Groebner explained that, like so much about the wolf, what sets a pack to howling is a mystery. Often, it seems, just a particular pitch will do it, and there's no predicting which wolf will have it or when. Canada supports as many as 50,000 wolves and Alaska 5,000. A wolf in the wild survives only eight or nine years. A wolf in Minnesota will kill about 15 white-tail deer a year, and will also take beaver and moose.
Wolves can go three weeks without feeding.
After breakfast on our second day, we snowshoed down a steep trail through fallen trees and bramble, searching for a reported moose kill. We crossed a frozen stream. Lying upside down in the brush, like the hull of a wrecked ship, was a moose skeleton. Groebner pointed out the smashed bramble, the convergent wolf tracks and patches of moose hair. Our imaginations filled in the blanks.