How many prey do gray wolves kill per year?
In Minnesota, wolves kill the average equivalent of 15 to 20 adult-sized deer per wolf per year. Given the 2008 estimate of 2,922 wolves in Minnesota, that would equal about 43,800 to 58,500 deer killed by wolves. In comparison, hunters killed approximately 260,000 deer in the 2007 deer harvest. In addition, several thousand deer are killed during collisions with vehicles each year.
