Not a story request, but any chance we could get a chart of all the players in your world? Family names, territory covered, wolf or witch or human? Pretty please? 😊🙏
WOLFSON
One of the oldest and most influential packs of the Western German-speaking region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium). Formally led by Vincent and Elisabeth Wolfson, now led by Vincent's younger brother, Grayson and his wife Lucia. They have been expanding into Vienna for the last 10 years, gaining territory and establishing a presence there.
Vincent Wolfson - wolf, powerful shadow gone mad, left the pack after Isaiah defeated him on his 18th birthday.
Elisabeth Wolfson (†) - a witch, died when Isaiah was 13 years old, of a previously unknown heart defect. Died at age 38.
Isaiah Wolfson - wolf, oldest son of Vincent and Elisabeth, direct heir of the Wolfson pack. Became Wolfson executioner at 14 and was selected as city Executioner at 16. Left the pack after at 18. 26 years old.
Hector Wolfson - wolf, second oldest son and current next-in-line to the Wolfson pack and the branch leader in Vienna. 24 years old.
Arnold "Arnie" Wolfson - human, youngest son to the leading pair, studying law in Vienna. 20 years old.
Lucia Wolfson- witch, Grayson's wife. Kerstin Wolkenstein's younger sister. She has two children with Grayson, Kerstin (6y) and Tate (4y), raising them in secret in the countryside. Only Isaiah knows about this.
Delaney - female wolf, Hector's second-in-command
Xavier Wolkenstein - wolf. Vincent's second, during his madness, went with him when he retired. Also mad.
Kerstin Wolkenstein (†) - witch. Lucia's older sister. Used to be good friends with Elisabeth Wolfson. Didn't survive her husband's madness.
Marek Wolkenstein (†) - wolf. Had the special ability to tell when someone is lying. Died during a pack fight. Used to be Isaiah's best friend in the pack.
Roman Wolkenstein - wolf. Xavier's eldest son. 20 years old. Also has the ability to tell lies from truths.
Lena Wolkenstein - human. Studies medicine. 18 years old.
SONDER PACK (ISAIAH'S PACK)
Seline Silverstein - witch, human parents. Her grandfather, Mikołaj Goldberg, was a rare male witch who left an influential Eastern Europe pack and had human children and grandchildren, until Dylan was born, triggering magic in Seline as well. 26 years old.
Matthew Blackwell - wolf, only son of Margaret Blackwell and the next-in-line, exiled at 18. 24 years old.
Dylan Silverstein - wolf, 19 years old. Only wolf son of human parents.
Rip - wolf. Not his real name, just a moniker from the streets. Mother was a witch who left her pack to marry a human man who isolated and abused her and her children. Had a sister and brother who are deceased (to his knowledge). Hunted for killing his family under his real name. 20 years old.
BLACKWELL
Ancient pack, but struggling to grow influence in the last two decades. Have territories in Czechia, Italy and Eastern Germany. Gained more money during Margaret's rule. One of the only packs to be led by a witch instead of a leading couple. Trying to branch out to Vienna.
Margaret Blackwell (†) - witch, leader of the Blackwells. Married a wolf with a huge shadow from England to gain territories there. Became the leading witch, but her husband divorced her (a very rare occurrence for wolves) and returned to London.
Thomas Blackwell - wolf, huge shadow, Matthew's father. Couldn't stand his wife and left her and all their children to return to his family pack in London, when Matthew was 12 and Marcie was 1.
Melissa - human, oldest daughter, doctor. 28 years old.
Matthew - wolf, exiled at 18. 24 years old.
Maddaline "Maddie" - human, studies computer sciences and accounting, 22 years old.
Meredith - human, studies fashion design, 18 years old.
Marcela "Marcie" - witch, 11 years old.
GRAY
Ancient and influential wolf pack with a huge international reach. In the Top Five of Vienna's most influential packs. Have territories in Austria, England, the US, Mexico, and Costa Rica.
