in reply to the comments, this is definitely a wolf, and he was 100% wild. It was killed in the late 90s by one of my good friends in southeastern Saskatchewan, and they think this was the alpha male/leader of the pack. I thought the snow mount base might give it away.
Wolves are not that common in this area of SK. They had seen this pack led by the big black several times that winter. The conditions were harsh that year with a deep, heavy snow. They would see the pack or signs of it or hear neighbors talk about seeing them every other week or so, and figured the wolves were making a large circuit looking for food. The pack settled in their area more regularly and started feeding on a big winter-kill cow. There were 4 or 5 in the pack, and of course, this big black wolf stuck out like a sore thumb in the snow. They watched the pack from a long distance a couple of days, and this black wolf would eat his fill, then the others in the group would dig in. They set up in gun range for the pack one day and waited on them to show and popped this guy when he came up to the carcass to eat again. I'm not sure how much he weighed.
