St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-16
Staying WILD HORSES.
A Wyoming Writer Tells Of Peculiar
Western Pastime Among
Indians.
A RanChman's Interesting Story About
the Singular Habits Of Wild
Horses.
How the Willy Indian Hunts Them
Great Fun For the Cow
Boys.

on a hillside. His eyes were fast glaz-
! ing over with the film of death as his
blood slowly ebbed away from bullet
hole in his lungs.
There" said the old ranchman as he
stopped over the dying horse, 81 guess
you won't steal any more of my mares,
you old rascal, you" and he contemptu-
Ously kicked the carcass. The ranch
man was old Steine, well known horse
raiser in the Big Horn mountains.
what did you kill him for?" asked.
"What did i kill him for?" said old
Steine in establishment. For stealing
my mares, of course. You didn't sup
pose / killed him for fun, did ye?"
81 didn't know" | replied mOdeStly,
''but it seems pity to kill so fine
| beast"
IA fine old thief,' said Steine, kick
ing the carcass again. why, man, do
you know that old cuss has stolen more
than dozen of my mares, and l reckon
$1,000 wouldn't pay for the damage he
has done in this valley during the past
summer"
'Tell me all about it, said. 'for it
all seems very strange to me-"
81 reckon it wouldn't seem very
strange to you, stranger, if you lived up
i'll these parts and were trying to raise
horses" And the man looked at me
contemptuously, as if he thought was
a greenhOrn just out from the East.
See here, old man," said, sharply,
"1'll thank you not to take me for a
tenderfoot. for | recken have been on
the plains about as long as you have,
but never saw anybody kill horse
like that before"
"GueSS your experience at horse rails
ing, then. is rather limited, stranger"
said old Steine, but as you ask me a
civil question, and seem to be an hon
est sort of a chap, I'll tell you all
about it,"
Didn't You never hear OF wild
horses?" he asked, suddenly.
Yes" said. Il have, of course"
WELL" continued Steine, that's one
of them lying there, and l reckon he
was the biggest thief in the whole lot.
You see they run in gangs of fifty to
hundred, and the stations steal our
mares and drive them off into the wild
bands, and that's the last ever seen of
them unless it is with spy-glass. They
just go plum wild and seem worse nor
the real wild mares"
then learned from the old ranchman
some curious facts about the wild horses
| of the plains. Every effort to destroy
l
territorial government is now to be
asked to eradicate their bands, writes
the Fort Mckinney, Wye. correspond
dent of the New York World. They
have increased so wonderfully within
the past few years that they have
become an unbearable nuisance to the
stock growers of the plains. They Craze
in bands of twenty. fifty and even one
hundred, and are very difficult to ap-
| An cf1 1lxn
cupieS some elevation and he will
trumpet an alarm to the herd if he sees
any one coming. In times of danger
from wild beasts the stations form a
circle and the mares and colts are put
inside. The colts are often attacked by
wolves or Rocky Mountain lions, but
they never succeed in killing colt
without a battle with the horses, and
often the wolves and lions are kicked
4 and beaten SO badly that they have to
beat retreat without securing their
prey.
THE STATIONS ARE REGULAR NOR
MONS,
and get all the mares they can, They
cross and recroSS the country looking
for mares, and even PROSECUTING for
horses to enter their band. If COW
ponies astray too far from the cattle Or
camp the first thing they know they are
rounded up by an old stallion and
driven off into the hills. Often wild
herd will discover a tame band of
horses grazing quietly in the valley with
no intention of leaving their range, but
the band of wild horses, led on by their
stations, dash down in the valley, cap
ture them and carry them away. The
wild stations are shot without mercy by
the ranchmen. If one is seen grazing on
hill he is sneaked up upon and dropped
in his tracks. They are very alert and
difficult to approach, but like the tame
most any part of the body will cause the
horse to drop on the plain. The Indians
are the best wild-hOrSe hunters. but
they do not like to be eutin stormy
weather and they cannot stand the cold
; of winter as we'll as white men. In a
storm is the best time to hunt wild
horses. for then they bunch and cannot
see any one approaching until it is
: too late to get out of the way of
the bullets. 1t is generally useless
for hunter to attempt to run down a
, wild horse with tame one. The tame
horse, weighted down by the burden of
the hunters body, soon tires and the
wild horse easily escapes. Sometimes
; the hunters discover the tracks of wild
, horses near a stream and they then
: hunt for their watering place. The
band always waters at the same place.
: Hiding in the brush or crawling to a
, bluff the hunter lies in wait until the
horses come to the water, and then
shoots them. It Is difficult to catch
them as they seem to know instinctively
| when hunters are about, and if they
even suspect danger will at once leave
: the locality. A smoke or anything un-
l. usual will stampede them, and they will
run forty or fifty miles before letting
: up. Their sense of smell is very acute,
and; on the wind side, about mile is as
/ close as a hunter can get before being
discovered by his odor, and the horses
are off in iiffy.
The winter is the best season for wild
) horse hunting in Wyoming. Ehe ami
| mails get. discouraged by the deep SHOWS
. and become hungry and poor. They are
! apt at such times to bunch in the cot
, tonwood groves, where they eat the
bark off the trees and chew up all the
) small limbs they can reach. In winter,
: too, the horse hunters can unite with ii
= the business of 'swolfing." Perhaps
: ing" is. Well, ''wolfer' is simply a
r wolf hunter, or man who kills wolves
/ for their hides and the reward offered
J for their destruction. In earlier years
wolves on the plains were killed only
( for their pelts, but now they are killed
; to save the game and sheep, as well as
for their pelts. Next to man the wolf
is the greatest destroyer of game.
J The gray wolf is dangerous, too,
and will attack anything from
chipmunk to man. They used to
) hunt in gangs and destroy great many
/ buffalOes. They would follow an old
bull, biting him until they had ham
/ strung him and then they would kill
5 and eat him. The buffalo being gone,
, the sheep, cattle and small game of ali
; | binds suffer- Annually rrnaf locc from