The Portland daily press., 1899-05-26

kept his end up as fiRht3r with any thing
that came against him from the day be
was weaned is no picnic, even when
alone, for pack Of wolves. When he ID
with several of his fellows the wolves had
better go away and hunt their dinner else
where, for the Texans, who fight cheer :
fully among themselves when nothing else
IL going on. pool their issues and stan
back to back against all 'varmints' and
take OH gray wolves, mountain lions or
grizzly bears as readily as they would
poodles or coyotes, when they or the co IS
and calves are threatened. be native
cattle are not SO numerous north Of the
Arkansas river as they were In the elri,
days when great herds OF pilgrims ware
driven yearly from Texas to stock the
range of the northwesters Territories. but
they are ty no means extinct, and unless
some means is found to check the ravages
OF wolves they may yet prove to be inc
most profitable stock to rear.
"a friend of mine who had a cltls
ranch Shively a. Springs ini Dakota. about
| q hundred mllss north of Yapkton, saw 1.
battle royal between five Texas steers
and seven wolves. 1t was In February,
| Just after blizzard, and there was two
| feet Of snow ON the Il on d on level
| With the steers were two iowa and three
yearlings They had been running south
before the storm, and, coming to littl
knoll blown bare by ssthe Iwind. had all
lain down to rest. They were so sliii
that the ranohman had TO ride near them
to satisfy himself that. they were not dead.
Finding that none of his own stock was
In the bunch, he rode away. lie hau
gone mile when, looking back, he saw
seven gray wolves that had come out of
the head of n canon near by and were
| making toward the cattle. With his peld-
glass he could get an excellent view of
the wolves and follow closely all their
| movements. They were having hard
| time to make their way through the snow
sinking In 1t to.their bellies atsevery jump
but they kept on until they were within
| a few yards of the bare spot where the
| cattle were lying, when they all drew to-
| gether and made n survey OF the field,
| then started on widening out into line
| as they did SO. Up to this time none of
the cattle had moved, but now one of the
| COWS and steer rose to their feet ami
| faced the wolves. shaking their horns,
| and some of the others we're getting up ~
the wolves struck the bare spot
'Three Of the wolves jumped in front
of the steer and the COW, feintinR to at
| tack them and SO keeping their sattention
engaged, while the other four sprang
upon one of the yearliDgs, just getting to
Its feet and pulled Ii down. The ranch
man could see the four wolves together
upon the yearling, and then the rest OF
the cattle coming oil to their feet shut
them from his view. The cattle wers
stiff and slow in their movements, bat
the steers at once closed in on the four
wolves about the yesrling and drove them
from their prey The wolves had no
trouble in getting away from the horns,
and, instead of quitting the field, they
kept to the bare spot-it was about half
an acre in extent-raoing round the cattle
ana feinting TO attack them on every
eide, but lodging away whenever Il steer
made for them in earnest. While four of
them kept the attention Of the other cat
tie. three of the wolves coming together
as If at "A signal, leaped upon another of
the yearlings. one selling it by the throat
and the other two tearing at its gambrils.
The yearling went down under the wolves
and then two or three of the steers
charging as before, drove them Off.
1.-The aim of the wolves plainly was to
disable the two weaker animals, knowing
that they would eventually fall to them
when the others moved away. But the
cattle were getting warmed to their work,
and after five MINUTES of fighting there
was little If the stiffness that they had at
first displayed. The wolves. keeping still
TO the bare spot where there was clear
running, had I'LL they wantsd to do to
avoid the rushes of the steers, who
charged whenever any of them came to
a standstill. Then one OF the wolves
was driven out into the snow, aud as.he
tlocndered in IA circuit, trying to get
back to bare ground, a long legged
Texan, minding the snow no more than
II 1t had been feathers, rushed and over
took him, and in a moment more had
the wolf on his horns. One shake of the
head and the wolf went flying twenty feet
and the stser was on hand where he tum-
bled to gore and strample him to death.
This set the pace Tor lighting, and in ten
minutes more four of the wolves were
dead, two of them being chased into the
snow anu killed as the first had been and
the other being hemmed in among the
cattle, where he went three or four times
into the air clear of their heads before
they quit tossing him. At this tha other
three wolves took to the snow and made
the best pace they could for the canon. A
white steer that already had done its full
share of the lighting charged after them,
tossed one of them to one side, and, keep
ing on to the next one, gored him to
death. The third one had so much of n
start that the steer did not follow him,
but came back to the herd.
sit was two days later before the ranch
man could take time to come back to the
scene of the fight. One of the yearlings
was lying dead on the spot of bare
ground; the rest of the cattle were gone.
There were five dead wolves in sight. ana
"a sixth was found just within the canon,
which was as far as he managed to crawl.
The pack were practically wiped out
taken, so to speak, In their own trap.
I'm another instance while riding with
a friend over an isolated part of his ranch
in Wyoming we came upon the partly de-
voured body of steer, with three dead
wolves lying about it. 1t was struggle
that no human eye had witnessed, ana all
that could be told was that the steer at
last had been overpowered by numbers
and had sold his life dearly. But the
usual spectacle where the wolves have
raided is the lone carcass. sometimes
partly eaten, sometimes with only the
arteries torn open. There is probably an
other carcass, perhaps several, in sight,
and rs you ride over the hill to left OF
right more are discovered. Where the
wolves are that made the slaughter no
man can tell; they came and went and
left no other signs of their presence