Wolf Pack Chase Elk Herd

[bighornbob]

Just saw this on MSN

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/video/animals/wolf-pack-chases-elk-in-snow/vi-BBTkaIx

BHB

[wrenchhead]

That is a lot of mouths to feed!!!! Lucky elk, that one will have a bit of a sore ass

[quadrakid]

So much for the old greenie argument that wolves only go after the old,weak or sick.

[barry1974w]

So much for the old greenie argument that wolves only go after the old,weak or sick.
I was just thinking the same thing. It’ll be a different story once the snow crusts over

[steel_ram]

So much for the old greenie argument that wolves only go after the old,weak or sick.

They go after what they can catch, which will be the weakest (sick) in the group. Argument is safe.

[rocksteady]

One of those wolves at least is feeling sore. Pretty good kick to the head, neck or chest

[jac]

When the snow gets hard and the wolves float on top and the elk or moose fall through is when the wolves really have the upper hand

[Bugle M In]

With the right conditions, and in BC, Crusty ice seems to be a common thing, I always wonder now that we are seeing
so many wolves in so many areas now, that we are losing more game with all those really big cutblocks everywhere?

[Boner]

For sure. They have good eyesight. It’s a valid argument for leaving some slash piles and odd shaped blocks and leaving alder patches and other species of retention areas.

[Red_Mist]

They go after what they can catch, which will be the weakest (sick) in the group. Argument is safe.

Absolutely false. Those elk weren't sick or weak, they were just on the menu. Predators kill mature healthy animals all the time. Don't spread the lie.

[steel_ram]

Absolutely false. Those elk weren't sick or weak, they were just on the menu. Predators kill mature healthy animals all the time. Don't spread the lie.

You are not completely incorrect. The sick and weak will die first as they are the easiest. Logical and obvious? The predators will work their way up if they live that long. Bulls are likely the weakest at this time of year as they have spent too much energy chasing and defending cows.

[Red_Mist]

Its February, most of that happened in September. Are there multiple cycles sure, but don't spread the Disney myth.

[boxhitch]

'Absolutely false. Those elk weren't sick or weak, they were just on the menu. Predators kill mature healthy animals all the time. Don't spread the lie.'

' You are not completely incorrect. The sick and weak will die first as they are the easiest. Logical and obvious? The predators will work their way up if they live that long. Bulls are likely the weakest at this time of year as they have spent too much energy chasing and defending cows.'

Potato potateos
they will run a healthy herd until they kill one or loose interest. The larger the pack, the longer they can push hard

[steel_ram]

Yup, and which elk will fall behind first? The weakest! Luck aside, the toughest elk will be the most likely to survive. It's the way it works.

[steel_ram]

Its February, most of that happened in September. Are there multiple cycles sure, but don't spread the Disney myth.

And what have the elk been feeding on since September? Not much. . . . . Disney? Lie? WTF?

[Gateholio]

The Disney myth is that only 'old or sick" animals are killed by predators.

Predators kill healthy animals all the time. Most of the ones they kill are healthy.

[horshur]

Old sick and weak is a very poor diet for anyone including wolves...

[Red_Mist]

steel ram i'm not attacking you , so don't get offended. the things your saying i hear from non hunters and sadly seems like some hunters buy into the misinformation as well. there's no hospital or hospice care that animals check into and the end of life. they die from 1. predation 2. environment (fall through ice, avalanches, freeze to death, cars/trains) 3. parasites and disease. It would be nice if the world worked like Disney, makes us believe that animals dying in their "beds" surrounded by family..... but they don't . the whole predators eating only the weak and old is false and promoted to raise animals like wolves to a pedestal (where the public is told they do a wonderful service to wildlife) when in fact they simply devastate ungulate populations across the board. that's the Disney myth. The truth is predators rip flesh from bone while an animals is alive and it dies an agonizing slow death. We hunters kill in seconds and are truly angels of mercy compared to the death they will encounter naturally.

so back to the op, those elk are lucky the snow is at the level it is at. you can clearly see in the video the wolves are struggling to keep up in the snow. if the conditions were different .... at least one of those elk would be wolf poop.

[Caribou_lou]

It doesnt matter if they are sick or weak where I live. Come end of February and most of March we get plus temps during the day and freezing at night. Makes for easy travel for Wolves and even harder travel for all ungulates. This is probably the case for most of Northern BC.

[325]

They go after what they can catch, which will be the weakest (sick) in the group. Argument is safe.

Most groups of elk don't contain any old, sick or weak individuals. Wolves still prey upon them

[Treed]

It’s a concept that works better with large herds, like on the savanna. They’ll run a herd and pick off the weakest. I agree in BC that it’s much more opportunist. Animals are more widely distributed, they try to kill whatever they come across e.g. a lone healthy moose is fair game. The snow pack conditions, when deep and crusty, essentially make all big ungulates ‘weak’. Given the choice, they will predate on weaker animals preferentially, not out of some Disney law, but because their success rate will be higher, energy output lower, and the chance of injury less. They are the ultimate gamblers, great at reading odds and the players at the table.

[drakfero]

https://vimeo.com/315433506?ref=fb-share&1



Watch this video.. guy said whole groupe 80-90 elk disappeared in just couple of weeks.. now tell me wich of them was strong or weak??? The wolves just killed them all. The animal at the edge of defence always takes a bite and gets sick or takes couple more and dies on the spot. As those guys say we need to do our part and take as many wolves as possible.

[SSG-man]

That Canadian biologist knows what's happening on Vancouver island too.

23 minutes in the video



https://vimeo.com/315433506?ref=fb-share&1



Watch this video.. guy said whole groupe 80-90 elk disappeared in just couple of weeks.. now tell me wich of them was strong or weak??? The wolves just killed them all. The animal at the edge of defence always takes a bite and gets sick or takes couple more and dies on the spot. As those guys say we need to do our part and take as many wolves as possible.

[khoffnbud]

That Canadian biologist knows what's happening on Vancouver island too.

23 minutes in the video

Valerius Geist.

[skidderman]

Spoke to a game warden in Saskatchewan once about wolves & moose. His experience suggested whatever was in the wolves path was a target, healthy or not. It isn't pretty. They try to rip the rear muscles apart until the elk or moose can't work their muscles or bleed out. In addition if wolves only ate the sick one would think wolves would get sick as well. Doesn't work that way. All a healthy animal has to do is trip once on a log & it's game over.

[Bugle M In]

If the wolf has to eat, it will eat.
Think they take advantage of whatever opportunity presents itself.
Sure, a lame ungulate when the herd begins to flee will straggle behind, thus is an easier and more obvious choice to
pursue.
Other times, it's whatever's around.
I suspect their percentage of success drops when pursuing a healthy specimen for sure.
But I doubt they only attack and kill when one is only sick.