Len Lisenbee Canandaigua Daily Messenger For many years the islands off Alaska’s coast have enjoyed a relatively steady balance between small critters and large, prey species and predators. This was especially true for the largest predator species, the gray wolves (Canis lupus), and the native deer species, the Sitka deer (or Sitka black-tailed deer, Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) which is a subspecies of the mule deer.