This readme.txt file was generated on <20241111> by Recommended citation for the data: ------------------- GENERAL INFORMATION ------------------- 1. Title of Dataset: Wolf predation on white-tailed deer before, during, and after a historically-mild winter in northern Minnesota 2. Author Information Principal Investigator Contact Information Name: Thomas D. Gable Institution: University of Minnesota Address: 2003 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108 Email: gable079@umn.edu ORCID: 0000-0002-0917-8951 Associate or Co-investigator Contact Information Name: Austin T. Homkes Institution: University of Minnesota Address: 2003 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108 Email: homkes@umn.edu ORCID: NA Associate or Co-investigator Contact Information Name: Joseph K. Bump Institution: University of Minnesota Address: 2003 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108 Email: bump@umn.edu ORCID: NA 3. Date published or finalized for release: Accepted on October 29, 2024, publication in late 2024. 4. Date of data collection (single date, range, approximate date) 20230901-20240531 5. Geographic location of data collection (where was data collected?): Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, Minnesota, US 6. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: Funding for this work was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, the University of Minnesota, Northern Michigan University, the Van Sloun Foundation, Voyageurs Conservancy, Rainy Lake Conservancy, International Wolf Center, the National Wolfwatcher Coalition, Arc’teryx, NatureSpy, Vectronic-Aerospace, and >8,700 individual donors who have supported the work of the Voyageurs Wolf Project. 7. Overview of the data (abstract): In many southern boreal ecosystems of North America, wolves are the primary predator of white-tailed deer and white-tailed deer the primary prey of wolves. Further, wolf-deer systems have, and will continue to become more common as white-tailed deer range continues expanding northward in North America. Despite this, there is little information on kill rates of wolves on deer (i.e., the number of deer killed per wolf per unit of time)—a fundamental metric of wolf predation on deer—and how kill rates vary with deer density, wolf density, and environmental conditions. We estimated kill rates of wolves on deer before, during, and after a historically-mild winter in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, Minnesota, USA. Kill rates of wolves on deer were low (0.009-0.018 deer/wolf/day) in fall, peaked in February (0.050 deer/wolf/day), and quickly declined to 0 deer/wolf/day by April. The kill rates of wolves on deer we observed in winter were some of the lowest kill rates of wolves on deer that have been documented. Wolves in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem appeared unable to catch and kill a sufficient number of deer to meet their daily energetic requirements during Winter 2023-2024, and thus most wolves likely lost weight during winter, a period when wolves are typically in peak physical condition. The rates of wolf predation we observed appeared to be well below those needed to decrease deer population density in the GVE. Thus, our work, in combination with numerous other studies, indicates winter conditions are the primary driver of deer population change in northern climates. -------------------------- SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION -------------------------- 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: CC0 1.0 Universal (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) 2. Links to publications that cite or use the data: Pending 3. Terms of Use: Data Repository for the U of Minnesota (DRUM) By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. https://conservancy.umn.edu/pages/policies/#drum-terms-of-use --------------------- DATA & FILE OVERVIEW --------------------- 1. File List Filename: Gable_KillRates_Fall_Winter_Spring.csv Short description: Data on kill rates of wolves on deer in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem during 2023-2024. -------------------------- METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION -------------------------- 1. Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: We estimated kill rates of wolves on deer by searching clusters of GPS-locations from GPS-collared wolves from September 2023 to May 2024. 2. Methods for processing the data: The data is the number of kills documented per pack in a specific month as well as the number of wolves responsible for killing that number of deer in a given month. 3. Instrument- or software-specific information needed to interpret the data: No 4. People involved with sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission: All co-authors listed at the beginning of the manuscript ----------------------------------------- DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Gable_KillRates_Fall_Winter_Spring.csv ----------------------------------------- 1. Number of variables: 7 2. Number of cases/rows: 26 3. Variable List A. Name: Year Description: year of observation B. Name: Month Description: month of observation C. Name: Pack Description: wolf pack name D. Name: Number of wolves for kill rate estimate Description: the number of wolves used to estimate kill rates. During Sept, Oct, Feb, and March, we assumed that all wolves in a pack helped make kills. Thus, to estimate kill rates, we divided the number of kills found by the number of wolves in that pack (e.g., Thuja had 11 members in September 2023). In Apr and May, we assumed wolves were hunting prey by themselves so we divided the number of kills identified by 1 because that data represents the predation behavior of an individual wolf. E. Name: DeerKills Description: number of deer killed by a pack or individual wolves during a given month. F. Name: Days Description: number of days in a given month. G. Name: Kill rate Description: The number of deer killed per wolf per day for each pack/wolf in a given month.