Konrad Gray- wolf, current leader.
Violet Gray- witch, Konrad's wife.
Oscar Gray- wolf, oldest son and next-in-line, 30 years old.
Kieran Gray- human, 27 years old.
Theodore "Theo" Gray- wolf. 8 years old.
Affiliated humans:
Dominick Adler - human, 28 years old. Born from an affair between a high-standing wolf and his human secretary. The pack fell apart after the scandal. Grew up with his resentful mother, mainly with the support of Grays, finished university, and founded several successful companies.
MINZ
One of the Big Three of Vienna's most influential packs. Comparable to Wolfsons in age and importance.
Johann "Shawn" Minz - wolf, eldest son. Childhood friend of Isaiah, selected by Levi as one of the three "princes" showing great promise. Has 5 younger siblings. Loves travelling (rare for a wolf) tends to disappear for a couple of years at a time.
STARK
One of the Big Three of Vienna's most influential packs. Comparable to Wolfsons in age and importance.
Sonny - wolf, weak shadow, often send to negotiate deals. Helped Isaiah settle in Vienna after his exile.
JÄGER
One of the Big Three of Vienna's most influential packs. Comparable to Wolfsons in age and importance in Western Germany and Austria.
Reuben Jäger - wolf, oldest son and next in line. Kidnapped by Vincent Wolfson and Isaiah as a teen and tortured for weeks before Isaiah got him out. Never forgave the deed or the rescue.
JUNG
Smallish pack, founded by Roy Jung after his father was killed in a duel with the Jägers. Gained wealth and influence over the years, currently in the top 10 in Vienna.
Roy Jung - Isaiah's childhood friend and one of the three "princes" Levi said showed greatest promise for the future.
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Levi - wolf, previous Executioner. 160 years old. Used to be a Stray wolf, then became a Legend. Selected Isaiah as his apprentice and successor. Has a wife and three children in Austria. Oldest daughter, Lilian Levison, is a witch currently staying with the Starks.
omg i think maybe my dogs had the same model of dog pack as yours? ours are several canine generations old but we have a red one and a purple one. the dogs looked like turtles with colorful shells and were forever forgetting their new widths and getting stuck between tightly spaced trees. 🙂
My dog packs are from Wolfpacks! Mine def get stuck going out our front door when they have a wide load lol.
Request: Could you write paul x reader story were the reader gets hurt a work (maybe she sprains or breaks her wrist or something) and she tells her coworker to not tell/call her boyfriend cause she’ll tell him in person otherwise he’ll be like a hurricane on a war path but her coworker calls paul anyways and he rushes to see the reader either at work or the hospital and is freaking out
"Should I call Paul, (Y/N)?” my coworker, and friend, asked me frantically as she drove me to the emergency room.
“No, that’s the last thing you should do,” I replied firmly.
“I feel like he should know, (Y/N),” she tried to tell me, but I wasn’t having it.
“Trust me, I’m fine,” I told her.
“What if it’s broken!?” (Y/F/N) exclaimed. “I heard a crack (Y/N).”
“It’s just a sprain,” I insisted.
“You don’t know that,” she sighed, pulling into the hospital parking lot.
“If Paul came to the ER he would flip shit on everyone for literally no reason... I’m fine (Y/F/N), my ankle isn’t broken.”
Paul and I had been together for nine months now and I don’t know if it was the whole werewolf thing that made him so overprotective, but nonetheless he was. Most of the time it was endearing, but a small percentage of the time it was overbearing and could get annoying. And if he came to the hospital it would be apart of that small percentage.
He would be panicking and getting angry with the doctors for no reason and I didn’t need that right now.
I limped my way into the ER with (Y/F/N)’s help and after sitting in the waiting room for a little bit I was taken to see the doctor. I was taken to get an X-ray, leaving (Y/F/N) alone in the room.
An hour later I was sitting on the bed in my room as the doctor wrapped my ankle in a cast. Turns out my ankle was actually broken. It was then that I heard a loud, familiar voice outside at the nurse’s station.
