Predicting When the First Wolf Hunt Shall Be:

[Brandon Pickett]

I know many of you guys such as me, are anxious to go on a wolf hunt. Well, it may not be as soon as you may think it is. Read below to see my rough estimates of when we may be able to shoot and trap wolves officially on the island.    

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Say in 2012, 50 wolves are on the island consisting of 8 packs. 6 wolves per pack and 4 lone wolves migrating looking for a territory and a mate. The Alpha and Omega wolves in each pack would average 3 pups per litter each year. These pups would eventually leave the packs when they reach around 3 years old. That would add up to 18 wolves added to the total population per year up to Winter 2015.  

At the end of 2014, 86 wolves are on the island. The pups that were born in 2012 leave the pack in Winter 2015. They become what is called lone wolves searching for a new territory and a mate. They form on average 3 new packs (estimate) to breed 9 pups, this adds to the number of pups bred on the island per year up to 25. Next year the pups of 2013 will breed to bump that number up to 36 per year. 

Here's how it goes:

2012-- 50          

2013-- 68          

2014-- 86                                                      

2015-- 104        

2016-- 140        

2017-- 185        

2018-- 239        

2019-- 302        

2020-- 374        

2021-- 455        

2022-- 545        

2023-- 644        

At this point in time we should probably see the population growth leveling off do to greater competition between packs for territories and food. This would probably be the year we will see the first official wolf hunting season. 

EDIT: I may have been a bit unclear about what I was saying in the above paragraph, I mean't when the year 2023 rolled around and not this year obviously.

This means that if all goes according to plan, we could be looking at a wolf hunt in 2023.

Keep in mind that this is only a rough estimation of what the growth of a wolf population would be in a perfect world. A variety of factors could harm the growth of the population including:

-Pouching

-Larger than normal packs could affect how many breeding pairs there are, leading to lower pup litters

-The age at which a wolf may leave a pack to form it's own breeding pair

-Food availability

-How large individual pack territories are, this could lead to larger packs and lower breeding pairs

REMEMBER!!! WHEN YOU SEE A WOLF SHOOT WITH A CAMERA!!! :)

[Brandon Pickett]

Probably!

This is just my assumption though, so take it lightly.

[Fred Woodman]

and of course it assumes we have 50 now.What if it a lot less.

Could be 20 or 50 years ..or never..

Im thinking I will have to leave province to get one any time soon..

[kenneth Griffiths]

only if they are here and don't all get shot or snared up.