------------ The Wolf ------------
Man has claimed the title of "Top Predator" for himself and proudly points to his position at the top of the food chain. It is so, we are the dominant species, but this does not necessarily determine our staus to be "the most efficient" hunter.
The wolf competes with us for the flesh of the deer but he does it without the aid of automobiles and airplanes for travel, telephones, television and magazines to gain information and modern weapons that we use to take our game.
*It is established that wolves are capable of communicating over extremely long distances. Documentation indicates that, (while impossible to prove) in the Northwest Territories and Manitoba, wolves relay information about caribou herd movement and location to other packs as far as fifty miles away. Inland Eskimos have claimed that they listened to the "talk of the wolves" and embarked on caribou hunts based on what the wolves "said".
*The Eskimos further claimed that when other Eskimo Peoples were traveling across the barrens the wolves would announce the news in a very different fashion and so the villagers would set about preparing to receive visitors --- who would inevitably come!
*Studies done in the artic indicate that, while there is an abundance of caribou, wolves diet consist largely of ground squirrels, mice, lemmings, ptarmigan and even fish. This is not to say that they do not kill caribou! Indeed, the concept that wolves seek out the weak and injured is well supported by observation, however, it is also known that when conditions dictate --- any caribou is fair game. The upside of this is that there is now substantial evidence that, contrary to former beliefs, wolves are not wasteful in their killing and will remain in the area of a kill until all is consumed!
Wolves in North America have never pursued man as a species of prey. Man has dominated the wolf with his ability to build weapons and therefore is able to control the competition by reducing the numbers or eliminating them. Thus the wolf-predator has become prey.
All things being equal --- the wolf is the supreme hunter!
* Mowat, 1963 "Never Cry
Wolf" 
Some say that we hunt to prove we are men. I say that we hunt to prove that we are as we were created to be. Man and woman need to confirm their ties to our creator. Some can explore their spiritualism through structured ceremony---others need to sense the call of the wild.
War, birth and death, success and failure. None of these experiences have left as great of an impression on me as the wail of wolves in the darkness of a vast northern forest.