The herald., 1898-02-25
THE Willy WOOD WOLF
THE LUMBERMEN RARELY SET
EYES ON THEM
Nevertheless the Deep Minnesota
Woods Are Chock Full
of Them

The experience of r. G. Brooks in the
Itasca county forest country seems likely
to discourage the enthusiastic posse of
wolf hunters for whose benefit Brooks
journey was to some extent undertaken.
Mr.. Brooks agreed to find the most prom
ising hunting ground for wolf drive, and
there is no doubt that the territory he
traversed is literally overrun with gray
yarmints intent on the capture and demo-
lition of anything good to eat. Mr.. Brooks
has made a report to the thirty-five or
forty people who wanted to trail the willy
wolf to his lair and the report is that the
Itasca county wolf Is too clever to be seri-
ously disturbed by the advent of any num-
ber of hunters. To begin with, the coun-
try Is difficult to traverse in winter; there
Is at present insufficient snow on the
ground to make tracking feasible, and on
top of everything else the wolf is seve raj
times as smart as his pursuers can ever
hope to be.
There are thousands of wolves in the
country / have Just traversed," said Mr..
Brooks this morning, but the most ex-
traordinary thing to me is that one seldom
or never sees wolf. If a man is caught
out at night he will hear them bowling all
around his retreat, and if he stays awake
long enough without making move of SO
much as finger. he may be rewarded by
a sight of their wild eyes glaring under the
that prevents him from defending himself
the extraordinary instinct of these brutes
teaches them that this Is the case, ami
they will pick his bones clean before morn
ing. Let man be In full possession of his
faculties, though. and l would almost be
willing to bet that he might walk the
woods for years in daylight and never see
wolf He would see their tracks-mll-
lions of tracks-but the wolf has way of
concealing himself that no white man wots
of. He Is the hardest crea ture to find that
inhab!ts the forests of the north.
Il talked with number of cruisers
men who have been tramping the timber
for years and years and are as familiar
with the widest part of the forest as you
are with Nicollet avenue. One of the Oldest
OF these cruisers told me that he had seen
but one wolf in ten years, though he knew
by the tracks he was continually crossing
that there were thousands of them about
At night we could hear them bowling in the
neighborhood of his camp and understand
that he was the center of attraction for
big pack, but the most he ever could see
of his would-be assailants was the CLINT of
an eye in the freight.
Another man who has been in the cruis-
ing business for fifteen years told me that
he had only seen one wolf in all his expert
ence. He, too knew that the wolves were
there. but he regarded them as possessed
of ability to render themselves invisible He
had even seen the cloud of light snow
kicked up by a gray wolf as he got out of
the way. but. despite the close quarters
on this OCCASION he had seen neither hide
nor hair of the wolf.
"The more I look into the matter" said
Mr.. Brooks, ''the less feasible / consider
the scheme of wolf drive. 1t is the easiest
country In the world to get lost In. and
While the hunter is wandering round like
a blind man through tamarac and poplar
swamps. the wolves acquainted with
every turn and twist of the underground
are having merry time of it at his ex-
pense. L can conceive how hunt, organ
lzed and carried out by men who are famil-
lar with the lay of the country, might re-
suit In the death of few wolves. but nv
belief Is that, with a lot Of strangers trv-
ing 1t there would be nothing but vexation
and hardship to repay them for their
trouble"
Several gentlemen who were enthusiastic
over the wolf hunting plan week or two
ago expressed themselves as convinced tha t
such hunt might afford an outing for
those who participated. but that it would
result in humiliation no less marked than
that which followed the widely heralded
onslaughts on Anoka county wolves. Mr..
BROOKS Is an experienced woodman, and
his opinion, reinforced by those of old
woods residents, has put an end to wolf
hunting aspirations for this winter at least.
Minneapolis Journal