[21] Z test (Downie and Heath 1959).
[22] Because test showed no significant differences in age or sex structure between sample of known wolf-kills and probable wolf-kills, these were combined for all subsequent tests and the pooled sample considered "wolf-kills."
[23] At 95 percent level or greater. (NOTE: Lack of a significant difference does not prove that no difference exists. Rather, it means only that the available evidence does not allow the positive conclusion that a difference does exist.)
[24] Wolf-kills found on lakes were compared with those located inland because of the possibility that kills on lakes may not be representative of kills in general.
[25] Sample too small for test, but no apparent difference.
[26] No significant difference in entire age structures. However, when the percentage of yearlings is compared between the two groups, the difference is almost significant at the 95 percent level.
Table 2.—Sex ratios of hunter-killed deer and wolf-killed deer from northeastern Minnesota
| Age | Hunter-killed deer | Wolf-killed deer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent male | Percent female | Number | Percent male | Percent female | |
| Fawns | 108 | 50 | 50 | 22 | 41 | 59 |
| Adults | 315 | 68 | 32 | 105 | 54 | 46 |
In the comparisons of the subsamples of hunter-kills, the only statistically significant difference found was that the adult subsample had a higher proportion of males than the fawn subsample. No significant difference was found in the age structures of the subsamples, so these were all pooled into a sample of 433 hunter-kills for comparison with the wolf-kills. For the same reason, the entire sample of 142 wolf-killed deer was used for a comparison with the hunter-killed sample.