ABSTRACT
The usual technique requires live trapping of wolves via steel foot traps, during summer and fall in as large an area as possible or darting them from aircraft during winter. Radio collars, which may transmit for more than 2 years, are then placed on the wolves, and the animals are released to return to their packs. During winter, at least in northern areas where most wolves live, snow-cover aids the aerial radio-tracker in actually observing the wolf packs and counting their members. Then aerial observations of the nonradioed wolves or their tracks during radio-tracking of adjacent packs can supplement the data and help provide a population estimate for a larger area. Where wolves may not be territorial, e.g., where they follow migrating caribou herds, one must not overlook nonradioed packs whose presence may not be indicated by the spatial organization of neighboring radioed packs.
