Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-06-29
Wolves.
"The long, long gallop that can tire
The hounds fierce rage and quell the hunt
er's fire."

"The long, long gallop that can tire
The hounds fierce rage and qtiell the hunt
er's fire."
The fact cannot be concealed that
wild flesh-eating animals are on the
increase in Iron county. This arises
from several causes, among which may
be noticed the fact that large NUM-
ber of people who formerly obtained a
rather precarious living by a little
farming and good deal Of hunting
and fishing, and whose homes were on
the outposts of the settlements, have
gone to the public works or rented land
in the thickly settled parts, so that the
amount Of wild range given up entire
iy to those animals has been increased.
Cutting the large timber has given
rise to a very dense underground
which affords fine shelter for them,
so that panthers roam on Shep-
herd and Lewis mountains, and wolves
howl and kill sheep within mile of
Ironton. In the west part of the
county the killing of sheep by wolves
has been extensive, and more recently,
when the stock of sheep was exhaust
ed, they took yearling cattle. Matters
are SO situated at present that the man
who goes far into the bush without the
means of taking care of himself Is
moro foolhardy than wise.
1t may interest some, especially the
younger readers, to have q scrap of
wolf-history. Wolves belong to the
dog tribe, and their puppies come
about the first of May. The mother
stays at the den for about ten days, or
until the eyes of tho puppies are open,
aild then she goes out, sucked down
and ravenously hungry, ready to at
tack anything that comes i'll her way.
She is more dangerous than q pail ther'
If n man cannot climb out of her way.
Soon the puppies become able to travel,
and then, If she kills any game too
large to be carried, she takes them to
it, so that the suckling season does not
last long, and the mother soon regains
her strength, and then she will fairly
run down and wear out any other ami
NAL.
Wolves hunt in packs. The writer
has personally known of cases where
III number of wolves-say five or six
would post themselves in q very mar
row shut-in, between precipitous hills,
and then two of them would go out
and chase in a deer. In running u
deer, one wolf heads and another
drives, SO as not only to keep the deer
moving but in particular direction.
But the great question Is how to get
rid OF wolves. It is evident that oil
the plans hitherto tried have been q
failure, because, under their operation,
wolves have increased. Some persons
insist that the bounty on w0lf-scalps
should be increased. Wolf-hunters
are numerous, but wolfcatchers are
very scarce, because to enter the field
against a wolf aud beat him at his own
game requires more shrewdness and
powers of endurance than most men
possess, 80 that man who cannot Kill
q wolf for three dollars cannot kill him
for ten.
Others make On outcry against the
dog-law, and insist that the only pro-
lection against wolves is the allotment
of three dogs to every poor man and of
five to every very poor man; in short,
the poorer the man the moIe dogs.
But the fact is, in u straight run there
is not one dog in thousand that can
catch wolf, and not one dog in five
thousand that can do anything with a
wolf when he has come up with him.
SO that the argument which makes the
existence of wolves a justification for
the multiplication OF dogs is not csr,-
elusive.
It is evident that If the wolves are
to be destroyed the present system
must be abandoned. Men without
dogs must enter the field, aud the cum
ming of the wolf must be overmatched
by the cunning of man, who must take
of the weakness in the
character of the wolf. The business of
killing wolves must go into the hands
of those who will destroy thenr, not In
of the bounty on scalps,
but for the greater safety of their farm
stock, whilst those who hunt can de-
stroy them without respect to the
bounty, and take their pay in the in
creased number of deer, turkeys and
rabbits. In short, the farmers must
take the matter in hand, and depend
not on dogs, but baits, traps and poi
son. i. Z.
A cross, peevish, fretful wife Is quite un-
happy and makes her whole household SO.
But she is to be pitied; she is sufferer