I turned to (Y/F/N) and she didn’t even look guilty.
“You called Paul?” I groaned.
“I’m not sorry,” she huffed. “I was right, your ankle is broken and you’re gonna need someone to take care of you. He was going to find out anyways.”
“Can you at least go get him so he can stop making a scene?” I asked her, somewhat grateful, but not wanting to admit it.
She grinned at my defeated tone and practically skipped out of the room to save the nurses from Paul’s frantic behavior.
“Babe!” he exclaimed, walking into the room behind (Y/F/N), rushing over to stand beside the bed.
“I’m fine!” was the first thing to come out of my mouth, but his eyes were trained on the doctor, who was just finishing up the cast.
“Is she okay?” he asked the doctor, ignoring what I had just said.
“Her ankle is broken,” the doctor started. “She’ll have to have this cast on for 4-8 weeks, it just depends on how fast it heels. She’ll have to rest up and come in for check ups. I trust you can make sure she gets some rest.”
“Yes, of course,” Paul assured her.
“I’ll be back with your discharge papers,” the doctor finished up before leaving the room.
“I gotta head out, (Y/N),” (Y/F/N) informed me. “I’ll stop by later this week, okay?”
“Okay, thank you,” I told her sincerely.
“Yes, thank you for calling me (Y/F/N)” Paul told her, grabbing my hand and squeezing it softly.
“No problem,” she smiled before leaving as well.
“Why didn’t you call me right away?” he asked, the sad puppy dog look on his face making me break.
“I’m sorry!” I exclaimed. “I was just in denial that it was actually broken and I was internally freaking out and I knew that you would be freaking out and I just couldn’t deal with that and deal with the broken ankle at the same time.”
“... I did kinda freak out didn’t I?” he chuckled.
“Just a bit,” I giggled. “I think you scared the poor nurses out there.”
“Well (Y/F/N) didn’t tell me what was wrong! I thought something worse might’ve happened.”
“Well it’s just a broken ankle,” I sighed.
“Well a broken ankle means lots of resting up,” he told me. “Do you want to stay over at my apartment for a little while? So I can keep an eye on you?”
“As long as we get to do some doctor-patient role playing situations,” I smirked, wiggling my eyebrows half-jokingly.
“As intriguing as that sounds, babe, I think a broken ankle might be a problem if we have sex.”
“Well I am not going 4-8 weeks without sex so we’re gonna have to figure something out, dude.”
“Did you just call me dude?” he laughed at me.
“Deal with it, you’re the one who has to take care of me for 4-8 weeks.”
“I’ll take care of you forever,” he smiled, kissing me softly.
It's hard to tell from their website but what's the main between the Wolfpacks reflector and banzai packs?
The main difference is the size, the Banzai is bigger and the Reflector is smaller. Wolfpacks recently updated their website and now has a nice FAQ where you can view the packs side by side. It is my opinion that the Banzai is the better of the two packs because it sits more forward on the dog, but I also do not have any experience with the Reflector to compare.
I know some of y’all are put off by the bright colors of the Ruffwear and Wolfpacks dogpacks, but the look of the pack is least important part. The position and placement of the panniers and how it fits your dog are more important.
Having a functional and safe piece of sport equipment comes first and a huge majority of people seriously packing their dogs (as in not doing it for the instagram LEWK) want their dogs to be visible when hiking (the best times to pack for me are during deer hunting season in fall and turkey hunting season in spring, so safety is #1). That is why bright colors are most popular.
If you seriously cannot deal with bright colors Non-Stop’s pack comes in black/gray but is very expensive. Wolfpacks also have a forest green color option that is not an assault to the eyes. Some older Ruffwear models come in gray so if you can find them on a buy/sell group that is your best bet.
Do not be pulled in by the aesthetic wonderland that is one Tigris or Wolf Republic. They look great on Instagram, but these packs do not fit dogs in a way that is safe to carry weight bigger than a roll of poop bags. Also avoid Groundbird, the appeal of full customization is real, but their packs ALSO do not sit on the proper area to carry weight.
