The morning call., 1891-01-09
A NIGHT WITH WOLVES,
Thrilling Experience With the
HOwling Beasts.

1t was, il / mistake not. the first dav in
December on which got most beautiful
SHOT at large buck elk, and it proved my
last shot for that season.
did not give him time to dodge AS he
came to a full stop the bead filled hand
somely on his breast and pulled, sending n
small, sharp cone of lead directly into "the
sticking place" which must have ranged
nearly the whole length of him. Away he
went over the opposite knoll, and / loaded
quickly, Whlstllng meanwhile to convince
myself that wasn't a bit excited He bIed
most proiusely from the start, and l would
not nave given man one shilling to have
INSURED suu III. Ihe saving OF him; but there's
may i sup An elk with small, sharp
strongly Tor half an hour, or even more:
likewise, he ran do his little mile in two
minutes mn, over rough ground and fallen logs;
"hlnference is hobviOus."
Nile al ter mile followed the trail, find
ing plenty of blood all the way. but seeing
nIthlng OF the elk, and at last the sun.
Whlch went down at a prepoSterOusly early
1our on that Gay, gave indications of SUD
den ieave-Iaking-lt began to grow dark. L
Stlli hurried on as best l could feeling hot
and anxious, until, at the edge of an i'm
mense swamp, night overlook me, and |
could keep the trail no further. Here de-
eided to let the dog go; he had been show
ing unwonted eagernesS all the way, and |
was sure he could find the elk in a few min.
uteS; also, having found it, he was sure to
monty by howlng long and loud; SO | sent
him IN. For some five minutes after he
started all was silent; then came the howl |
was waiting and wishing for. Good the
elk was safe and within h.lf mile of me-
There was no use attempting to penetrate
such swamp after dark-a man would be
a fuol to try it-So l commenced collecting
Wood for fire, and making other little ar
Iangements for passing the night endurablv.
Hardly had L begun to fix rough camp
however, when from the swamp arose such
series Of yells and bowls as few nervous
persons would care to hear IN close prOxim-
ity on dark night; and in a marvelously
short time Pete the dog was covering ana
growing at my feet IN an agony of terror.
The swamp seemed literally alive with
wolves. They collected about the carcass
of the elk, and in the stiffness of the night
fancied could hear the bones crack under
their powerful jaws as they fought snarled,
gormandlZed and hOwled by turns. 1t was
IN vain that l went as far into the swamp
as l could get, shouting myself hoarse and
hiring toward them repeatedly. The rascals
seemed to know was impotent to do them
any harm, and only hOwled the louder
The opportunity which this incident af-
forded Tor observing the traits aud pecu-
llarIties OF the ssnguinary towards would
have ben worth the sacrifice under other
circumstances, but L was very anxious to
tire, and l knew the brutes too well to ex-
pect anything more than the bare antlers
after they were done with it; so / gave up
trying to scare them and listened TO their
beaStly snarllng and wrangling as they
gobbled and tore at my elk, inwardly swear
Ing that While l lived never would let slip
an opportunity for taking a wolf scalp.
They soon finished the elk, and after that
kept up huilabaoo at intervals all night,
to the extreme terror of Pete, who shiyerbd
and watched necessarily.
S0ne time after midnight it commenced
raining most furously, the wind blowing al
most hurricane at the same time, and 1t
was with the greatest difficulty that 1 could
keep the fire alive. To make matters worse
the weather grew rapidly colder, and before
morning was shaking to the point of dis
solution with the ague. l had nothing to
eat, had left my half pint flask at the shanty,
and had neither blanket nor ak. On the
whole 1t was one of the nights to be remem-
bered, and more or less Of them are chron-
icled IN the memory of every genuine still
hunter. but for the cOnfouuded ague i
could have managed to eXtort some fun from
it. too.
After the fire got low and gave ont but
very little light, the wolves grew very bold
coming within a few rods and bowling as il
for wager. AT every fresh yell Pete would
sh!yer with redOubled viSor, pressing his
ribs against the log and whining piteously
At last, in the very extreme OF cOWardice
and fear, he jammed himself is far under
the log as possible, where he lay whining
and shivering until daylight. Few bunting
dogs will face wolf singly-yery few in
deed but will cover when near pack of
them. In justice to Pete, and as may not
have occasion to mention him again, | Will
say that he turned out all things cOnsid-
cred, the best stillhunt dog l have ever
owned or trained.
Morning dawned at length, aud, sick as
certainly was, L determined 10 have look
at the scene of the previous nights carnival.
Taking a large pine for guide [ found the
spot without diff ulty, but there was moth
ing left of my elk save the antlers-gnawed
and broken apart-a few fragments of boue
and part OF jaw. The anters were very
long and heavy, but badly mutilated; still,
as they might ''adorn tale" | lugged them
with much labor TO the opening aud depOs-
tied them in the branches of a tree for
safety. intending TO call for them some time
when felt more like packing. l never saw
them atterward, nor the buck which had
left in the morning.-Forest anu Stream