What was the youngest wolf "harvested" by hunting or trapping in the wolf season that closed in March?
Answer:
We obtain the age of harvested wolves by counting the annular "rings" from a cross-section of the teeth (much as with aging a tree). We accumulate teeth for aging over the course of the season, submitting them to an external lab about this time of year. Thus we have no ages of 2013-2014 wolves back from the lab (we should have thm by this coming fall). During the 2012-2013 season, the youngest wolf taken by hunting was 4 months of age, taken during September 2012. While we sometimes weigh whole wolves when they are checked, no weight was available for this wolf. The youngest wolf taken by trapping was 6 1/2 months of age, taken during late November 2012. This wolf weighed 57 lbs.
Answered on:
Monday, April 28, 2014 - 4:14 PM MDT