_Table 1. Density of Rural Human Populations in Four Wolf Ranges in the Great Lakes Region_ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rural[4] Area in Population Square Miles Density Per (Square Percent Rural Square Mile Location Kilometers) Urban[3] Population (Square Kilometer) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ontario[5] 412,582 3.3 (1,068,125) 80.4 1,364,33 (1.27) Northern[6] 12,627 6.4 Minnesota (32,690) 68.0 81,246 (2.5) Upper 16,491 9.0 Michigan[7] (42,693) 51.4 147,841 (3.5) Iron and Oneida Co.[8] 1,859 12.3 Wisconsin (4,812) 26.0 22,899 (4.7) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [3] Towns or cities of more than 2,500 people [4] Including towns with a population less than 2,500 [5] 1966 Census, 1970-71 Canada Yearbook [6] Cook, Koochiching, Lake and St. Louis Counties [7] All 15 Upper Peninsula counties [8] Last described wolf range in Wisconsin (Thompson 1952) The white-tailed deer (_Odocoileus virginianus_) would be the major prey for wolves in Michigan, and there appear to be sufficient numbers to support wolves. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources pellet count estimates for the spring deer population in the Upper Peninsula in 1973 was 10 ± 21.9% deer per square mile (3.9 ± 21.9% per km²). Deer densities of 10 to 15 per square mile (3.9 to 5.8 per km²) supported wolf densities of one wolf per 10 square miles (26 km²) in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario (Pimlott 1967). The population of deer wintering on the 14 square-mile (36 km²) Huron Mountain deer yard in winter 1973-74 was estimated at 73.3 ± 49.5% deer per square mile (28.3 ± 49.5% deer per km²) by the pellet count method (Laundre 1975). Thus total wintering population on the Huron Mountain Club, the wolf release area, would be about 1,000 deer.