The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-12-17
WOLF HUNTING.


In that ne1ghborhoOd, and we formed o
party Of four English gentlemen resi-
dent in the vicinity, and q native groom
in the service Of one of the party, q
keen sportsman, and thoroughly familiar
with the surrounding country.
Due preparations having been made
overnight, the next morning found us
stirring early, and at 10 A. M. we left
our hospitable host, who had enter
tanned us the previous evening, for the
ground selected for the days sport, fol-
lowed by eight greyhounds of the Eng
lish and Russian breeds (which is of q
stouter nature than the English dog,
but without his high speed, and fine
young dog by Russian wolf-hound
from q Russian and English mother.
which cross resembles the Scotch deer
hound. After two hours, occupied in
making detour TO take advantage of
the wind and beat against it, as the
sense Of smell and hearing are very
strong in the wolf, we reached the dis
trict we had determined to hunt through.
After o quarter of an hours halt In the
shelter of dell to refresh ourselves and
horses, we took up our positions in the
line of beat, at an interval of fifty yards
apart, and thus formed, commenced
operations. After having ridden
through dense scrub and steppe grass,
in the height of expectation for over an
hour, suddenly the cry Of "wolf" was
heard on the right of the line, and be-
fore we had scarcely pulled ourselves
together fine wolf was seen breaking
away about two hundred yards ahead,
and making gradually to the right of
our line. Our hunters seemed to un-
derstand the sound, and we were at
once in full pursuit, the dogs having
well sighted him and eager for the fray.
Our horses had only got into their stride
when second wolf was seen galloping
away to the extreme left, fast making
for the open, unnoticed by the dogs.
This was embarrassing; however, two
OF our party were equal to the occasion,
and almost Immediately struck out after
him, independently Of the rest, who
were in hot chase after the first wolf.
The second, followed by M and
G., had now reached the open, and
was stretching along at rattling pace,
encouraged, no doubt, by the splendid
start he had obtained from the indecision
about following him. Fortunately one
OF the strongest dogs, which had Jagged
on the extreme left, seeing some of the
party galloping in that direction, fol-
lowed them; soon sighting the wolf, he
raced gamely in his wake, and at length
got up to him, making two or three
wrenches at his hanks, without success.
and cleverly evading the VOLTS endeavore
to seize, him in return. By this time
both wolves were doing their best, and
after fast gallop of verst, the first
was overtaken and brought to bay, des-
perately defending himself against the
overwhelming attack of the dogs, who,
after five minutes hard tussel, succeeded
in pulling him down, and worried him
until apparently quite exhausted. One
OF the party wishing to put him out of
his misery, dismounted, thinking he
was helpless, and was about to give him
finishing blow when the wolf suddenly
rose and sprang at him. c. only
escaped the danger by jumping aside,
the animal going by him and falling
among the dogs, who so disabled him
that he was easily dispatched by ono OF
the horsemen. ~
Meanwhile the second wolf was still
running hard, closely followed by M
and G. and one dog behind, when
after long stretch across the country,
he took straight into deep barlka or
gulley full of very thick underground,
where they lost sight of him, and pulled
up to consider what was best to do.
Presently they again sighted him as
cending the side of the barlka some
eighty yards to the left of them. Down
dashed M, and on reaching the
opposite summit, turned in his saddle to
see whether c. were with him, but,
to his intense modification, saw him
still on the other side. However, there
was nothing to be done but follow the
chase, though only attended by the
plucky but now much fatigued dog, who
was unable to keep up the pace, the
wolf going on as gamely as ever, and
seeming to grow stronger now that he
had parted company from his canine
foe. M now made dozen ineffect-
ual efforts to ride over the wolf, so as
to lame him if possible, but this strata
gem signally failed, as each time M
rushed at him, he swerved slightly,
stopped short, and bolted away at right
angles, getting good start. This
severely taxed the powers of the horse,
which fortunately happened to be three
parts bred English hunter, who had the
blood and turn Of speed for the work.
As n last resource, M decided to
try to turn the chase in the
direction they had come, hoping that
some of the party might have noticed
the direction taken by him and c.,
and having killed their own wolf, would
come to their assistance. After two or
three unsuccessful attempts to turn the
wolf, owing to following him too closely,
which caused him to turn off either one
side or another, NJ at last, follow
ing him at distance of twenty yards,
and bearing gently ON him, succeeded
in heading him back for three versts,
still attended in the rear by the perse-
vering greyhound. Shortly after M
had given up all hope of any assistance,
sheer hard riding, suddenly, to his
great surprise and relief, the native
groom appeared, galloping hard toward
him over the crest of hill, five hun
dred yards away, with the dogs. He
had sighted M from some highland
in the distance, and Immediately set off
TO MS AID. A Few moments more, and
the dogs had caught sight of the wolf,
who made last desperate effort to out
strip his now numerous enemies, but he
was soon overtakep, rolled over several
times. fighting desperately the while,
and wounding one of the dogs in the
head. AT last, after a long worry, he
became another trophy. So ended a
most difficult and exciting chase and o
capital days sport. On reaching the
spot where the first wolf lay dead wo
halted to rest our horses and ourselves,
and then singing the trophies across
the pommel of two of our party, We rode
home through the fast-deepening twi-
light of the late autumn evening to en-
Joy the influence of well-appointed
dinner and pleasant conversation on
the proceedings of the day. In conclu-
sion, l must add that the wolves are very
strong and wonderfully tenacious of
life, fighting desperately, though as
sailed by strong odds. Wolf hunting
ON the steppe is as interesting as it is