Recent billboard in Northern Minnesota, paid for by the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, Sep. 2023.
A Sign of the Times
This photo surfaced on Facebook in a Voyageur's Wolf Project post of a billboard paid for by The MN Deer Hunters Association, blaming wolves for the loss of 54,000 deer fawns every year in Minnesota. Using words like 'devour' and the sweet image of a young fawn, the billboard appears to argue for the management of wolf populations to protect Minnesota's deer herds - for the benefit of more deer available to Minnesota deer hunters.
The Voyageurs Wolf Project brings up several concerns regarding the legitimacy of the numbers on the board, which will further be explained below. This post will also explore the research of wolf predation on deer fawns, and wolf and deer ecology.
To begin, we will start by discussing number-hurling, one of the most common misused of scientific information in the media.
Number-Hurling
Number-hurling is the act of using a number, statistic, or other forms of data to support a claim. The difference between this and sharing scientific information is that not much (if any) further information is given.
Numbers without context are arbitrarily. Take this quote: "150,000 people die every day". That seems like a lot - until you consider that the human population on Earth is approaching 8 billion, meaning .001% of the human population dies every day.
With that in mind, the next question should be: what does 54,000 mean for deer in Minnesota?
Deer, Deer, Deer
Most sources estimate Minnesota has a white-tailed deer population of about 1 million, give or take a ten-thousand. Since it is difficult imposable to count the exact number, most population information comes from statistical models and hunter harvest data.
Links to Deer Population information:
Deer Friendly
MN DNR website
AZ animals
This PDF talks more in-depth about estimating animal populations using methods like Plot Sampling and Distance Sampling. These methods involve surveying a randomly selected area for the animal. The number of animals counted is then divided by the survey area, presenting an animal density.
There are 86,943square miles in Minnesota. If we randomly selected 1-square-mile study areas across the state, and calculated 11.5 deer/square mile, that would give us about 1 million animals. The animals are obviously not perfectly spread out across the state, but we have a population estimate for statical purposes.
54,000 divided by 1 million and multiplied by 100 is 5.4. This means according to the billboard, wolves killed 5.4% of deer in a single year. But there's a problem with this math - the number 1 million references all deer, while the number 54,000 only refers to fawns. In order to find out what percentage of fawns are being killed by wolves in Minnesota, we have to estimate of the population of deer under 1 year old.
How Many Fawns are in Minnesota?
Disney's Bambi, 1942
The truth is - we don't know how many fawns are in state.
Fawn populations are more difficult to estimate than adult populations because fawns >6months old are very good at hiding. For the first couple weeks, a fawn's main survival method is curling up in the grass and hiding. Conducting any sort of survey to count fawns by hand is simply not efficient due to the number of fawns that would be missed.
A mature doe has 2 fawns per year on average (young mothers with smaller body sizes typically have 1 fawn, and older, healthier does have twins, or sometimes 3 - 4 in a single spring). So, why can't we multiple 2 fawns for every adult female deer? We don't know the number of female adult deer either.
Even if the sex ratio of a population was 1:1 (one male for every female), we don't know how many of those animals are mature. If we tried to multiply 2 by half of the population, we would be assuming that female fawns are also giving birth to two fawns. The ratio is most likely not 1:1 either. A healthy deer population has more females than males, since they reproduce polygamously. (More males than females leads to more reproductive competition, which could reduce survival rates of mature bucks).
For Heaven Sakes - What DO We Know?!
We can estimate fawn survival rates. This website from the University of Georgia talks in depth about whitetail fawn research and methods.
A common tactic is to use VIT's on mature does during the winter. In the spring when the doe gives birth, the tracker falls out and sends location data to researcher. Using the data, researchers find the newborn fawn, take measurements, and fit it with a radio collar to monitor it's movements. The collar expands as the fawn grows, and if the fawn survives after the study ends, the collar falls off. If the fawn dies during the study, the collar sends out a mortality signal after a period of non-movement.
