Ilpo Kojola, Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, Oulu Game and Fisheries Research, Tutkijantie 2 A, FIN-90570 Oulu, Finland; Pjotr Danilov, Russian Academy of Sciences, Karelian Research Center, Institute of Biology Puskinskay 11, 185610 Petrozavodsk, Russia

When important alternative prey is lacking, change in wolf population size (CWP) can be suggested to follow the change in moose population size (CMP), and the proportion of wolves removed (PWR) by hunters. There was a time-lag of 4-6 years in CMP-CWP relationship while CWP was correlated negatively with PWR of the previous year in Russian Karelia where wolf population in 1965-1998 increased strongly from 1970 to 1979 and then declined. The observed time lag in CMP-CWP correlation could be potentially explained by for example the combined effect of wolf territoriality and PWR.