DO WOLVES LIMIT UNGULATE NUMBERS?
During the late 1800s and well into the mid-1900s, it was universally believed that predation in general, and wolf predation in particular, had a devastating impact on ungulate numbers. Wolves were considered such a decided menace to the herds of elk, deer, mountain sheep [bighorns], and antelope that the Park Service exterminated the wolf from Yellowstone by 1930 (Weaver 1978:9). Similar campaigns of eradication were common across North America. Public opinion, though, began to change during the 1950s and 1960s. Today wolves are seen by many as an integral part of the balance of nature. According to this view, wolves rid the game herds of the sick, the old, and the unfit, so wolf predation actually benefits ungulate prey by preserving the health of the herds (Wilderness Society 1987:12; Glick et al. 1991:72; Thompson 1991). These same people believe that wolves regulate their own numbers through social means, primarily territoriality, and therefore do not overutilize their ungulate pr
