Statistical tests comparing a number of subsamples of both wolf-killed deer and hunter-killed deer showed a series of significantly different sex ratios (tables 1-3). The ratio of males to females in the fawn cohort of the hunter-kill, which is probably the most representative of the actual fawn sex ratio, was even (table 2). With wolf-kills, however, a significantly higher percentage of females was taken in the fawn subsample (59 percent) than in the adult subsample (46 percent). These results compare favorably with those of Stenlund (1955), who found that from 1948 to 1953 in the same area as the present study 68 percent of 19 sexable fawn wolf-kills were females and 44 percent of 63 sexable adult wolf-kills were females.
If the sex ratio of fawns began even, and more females than males were killed by wolves, then a higher proportion of males would be left in the adult population, unless some other mortality factor kills more male fawns. Thus it is not surprising that in the wilderness area, where little or no hunting is done, the sex ratio of wolf-kills in the adult cohort is significantly heavy toward males (71 percent: 29 percent). This was also true of the wolf-kills in Algonquin Provincial Park, where males made up 57 percent of the total sexable wolf-kill (Pimlott _et al._ 1969). The latter figure may even have been higher if calculated for adults alone, for a preponderance of female fawns in the Algonquin Park data (such as occurred in our and Stenlund's samples) would tend to obscure the preponderance of males in the adult sample.
The adult subsample of hunter-kills also contained a higher percentage of males (66 percent : 34 percent). Although this might also reflect the influence of wolf predation on female fawns, it probably is more a result of the greater movement of bucks during the hunting season, which overlaps with the rutting season. Even the sex ratio of adult deer killed in wolf-free areas shows a preponderance of males (Erickson _et al._ 1961).
However, it appears that the higher harvest of bucks by human hunters does markedly affect the sex ratio of the deer population in the hunted area, for the wolf-kill of adults in that area contained a significantly higher percentage of does (56 percent) than did the wolf-kill of adults in the wilderness area (29 percent).