The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-06-06
HUNTING DAKOTA WOLVES,
Lively Times at the Annual Devils Lake
Roundup and Shooting.

In winter, when DEVILS Lake is frozen
over as smooth as a barn floor and the
ice is from one to five feet thick, the
Island. They gather there by hundreds,
and every night the chorus of their short,
sharp yelps sos wierdly over the fro
zen lake. The c-citement attending the
Dakota wolf hunt is probably not equaled
by any sport known to the Nimrod, since
the game is large, why, swift of move
ment and full of tricks. There is an ele-
ment of danger in it, too, for when the
wolves are cornered they will fight with
the desperation of mad dogs. 1t now and
then happens that wolf hunter comes off
the field with his clothes badly torn and
his flesh lacerated by the claws or teeth of
an infatuated animal, but there has never
been fatality resulting from the sport.
The hunting party get together at a
given point on the shore of the lake
about noon, and they come from all quar-
ters. 1t is not an unusual thing to see
$50 men engaged in a wolf hunt. Each
man carries rifle and couple of revol-
vers, Some are on foot and some are on
llOISoDclCf. Liz IOIS6S IlutlCu dIG uSutl-
ly the little wiry Indian pony or mus
tang that can run all night and all day
and not get tired
When the party is ready to march it
starts out across the ice in the direction
of the island. The horsemen are stationed
around the island, as near to each other
as it is possible to place them and COM
in the shape of the letter U across the is
land Some of them carry horns. others
tin pans, and when everything is ready
the men move in the direction of the
bowlder heaps, blowing the horns pound
ing the tin pans and yelling like fiends
The racket rouses the wolves lying
among the rocks and they dash from
cover. Some of the animals are in bur
rows. These are smoked out, and it is
but a very short time before there is
plenty of game running heller SHELTER.
looking for new cover At the northwest
extremity of the island is clear spot,
and it is the aim of the hunters to get
the wolves into this space where they
may completely surround them. The
men gradually advance up the island,
drumming, bowling and firing off their
guns, and the bewildered wolves flee be-
fore them until they are driven beyond
the rocks.
1t is not until the animals are sur
rounded at the upper end of the island
lldb the real run DeglnS. Inoy uaSn mere
and there to find an opening through
which it is possible to escape They are
rendered frantic by the continued blare
of horns, and the horrible yelling, and
in the excitement snap and snarl at each
other like a lot Of surly ours. Occasional
ly hunter takes shot at one and brings
him down, and in this way the ranks of
the beasts are thinned out until from
possible thirty or forty but seven or eight
remain. These are preserved for the
horsemen on the ice, who are generally
the best lnarksmen in the party. The
frightened beasts are given an opportuni-
ty to escape The circle is broken, with
the opening so calculated that the wolves
will flee to the ice They Immediately
dash through, and the hosremen remain
inactive until they have passed beyond
their circle. Then they give chase. The
wolf, with his sharp claws, is swift run
ner, even on smooth ice, and when the
ice is covered with a slight coating of
snow he is capable of making wonderful
" quick time, but as fast as he is, the
little mustangs are able to keep close to
his heels in straightaway race, but the
wolf has the advantage of being able to
make quick turns, and that is what he
does.
Every wolf hunter mounted on horse
is proud of his workmanship, and it is
the aim of each to shoot an animal in tho