Gee, let's look at some statistics, though no doubt some will say they're lies (usually attributed to Benjamin Disraeli):
From 2004-2018, the Montana elk "harvest" has varied from 20,154 (2013) to 30,924 (2017) . The number of elk hunters varied from 103,090 (2010) to 113,976 (2017). The average "harvest" has been 24,948. This does not indicate a wipe-out of elk.
Another interesting deal, whether you want to believe it or not: During that period more and more elk have shown up on valley-bottom ranches, usually in early fall, long before the winter snows that used to drive them down from the mountains. Around here at least 500 have shown up regularly on a big ranch in the middle of the valley for several years--where very little hunting is allowed.
Is this because of wolves driving them out of the mountains? Maybe--but there aren't many wolves in this valley. However, one study indicated elk prefer to stay on private land where little hunting by "us" is allowed, even if wolves show up. I have seen this myself since 2012, when I got lucky and was allowed to hunt a ranch an hour south of here in the eastern foothills of the Gallatin Range. The first morning, during the middle of the rifle season, I glassed a mile-long "park" holding three dozen branch-antlered bulls. A few hours later I killed one of three 6-points hanging around together on the edge of the park.
Yet, according to the rancher, a pack of wolves had been there for most of the year. We even ran into the pack when bringing my bull out, but did not get a good shot at them as they were running up a ridge 500+ yards away. Have since seen the same basic thing on a couple other ranches.
Why so the elk keep hanging out where wolves show up? Apparently because wolves are less dangerous than humans, who blast away at them at any range on public land. In fact, after I shot my bull, the other bulls and at least 100 cows and calves ran to the edge of the ranch, but stopped at the border of the public land. In three days, four of us killed 6x6 bulls on the place, because we hunted carefully and did not drive them off the place. Yet the wolves were still there. We either saw them or their fresh sign the entire time.
Yeah, a bunch of elk were killed by wolves in some parts of Montana when they first started showing up, either the wolves that drifted down from Canada, or those that drifted up from Yellowstone after the stupid reintroduction. But elk in many areas have become more wary of wolves--and and are still far more wary of human hunters than far less numerous wolves.
In general, the mule deer population is also pretty good in my area, and four moose have been road-killed near our little town in the past year--and yet a friend recently saw two BIG bulls not far from town.
Yes, wolves eat big game, sometimes a lot of big game. But they do not exist where they can't find something to eat. If they eat most of the game, then they disappear as well. Have seen this in ;places from Montana to northern Canada to Alaska, often when hunting the same areas years apart. One was the Mulchatna caribou herd in Alaska. Hunted the same basic area in 1996 and 2009. Saw MANY caribou in 1996, very few in 2009. Was this due totally to wolves, or the normal up-and-downs of caribou populations?
If there is plenty of big game to eat, there are plenty of wolves--which was mentioned over and over again in the journals of Lewis and Clark over two centuries ago.
