes.  Nevertheless, I still saw a great number of deer, and this didn’t include the hundreds of deer prints I recorded during the winter.  
 
I also hear from people who are concerned that wolves will reproduce like lemmings, and we will soon be up to our armpits in wolf packs.  It turns out wolf packs have their own versions of population control.  Let’s use the pack I study as an example.  In 2005, the Fishtrap pack had only 2 - 3 pups, while the year before there were seven.  Despite the number of pups born each spring, the pack has maintained 7 - 12 wolves annually.  This is because pup mortality can be high in wolf packs, up to 50 percent.  In addition, some individuals, called dispersers, leave the pack to strike out on their own.  Wolf packs also defend their territory from intrusion by other wolves.  In this case their territory size is about 250 square miles.  The net result of all these processes is that within a pack’s territory there is rarely a large increase in the number of wolves.  So when community members let me know when they have seen wolves, over time they are seeing the same ones over and over.
 
This brings us back to the first point which is how many deer can a wolf pack possibly eat within their territory?  This, of course, is greatly dependent on the number of deer present.  Even if they ate one deer a week that would only be 52 deer each year.  We all know there are more deer than that, even to the point of having to avoid them with our cars.  We’ve all seen them.  Some just stand at the road edge and sigh, waiting for the right moment to step into oncoming traffic.  Or perhaps they are the individuals who know they will be eaten anyway and are just tired of “running.”  And we have all witnessed the X-deer, who for sport think they can reach the other side of the road before the semi arrives.
 
So do wolves kill all the deer in northwest Montana?  No.  In fact it is deer that we are up to our armpits in.  The wildest rumor I’ve heard so far takes into account this biological tendency.  Apparently some enterprising auto insurance companies have released wolves into the forest so they will chase deer onto the road only to be hit by unsuspecting motorists.  So be aware of the Allstate pack.  They’ll be the ones with bumper stickers on their butts that say, “Sponsored by the Committee of Stupid Rumors.”