Because age or sex distributions might differ in the various subsamples of deer examined during this study, these parameters were compared in subsamples of both wolf-kills and hunter-kills (table 1). No significant differences were found in the age or sex structures between the known wolf-kills and "probable" wolf-kills, so these subsamples were pooled and considered wolf-kills for all subsequent comparisons.
Three significant differences in sex ratio were found among the subsamples of wolf-kills: (1) wolves killed more female fawns than male fawns, but more male adults than female adults (table 2); (2) more of the adults killed in the hunted area were females, while in the wilderness more males were taken (table 3); and (3) after January 1969, when snow was unusually deep, 57 percent of the deer killed were females, compared with only 38 percent before this date.
_Table 1.--Results of statistical comparisons between various samples of deer kills from northeastern Minnesota_
------:-----------:--:------:------------:--------------------:------------ : : : : : Results of : : : : : : comparisons: : Sample: : :Sample: :--------------------: Direction size :Sample :VS: size :Sample : [20]Age :[21]Sex : of :description: : :description :structures: ratios : difference ------:-----------:--:------:------------:----------:---------:------------ Wolf-kills:[22] Wolf-kills:[22]
93 Known 49 Probable Nonsig.[23] Nonsig. --
42 Jan.-Mar. 83 Dec. 1968- Nonsig. Nonsig. -- 1967 Mar. 1969
50 Wilderness 92 Hunted area Nonsig. Nonsig. -- area
41 Adult, 64 Adult, -- Sig., More wilderness hunted area 99% females in hunted area
96 Lakes[24] 32 Inland Nonsig.[25] Nonsig. --
66 Before 77 After Nonsig.[26] Sig., More females Feb. 1969 Jan. 1969 95% after Jan.
105 Adults 22 Fawns -- Sig., More female 95% fawns
110 Field aged, 225 Field aged, Nonsig. Nonsig. -- 1967 1968
335 Field aged 98 Lab. aged Nonsig. Nonsig. --
132 Lab. aged, 79 Lab. aged, Nonsig. -- -- males females
89 Field aged, 246 Field aged, -- Sig., More male fawns adults 95% adults --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 433 Hunter-kills 142 Wolf-kills Sig., -- Older deer 99% in wolf-kill
321 Hunter-kills 118 Wolf-kills Sig., -- Older deer excluding excluding 99% in wolf-kill fawns fawns ---------------------------------------------------------------------------