Read more about fawn mortality studies and how they impact fawn survivability here.
These mortality studies cannot be used in estimating fawn population for a couple reasons.
The location the fawns are found at is not random. The randomized selection of study areas prevents skewered data. If we count deer at a known feeding location, and use that survey data to estimate the population of other locations, that data would reflect only the area where deer are being feed. In other words, the population estimation would read as if deer have food everywhere - which they do not. Food resources are not equally distributed everywhere. There are places animals go often and places they avoid entirely. Randomized location provide a middle-ground. In monitoring surveys, the priority is to collect as many fawns as the survey needs. Researchers will purposefully choose locations they can catch the most does (over bait, at a water source, along prime bedding and feeding habitat).
There are a limited number of fawns. Part of the goal of a survey is to count as many animals as possible. In mortality surveys, the opposite is true - use as few animals as possible. Wildlife research is bound to the same laws and guides as laboratory animal research under the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), along with state and federal regulations. The goal of any research project regarding animals is to be as non-invasive as the study allows, and use as few animals as possible, or substitutes for live animals whenever possible. Read more about the 3R's in Animal Research.
HOWEVER - data from fawn mortality studies can give us information about wolf predation.
This paper from the US Geological Survey looks at mortality rates of white-tailed deer fawns who were predated on by wolves and black bear in Minnesota in 1994. In this study of 21 tagged fawns, 51% were predated on by wolves, and 49% were predated on by black bears. This paper from Todd Fuller also points to wolves being the biggest cause of mortality on the sampled fawns.
Natural Selection At Work
Overproduction example in caribou
By now, we've all heard of Charles Darwin and his theories of evolution and natural selection. Part of natural selection regards overproduction.
Sea turtles, rabbits, insects, and fish are all examples of animal that produce more offspring in a single breeding event than can reasonably survive. This overproduction is a natural remedy to predators who will eat the excess offspring before causing a dip in the population.
This is why researchers make a distinction between fertility - the number of young that are born to an individual, and recruitment - the number of young that reach sexual maturity. As cute as those baby animals are - they don't do much for a population until they reach the age they can breed. If a population is decreasing, fecundity, fertility, and recruitments are all factors that should be investigated.
With all that in mind, we have no idea what the population of deer fawns is in Minnesota, therefor, the number 54,000 can not give us any information, aside from the fact it is only 5.4% of the total estimated deer population.
Where did 54,000 come from?
Photo from the Voyageurs Wolf Project Trail Camera
According to the International Wolf Center, there are about 2,699 wolves (give or take 700) in Minnesota as of the 2020 Wolf Survey. We could estimate the number of fawns killed by wolves by multiplying the number of fawns an individual wolf kills by the total number of wolves. However, as the Voyageurs Wolf Project points out, that is also a difficult number to figure out.
According to a Wisconsin News article, wolves kill 17 - 20 deer per year (no distinguishment made between fawns and adults). This study from Northern Michigan University claims 12 wolves killed 217 fawns over the course of 4 years. That means that each collared wolf ate 18 fawns - over the course of 4 years. Just for laughs, if we assume each individual wolf killed the exact same amount of fawns every year, that means that one wolf killed 4.5 fawns in a single year.
Search "how many fawns do wolves kill a year" and you will find a string of news articles with 'he-said-she-said' quotes and blog threads of passionate deer hunters. When it comes to raw data from researchers in the field, the answer becomes illusive. The fact that non of these estimates repeat is as big of a red flag as you can get in the science world, as reliable experiments have repeatable data.
In their post, the VWP referenced a paper that estimated wolves killed 17-20 fawns in Upper Michigan. If there are 2,700 wolves in Minnesota, multiply that number by the number of fawns killed, and you get 45,900 - 54,000. The billboard strictly assumes that each wolf kills 20 fawns per year. However, the statistic of 17-20 fawns per wolf was pulled from an article that made no distinction between fawns and adult wolves. Not only is the 54,000 based on questionable sources, but the sources it is pulled from makes it unreliable for not distinguishing between fawns and adults.
