The fibrinogen levels of all four animals were normal, indicating that there was no acute or chronic inflammation in progress.
The wolves ate well in captivity but still lost from 11% to 20% of their capture weight (Table 2). Himes estimated that they consumed an average of 8 lb. (3.6 kg) of food per wolf per day, while penned in Minnesota. In Michigan the wolves consumed about a deer and a half, or an estimated 5.5 lb. (2.5 kg) per wolf per day. These estimates fall within the range of food consumption figures estimated for wolves in the wild (Mech and Frenzel 1971). After the wolves began feeding on the first carcass, they completely consumed it before starting a second one, even though four carcasses were available; they ate nothing from the other two carcasses.
We released the wolves at dusk on March 12, 1974. Having just restrained Wolf No. 10 without drugs, to replace her collar, we untied her and let her free; she bounded off northwestward. We then opened the pen, and No. 12, whom we had judged to be the alpha male, left in less than 5 minutes and trotted off steadily toward the west-southwest. The remaining two animals paced around the pen for about 5 minutes and then lay down. Because we felt that they might become too widely separated from the others, three of us approached the pen opposite the door to encourage the wolves to find the open gate. Five minutes later No. 13 left the pen running southwestward, and No. 11 left less than 5 minutes later. Upon exiting, No. 11 appeared to smell the track of No. 12 and slowly trotted in his direction.
Aerial Tracking
Our success in locating the translocated wolves by aerial radio-tracking was 95% (Table 3), similar to that of Mech and Frenzel (1971) working with wolves in their native range in Minnesota.
During the part of the study in which extensive snow cover was present (March 13 to April 20) wolves No. 11, 12, and 13 were observed 14 times from the aircraft. The first time they were seen, near Laws Lake, they appeared alarmed and moved into heavy cover. The next day, however, and on all subsequent observations, the aircraft appeared to have little effect on their behavior, although they sometimes looked up at it. No. 10 was seen only once by a passenger in the tracking aircraft, and she immediately hid from view. It seems likely that she avoided the aircraft. After the snow melted and leaves appeared, we no longer saw the wolves.
The activities of the three wolves during the 14 aerial observations were as follows: traveling 4 (Fig. 15), feeding and scavenging 5 (Fig. 16), resting 4, and sleeping 1.
Table 3. Success in locating wolves by aerial tracking
| Wolf Number | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| Number of tracking attempts | 113 | 65 | 59 | 67 |
| Number of times located | 105 | 62 | 59 | 61 |
| Percent located | 93% | 95% | 100% | 91% |
| Number of times observed | 1 | 14(Pack) | ||
| Last date tracked | Nov. 17 | Sept. 19 | July 10 | July 27 |
