The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1870-04-29
Correspondence
LETTERS FROM VIRGINIA.
A Wolf Hunt in Black Mountain.
No. al.

giving you an illustration of the religious
character of Wilburn Waters, | promised
in future letters to relate some of his hunt
ing adventures, as he had related them to
me, while sitting at his campfire. | now
propose to give you one of his recent great
Wolfhunts, which will at least have the
merit of accuracy.
Soon after the close Of the war, but little
hunting having been done during the four
Years of its continuance, the wolves became
very numerous as well rs very destructive,
not only in the mountainous portion of this
part of Virginia, but fearfully so in the
mountain counties of Western North Caro-
lima, so much so, that but few sheep had
escaped them in the vicinity of the Black
and other mountains in that portion Of
Rip Van Wrinkles dominions. The fame
of Wilburn Waters, as an intrepid and sue
cessful hunter, having gone out into all
that country, number Of farmers whose
folds had been scattered and broken up
! some go in all-drew up an obligation to
give him one sheep each for every wolf he
would kill, in addition to the S. bounty
given by the county for each scalp.
wilbur considered the proposition, and
after capturing n few that were infesting
his own neighborhood, he employed his
nearest neighbor to attend to his stock,
locked up his cabin and started out upon
the perilous and laborious expedition
Having reached his hunting ground, q
hundred miles away from his home, the way
the crow flies, he entered upon his business.
Month after month he traversed those 81
lent ranges, sleeping in their gorges and
upon their precipices, but still the game
eluded him, and seemed to mock his efforts
to come upon them. Finally, coming up
with sign" and following this till it be-
came trail, he stuck to it like a blood
hound, following it from mountain to
mountain and from county to county-at
one time leading him out into the open
country, and then again plunging into the
darkest and deepest recesses Of that unin
habited and almost untrodden region.
At length the trail became so plain that
he could run upon it, and estimate not on
ly the number, but the sizes of the differ
ent individuals of the gang, from their
tracks at their watering places. The sign
and trail appearing to be fresh all the time,
he concluded he must be close upon them,
and followed on from spot to spot, from
crag to crag, from cave to cave, for weeks,
and yet they eluded him, and seemed to be
as far away as ever. But having under
taken to capture them, he intended to do
it, though he should have to eight it out
on that line" all winter. After having
followed them thus closely and so long and
patiently, and believing that he was very
short distance from them, he marked the
spot at which he had arrived, and conclu-
ded to return to the nearest settlement, rest
day or two, replenish his exhausted
rati1r tn FRO
give it up as long as one of the gang re-
manned. With this determination he start
ed back, but had walked but few PAGES,
when he resolved to try the last expedient,
tho dangerous one, to ascertain whether
or not the gang was within hearing, which
was to howl. This was an important mat
ter, as well as very perilous, and had to be
managed with great adroitness. If an eX-
act imitation, he knew that the gang would
dash at him in the greatest fury, and ifnot
an imitation, that it would frightcn and
drive them to distant covert He stop
ped, gave long, tremendous howl, as is
the custom Of the wolf when separated from
his companions and so exact was the imi-
tation, that the echo was still reverbera-
ting along the distant peaks, when the
whole gang, eleven in number, sent up
united responsive howl, that almost, as he
expressed it, made his blood run cold so
fearful was it in the deep, dark gorges of
the mountain, miles away from the nearest
human habitation. Before the combined
howl had ceased ringing in his ears, he
heard them coming through the under
growth, and by the time he had his large
double barrelled shotgun to his shoulder,
they were within few feet of him, with
distended, foaming jaws and blood-shot
eye-balls. Drawing a bead upon the larg
est, and bringing another in line, he pulled
the trigger, and the two leaders fell dead
in their tracks, and at the crack of the 9TH
CT barrel another sprang in the air and fell
motionlcss alongside of them. The others,
instead of avcnging their death, or falling
upon and rending their slain companions,
and with the terrifying smell of the gun
powder in their nostrils, raised u long,
melancholy whine and fed back into the
deeper and more distant rccesses of the
mountain.
Securing the hides of the three he had
killed, and making sure of the course the
remainder Of the gang had taken, he made
his way out to the nearest settlement, rested
day or two, replenished his haversack
with his simple provision of parched corn
meal and jirked vcnison, and again plung-
ed into the forest, determined not to return
till he had slain the last wolf in the gang.
He held out faithfully, though they led
him from gorge to gorge and from noun
tain to mountain, and to great distances,
and for weeks but when he returned he
brought eight hides with him, which, with
the three before taken out, comprised the
whole gang, which had roamed through
and destroyed hundreds of sheep in the
mountain counties OF Western North Caro-
lima Besides these he captured, during
the expedition, number of catamounts Cor
wild-cats) and few bears, the whole net
ting him about 81, 900 for the years hunt.
saw him at his cabin the day he returned,
and have given the narrative as near as he
gave it to me as my memory serves me-
AT the conclusion of the story asked him
to step out in the timber and give one
howl such as he gave in the Black Noun
tains, which he did, and thought it no
wonder his blood ran cold when he heard
eleven wolves pour out that fearful sound
in chorus.
So much for the wolfhunt, and now, as
l have blank page of paper left, l believe
Il will fill it out with an anecdote or two
about bear-hunting. There were two old
gentlemen in this county, a few years ago,
with whom I was acouainted-both gone