Every Year, a Wolf Counts to Twenty and then Stops
Funny enough, the billboard leads one to believe that the number of fawn killed by deer each year is a static number. It is not. How many fawns a wolf kills changes year to year, and depends on multiple factors.
In their own surveys of wolf kills, VWP saw breeding pairs kill more fawns than single wolves. This makes sense - breeding animals require higher calorie intact while pregnant and nursing.
It is also well-known that wolves change their predatory behavior depending on resource availability. In late summer, fawns are strong enough to follow their mothers instead of hiding, so wolves in northern Minnesota will turn to eating beavers, fishing, and even eating berries. Late summer is a particularly lean time for wolves, and is when most wolf pups die of starvation. This paper from Scandinavian research on wolves hunting moose determined that the age of the breeding male was a significant factor in a hunt's success, meaning older adults have more experience.
Lean Summer Pup, via Voyaguers Wolf Project Trail Cams
One important factor in fawn survival to consider is the health of the mother. Though they are born precocial, fawns are highly dependent on their mothers for the first couple of months on their lives, and typically stay with their mothers for their first year. Not only are they given food and groomed, but they learn foraging behavior and predator avoidance. This article goes into dept about how maternal health and dominance can affect survivability of fawns.
Another variable to consider is habitat. Deer can live in a wider variety of habitat that wolves and other predators can. Wolves, black bear, and mountain lions prefer habitat away from busy metropolitan areas, whereas deer can live in wooded patches of suburbs in the middle of a small city. Fawns living in these areas would not be predated on by wolves because there are no wolves around (though there are coyotes). This article talks more in depth about the different mortality rates of different habitat types of whitetail deer.
In Summary
While its known wolves consume a lot of fawns, their predation rates on fawns change through out the year, and vary by habitat, season, and experience. Fawn survival rates are also influenced by environmental factors and the health and dominancy of the mother.
The number of fawns killed by wolves each year is not a static number. There is little evidence to defend 54,000, and even if it were accurate, it is insignificant since the population of fawns and the birth rate of fawns in the state of Minnesota is unknown.
Wolves killing deer fawns in Minnesota is only one line in a vast ecological web. No single factor has ever been recorded causing a significant decline in a species. When a species is declining, there are always multiple factors at play.
Deer vs Vehicles
According to the MN Office of Traffic Safety, between 2016 and 2020, there have been over 6,000 vehicle collisions with deer on the road. 1,000 of those incidents involved serious injuries or fatalities to the people in the car.
The MN DNR website says in 2022, the harvest report was 170,000 deer taken by hunters - which is also 7% lower than the harvest rate of 2021. Even then, that number is significantly higher than 54,000.
The billboard also mentions nothing about the predation of black bear and coyote on deer and fawns. Coyotes are significant because unlike wolves and black bear, they can live closer (and even within) city limits, meaning they can affect deer populations in places wolves and bear cannot.
The Bigger Message
The opposite of the previous billboard.
The purpose of this post is not to villain-ify the MN Deer Hunters Association or glorify wolves, but to encourage people to ask bigger questions when being thrown vague information.
**Opinions Below**
Wolves serve a role in the ecosystem that no other species, including humans, can fulfil. While they should not be evicted from the landscape, this doesn't mean hunting them should never be allowed.
As important as wolves are, they do often cause conflict over livestock, and people's general fear of the animals. Allowing controlled hunts may mitigate potential conflict as well as reinforcing a fear of humans - a thing that may help keep the species alive.
The bottom line - whether or not we hunt wolves is a decision based on our values of wildlife. We need to ask ourselves: what is important to me? Why do I think that is important? What is the information I base my values on?
Answering those questions is the first step we can all take to protect ourselves against number-hurling and make informed decisions about ourselves and our world.
