In addition to the above direct observations, we also were able to piece together from tracks in the snow the chase and successful encounter between a single wolf and a deer in two instances. In the first case, on January 25, 1967 (11:50 a.m.), we arrived at the scene (near Grub Lake, just N. of Snowbank Lake) within an hour of the encounter, and the wolf was still feeding on the deer, which had been a 2-1/2-year-old female. Mech examined the area from the ground and made the following observations:
"The deer had come S.W. down the middle of the lake at a fast walk, turned around, backtracked a few yards and headed to the N.W. shore of the lake. Meanwhile a wolf had come at a trot along the deer's track, but it had cut to the N.W. shore about 50 yards N.E. of where the deer had. When still on the ice about 15 feet from shore, the wolf began running as evidenced by his long bounds. He continued running inland about 50 feet from shore toward the deer. The deer had walked inland from the shore and may have stood there about 25 feet from shore. Suddenly it had bounded away. The bounding wolf track was in the same trail as the deer's for about 25 yards but then it paralleled the deer's about 5 feet away on the inland side. After about 125 yards from where the deer flushed, the deer was pulled down. It was _not_ on its side but rather had sunk into the snow in more-or-less of an upright position.
"Apparently the deer had just about reached the shore when the wolf noticed it, and it detected the wolf. At this time the wolf must have been up the shore about 50 yards where his tracks first showed he began bounding. There was no sign that the wolf had spotted the deer on the lake and had tried to cut it off from shore by running inland along the shore and then waiting for the deer to come inland. Once the wolf had begun bounding, he continued until he pulled the deer down.... Sign showed that the deer dropped within about 20 feet of where she had begun bleeding."
The second case involved a 5-1/2-year-old buck, No. M-28, which had arthritis of his right hind foot and probably had defective gait (see Mech and Frenzel p. 35). The attack took place on Basswood Lake on February 2, 1967, and excerpts from field notes by Mech follow: