The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-22
THE WOLF AS A HUNTER.
HOW HE WEARS OUT HIS VICTIM
WITH RELENTLESS PURSUIT.

Maine Hunter Follows n Wolf on n
stiII Hunt for Three Days and is in
Mt the Death-HOw the Fleet Deer
is Hnrassed TO Certain Death by
the TireIess Wolf.
From the New York Sun
When. in the Maine woods. a wolf sets
out to stalk deer, it is with small ex-
pectation of stealing at once upon its prey
and ending the matter with a single
spring and struggle Experience has
taught the wolf the uselessness of such
an attempt with an animal so fleet and
wary. Indeed, with q full grown buck it
would scarcely wish to come quickly to
close quarters, for the male deer at bay
Is a fierce fighter, and can do wicked work
with his pronged horns and sharp fore
feet. So the wolf, knowing it's own supe-
rior endurance, tries other tactics similar
to those employed by western plainsmen
in the walking down" of wild horses.
and sets deliberately to work to harass
the deer, keeping it in constant motion.
day after day. with no chance to rest or
feed, until. wearied and exhausted il
can be oVertaken and safely attacked and
killed.
1t is seldom that a human being has a
chance to witness the tragedies that are
enacted among the wild creatures of the
great woods, but Natty Olcomb, an old
hunting guide in Maine, once was a spec
tator of the whole course of a VOLTS still
hunt of a deer. 1t was in the early win
ter, and he was exploring timber lands
for a numbering firm up in the Chesun-
cook region. The beginning and the END
of the chase he saw, and the tracks IN the
light snow that lay on the ground told the
rest of what had occurred.
A little herd of deer had their feeding
ground in birch thicket near the shore OF
Chesuncook Lake, not far from my camp,
said Natty in telling the story. Il hadn'
seen them, but they had been there for
weeks, as l could tell by their tracks, the
marks made where they had fed on the
tender young sprouts and twigs, and the
places where they had lain down. There
was about a foot of snow on the ground
so that they could move about freely,
and with the coming of deep snow, If left
undisturbed, they probably would have
continued to yard there for the rest of
the winter. had plenty of meat in camp
and was too busy about other things any
way to hunt them, though l meant to
kill one before broke camp.
zone afternoon, near nightfall, l was
down at the shore when / saw wolf. the
first one 1 had seen that season, out on
the frozen lake. He was near a point
that made out from the shore, full mile
away, but at that distance there was no
| installing what the creature was. He was
heading toward the birch woods where the
| to snuff the air as he trOtted along, and,
clearly, was out for business. | watched
| him for a while and then, as darkness was
| falling and | had no firearms with me, l
went back to camp.
1.-THE next morning l took my rifle and
| went down to the birch growth where the
! deer had been feeding, on the chance of
| getting a shot at one before the wolf
| frightened them away / was too late.
! Along the shore under the bank were the
/ broad, round imprints of the VOLTS feet,
| showing the course he had taken He
! evidently had scented the deer, for he had
/ skulked along under such cover as he
could find and the tracks showed where,
! from time to time, he had stopped to lis
ten and watch.
ION the other side of the yard, which
covered perhaps fifty acres and was trod-
/ den all about with deer paths, the tracks
! showed where the deer, three in number,
! seeing or seeming the approach of their
! evil visitor, had started suddenly and
! then dashed away. The tracks from the
! different places where they had been feed
ing soon came together, and, beyond that
/ followed one path in single file. The deer
| had plunged away, at full speed, with ap-
/ parently only one idea in mind, the get
/ ting away from their prowlng enemy
Across the yard and following in their
! wake lay the VOLTS track He must have
! got pretty near the deer before they took
| the alarm, for the footprints showed that
| he had made few swift bounds as if
! trying to Overtake them at once He had
soon given up that attempt, and had fallen
! back into his natural. long trot as he fol-
! lowed along their trial
4 had got through with my work a t
| Chesuncook, and intended to start that
| day for Eagle lake. / went back TO camp
| packed my dunnage upon my moose sled.
| and set out on my journey. As the dec.
| and wolf. tracks led the way | had in
/ tended to go, l made up my mind 10 stav
| with them as long as ] could. | wanted
! to see the end of the chase, with the
| chance to get a piece of Venison and NAV
| be a wolf skin, too, as my part Of the blsi
! ness. All that day l followed the tracks
! across uplands and boys. through nine
| swamps, and over ridges. / could see
| where in places the deer had STONED ann
| faced about to find out if the gray mr.
! suer was still on their track then nod
| started on again; but nowhere was there
| a sign that they had tried to feed FSery-
| where that they had gone, close lfDOn tbeir
| footprints, was the broad, deep mark or
| the VOLTS paws, showing how it had for
| lowed them in its tireless trot
! Il made a camD and slept on a sbal,o
down of evergreens that night and starred
| out early the next morning Abon+ g a q
o'clock I came to where the tracks firm
| ed away from my course ana 7 Iaf.
them, hardly expecting to see them apaip
! But ] came upon them once more aho,,t
| the middle of the afternoon and folioV5o5
| them toward Eagle Lake until night SF
! the distance the deer and wolf had cover
| ed in the chase 1 could form no idea M
| it must have been many miles The v,oifis
| pursuit showed no signs Of slackeninC
| The deer were bctraying signs of v,ea
| ness and the places where they had mans
| ed to rest or TO listen for the aDproacb
] of their relentless foe were becoming more