Because they produce many pups and commonly immigrate into new areas, Alaskan wolf populations can rebound quickly from relatively high harvests or other reductions in numbers. The diet of wolves varies according to season, location and prey species availability. Moose and caribou are their major prey over much of Alaska, but Dall sheep are also taken. In Southeast Alaska, deer and mountain goats are important big game food sources. During winter, big game species constitute almost the entire diet of wolves.
Snowshoe hares can be an important food source in years of hare abundance.
During summer, young ungulates are often an important part of the diet, but adult animals are also killed. Small animals such as beavers, snowshoe hares, voles, ground squirrels, and occasionally birds and fish can be important supplements. Although wolves eat a wide variety of animals, they are dependent on large hoofed mammals, such as moose, caribou, deer, sheep and goats to sustain their populations in Alaska. The number of different prey species available to wolves in an area, the abundance of each prey species, and other factors such as winter weather play an important role in determining how wolves affect prey populations. In addition, if other predators such as black or grizzly bears or human hunters are also taking prey animals, the interactions of wolves and prey can be dramatically different.