The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-10-12
A PROFESSIONAL HUNTER.

! TTODdDly lHe only TeHlalnlIlS Wlle
 beast hunter in Nebraska to-day, g
 survival of the pioneer days is Peter
 A. Watson of Omaha, who has just dis
 tiuguished himself by killing a great
 gray wolf in q hand to-hand struggle
 with a small revolver as his only Weap-
 on. Watson is professional wolf hun
 ter, and his proWess is recognized by the Nebraska livestock association | which employs him annually, on sal ary, to slay wolves on the range, and
 thus protect young cattle. For ten years Watson has been on the payroll of this association, and has killed an average of four hundred big gray wolves annually. Of late the catch has
 dropped down to less than two hundred,
 but for the first few years of his occu-
 patton as wolf hunter for the associa- tion, Watson killed as high as five hun | dred wolves. In this pursuit he has rid
 den his horse througth the whole of
 northwestern Nebraska, and has en- joyed many stirring adventures. He is the only man in the state to-day who
 makes his living regularly by staying wild beasts. This class of men has been | gradually disappearing from this state, | driven further west by the advance of | civilization Trapping used to furnish | occupation for large number on the l streams of the western part of the state, | but all of that numerous class of dare l devils have been swept further into the
 mountain fastnesses by the farmer and stockman Probably Peter Watson will not be able to earn his salary many more years so rapidly are the ferocious gray wolves disappearing from western | Nebraska. .e | The man and his methods are equal ly curious Watson is a tall, athletic frontiersman. past fifty-f1ve, but as
 erect as an Indian. His father, Joseph Watson, was famous Nebraska hum ter, and shot buffalo with Bill Cody for
 the railroad company, when the Union Pacific was poking it's nose across the continent He was killed in wolf chase at Sidney several years ago. Pe
 ter Watson has rather a contempt for
 that hardy class of frontiersmep who
 made their living by trapping, and
 nothing makes him more angry than
 for some one to mistake him for trap
 per. He does all his hunting on horse
 back, with pack of fine stag-hounds.
 These dogs he breeds for his own use,
 and always uses six of thme in his
 hunting. He rides a blooded horse that
 can keep we'll to the front. even in
 chase after the fieetest animal that
 roams the plains-the gray wolf. He
 works entirely under the direction of
 the stock association, travelling from
 county to county, as the wolves are re- ported to be ravaging the range in diff ferent parts of the state. It is nothing for him to ride hundred miles without dismounting, and he covers nearly twice
 that distance a day when it Is necessa- ry.
 He is always ready to take to the saddle, and his methods of conducting hunt of eXtermination are peculiarly his own Watson rides into the section where the wolves are reported to be killing young stock and with his dogs jogs along, until wolf is sighted. He carries a powerful field-glass, and is constantly sweeping the surroundings with it. Tn this way he frequently sees the wolves before they see him. If the game is off and away Watson simply notes carefully the general direction taken then he swings his pack around behind hill, drops out of sight, only to reappear ahead of the game, on to which he rides with a rush. Then the dogs take up the chase. The wolf sell dom holds out for more than a mile: sometimes particularly strong animal anages to run two miles before the hounds overhaul him. The pack works together If they did not, they would not last long, as the average gray wolf can kill, in relays, any pack of hounds that ever attacked him, for the gray wolves of the west are stronger than any dog, and their teeth are long and | sharp, while their claws are very dan gerous weapons. But when the Watson | trained pack jumps on a wolf, that Is | the end of him. They fight together, | and seldom get more than scratch. l They follow the wolf closely and attack | him altogether. Such fight lasts but a minute or two.
 MT Watson, in all his experience as a has never found it neces- sary to aid his dogs in dispatching wolves. In fact, it would be hard to render service after the attack Is made, because of the indiscrlminate mixture 1f dogs and wolf. On these hunts the wolf-slayer is armed with nothing but ] large revolver. He has several times been forced to use this weapon in self defense, for while wolves when not pressed will never attack man except n packs, and the prairie gray wolf is not so numerous as to form many packs in western Nebraska, occasional y hard-pressed wolf will turn on his as if to die facing his enemy
 This was the case where Watson was in exterminatlng a number of Jig gray wolves, which had killed and 'aten several young heifers. His pack lad started wolf, and was far in ad- 'ance of their master, when suddenly Iuge gray wolf, which had evidently ,een asleep in the rank underbrush un- il disturbed by the wolf hunters horse, prang upon Watson. The animal bur ed his claws into the side of the horse, md his fangs into the riders leg. He ! vas one of the largest beasts of the ,ind Watson had ever seen,. and the uddenness of the attack gave the ani- nal distinct advantage. The attack vas made from the right side, and the nly weapon the wolf hunter carried | vas beneath the body of the ferocious rute. Watson struck the animal re- across the snout with his uirt. Then he thrust his hand down