The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-01-25

! made worth while, trained hunters would
| soon eXterminate the predatory animals
! of the plains. AS it is, they are increas-
/ ing with marvellous rapidiry. All through
/ the west are ~ wolves where there was
/ one five years ago. This is owing to the
! fact that many of the states have re-
| Dealed their scalp statutes.
/ Wolves destroy cattle, sneep and horses.
/ The losses mainly fall upon the cattle and
| horses. They do not have so good a
chance at sheep, owing to the presence Of
/ herders, but hundreds upon hundreds of
I calves and colts are killed. If the cat
! tie are corraled the wolves will not heSi-
/ tate TO enter the corral at night. If they
are simply bedded down in the open. the
wolves will stampede them before day
many viii be missing. Wolves frequently
Kill for the mere pleasure of killing. If
given opportunity, they will destroy many
more ANIMALS than they can deVOur. The
wolf is an exceedingly fleet and powerful
animal The big gray or ''lobo wolf is
/ mere spoken Of That is the kind which
from the woods wolf of the east, being
/ larger and much more SaVa ge. He is COM
monty called 'loafer' by cowboys and
other people of the plains.
These animals have a fashion of sig
mailing to each other for many miles
across the prairie, and the Oldest of hunt
ers IS unable to tell how it is done. They
call each other by variety of bowls. it
is true, but they frequently transmit in
telligence over distances so great that a
cry could not possibly travel il. If q
''lOafer' makes kill of Young bullock
and his pack are scattered over a surface
of many miles. il is safe TO say that every
one OF them will be at the scene of the
slaughter within an hour after it is ac-
cOmpllShed. one can understand the
gathering of vultures. because their sight
[ is the keenest in nature, and from their
altitude they command vast extent of
country, but the signaling of the gray
wolf is ineXDlicable. Some of the better
educated of the ranchmen are inclined to
ascribe II to a sort of mental biography.
or possibly the development of sixth
sense. Others do not attempt to explain
lists
At so per scalp an expert man could
make money hunting wolves and coyotes.
Indeed. some of them have made money
at lower prices, but it is necessary that
the hunter devote all of his time t., 1t.
He must know the haunt of the wolves
and he must so alone and suffer hard
ships and possess an ineXhaustible fund
of patience. BY all odds the easiest way
in which to obtain wolf scalps is by
poison. 1t is the method most commonly
followed. Strychnia is the drug to be
used. 1t should be purchased in the form
of two-grain tablets. One of these is
inserted in a piece of beef tallow about
the size of the last joint of a mans
thumb. The tallow is placed upon the end
OF a small twig. which is set up at the
junction of two cattle trails. In pre-
pairing the bait 1T is necessary to wear
gloves as the VOLTS nostrils will in
stantly detect the scent of human fingers
The objection to this method is that it
may catch a wolf and it may not. Fur
thermore, when one is poisoned he will
Immediately hunt water and may go so
far from the cattle trails that he Will
never be found. We used to do things
better in the southwest
g g g
Twenty years ago 1 worked on a sheep
ranch in Erath county. Texas. and we
TrnrT cd Nr~ftI rtrn1r F1l.a
stock was all of high grade and each
sheep that was killed meant a loss of s..
The ranch hands were fed on beef and
game and chickens. but never on mutton.
1t was too dear. The corrals were wolf
proof. but the focks were large and
losses could not be prevented. A long
legged North Carolina mountaineer named
Moss and l occupied a cabin on the sum-
nit of hill and near by was the corral.
At the foot of the hill ran a creek which
was frozen solid in the winter. We kept
for our own use. Sheep never seem to
need any. take credit for inventing the
following method of wolf slaughter:
When a sheep died it was skinned to
save the pelt. In the hideless carcass
would make n half dozen Sits with a knife
copias made of paper. each of them hold
ing three grains of strychnia. In u
hours the poison would have permeated
every particle of the animal. 1t was car
yards from the corral. There a rope
was tied to it and the other end of the
rope was fastened to the pOnmel of n
saddle In this way the sheep was
dragged in q three-mile circle the Journey
ending near where it had begun. This
was done for purposes of sport. That
night Moss and /. sitting in front of a
roaring blaze in the mud fireplace of the
little cabin through the cracks in whose
walls a cat could have been slung without
touching the fur would hear the wolf
pack open on the trail. Round they
swung in the crisp dark, each of
them giving tongue like a Oeadle. 1t
the lonely open country. l would look
at Moss and Moss would look at
me and we would smile. The superior
human intelligence could not forbear to
exult. The pack, because the trail was
fresh and strong. would make the three
mile run in n little more than ten min
utes. Then it would fall to swapping and
within plain hearing Next morning we
would find from one to four dead wolves
at our water hole. More Of them may
have been killed and sought water else
where. The state of Texas was not pay
ing bounty on wolf scalps at that time
or would have grown rich We felt
no computations over the horrible deaths
has a license to kill wolves. though / can
not say why. Certainly. they are not any
more Dreda tory than we. do not do q 1.-THE
of the damage and have as strong right
70 existence.-H. S. Canfield in Chicago
Times-Herald.
Don't annoy others by your cough
inS. and. risk your life by neglecting a
cold. One Minute Cough Cure cures