Omaha daily bee., 1899-06-09
A PLAGUE OF GRAY WOLVES
Increasing Damage Done in the Cattle
Ranges of the West.
CHANCES IN tn: VOLTS HABITS
Fierce beasts that Pull Down Cattle,
but Sometimes Meet Their Match
i'm Texas Stccrs-Battle
in the snow.

! "Strange to say, while the buffalo has been
: wiped off the face of the continent and the
antelope is found now but rarely, the gray
wolves have increased in number upon the
plains" said F. e. Archer of Denver to a
New York Sun reporter. The building OF
railroads In all directions with towns and
cIties on their lines and the occupying OF
every available stream, yalley and wafer
/ hole by ranchmen have had the effect up
/ the wolf to make him more cunning and
! bold. He is near enough to the dog in his
nature to adapt himself to the presence OF
humanity and he shows the same sagacity
/ in plundering that the dog does in serving
mankind. In the old days the wolf fol owed
/ the buffalo herds in their migration5 and
/ kept near them wherever they went No
] number Of wolves would venture to attack
so much as buffalo calf while 1t was with
! the others, for the buffaloes travelled like an
army, with the bulls in front and rear and
! nanks ever ready to defend the cows and
calves against the attack of anything but
man. 1t was fer the etraEsler.-the very
old or the very young or the disabled buff
/ faloCs which fell cut of the herd-that the
| wolves lurked and waited. In the winter
when pressed by hunger pack Of wolves
| would muster courage to attack and pull
down one of the solitary old bulls that in
| their declining years had been out-fought
and driven from the herd by the younger
ones; but as a rule the wolf preferred to
dine of carrion or go good while hungry
| to riskng his skin for fresh meat.
ut was years after the stockmen had gen.
orally occupied the western country before
the wolves began to make serious inroads
1 On the stock. BY degrees they found that
! beef was as much to their taste as buffalo
| meat. that cow was easily pulled down
and killed and that cattle, scattered in little
bunchoS over wide range did not organize
! to protect one another as the buffaoes used
/ to do in their great herds. From killing
calves and cows the wolves came to the
tackling Of bulls and steers, so that now
over wide tracts of country there Is no
/ safety for any cattle on the ranges except
on ranches which are constantly patrollei
by range herdcrs with firearms who take
shot at every wolf that shows his head
within shooting distance. The slaughter of
| wolves is not great by this method, but the
| cunning beasts realize what the whz2ing
of bullet signifies and it makes them fight
! shy of the locality To set a trap or a
poisoned bait for wolves IS not of much use
! Tor they pass 1t by where they can kill
| their own meat so easily. Moreover, many
| OF the wolves have become blood drinkers
| 'N''' Oii hlilllIS u NUW OF Il steer VIII eat
none of the flesh, but suck the blood from
the carcass and go on to the slaughter of
| more cattle. Hunts on a grand scale in.
| tended to drive the wolves into common
center nave repeatedly been organized but
lhe results have been trifling, the wolves in
| ciOsed slipping away between the hunters
long before the lines draw closely together
Attempts to hunt them with hounds hav,
proved destructive to the dogs with few
casualties to the wolves
Attack in Packs
commonly the wolves make their at
tacks in packs of from three to ten or
twelve in number. In killing a cow or
steer chat offers fight their mode of at
tack Is always the same. While two or
more wolves engage the creatures atten-
ton in front, wolf stealing up behind
! makes leap and snap at the animals
| find leg, just above the gambril for the
purpose of bamstrnging it. If the pack
! numbers as many as five or six, two wolves
w.ll often spring together, each at a hind
leg. The swapping bite of a wolf is like
a knife stroke, and the first leap often
sewers the tendon. If not, the attacks are
repeated until successful, when the victim
sinks helpless to the ground to be pounced
| on by the whole pack, every wolf tearing
at the throat or some other part where the
| arteries lie near the surface, and snarling
and swapping at any of the others who crowd
too closely upon him.
1T is the finer cattle, the thoroughbreds
and graded stock, that suffer mcst from the
attacks of wolves They are less hardy
and active than the native stock and less
accustomed to rough and tumble fighting
Texas bull or a long horned steer who
has hustled for himself and kept his end
up as a fighter with anything that came
against him from Ne day he was weaned
| is no picnic, even when alone, for a pack
OF wolves When he is with Geverai of his
fellows the wolves had better go away and
hunt their dinner elsewhere for the Texans
who fight cheerfully among themselves when
nothing else is going on pool their issues
and stand back to back against all var
mints' and take on gray wolves, mountain
lions or grizzly bears as readily as they
would poodles or coyotes, when they or the
cows and calves are threatened. The native
cattle are not so numerous north of the
Arkansas river as they were in the early
days when great herds of pilgrims We're
driven yearly from Texas to stock the
| ranges of the northwestern territories but
they are by no means extinct, and, unless
sCme means Is found to check the ravages
OF wolves they may yet prove to be the
mcst profitable stock to rear.
| "a friend of mine who had a cattle ranch
at Shively Springs in Dakota, about. 100
miles north of Yankton saw battle royal
between five Texas steers and seven wolves.
1t was in February, just after a blizzard and
there were two feet of snow on the ground
on q level. With the steers were two cows
and three yearlings They had been running
south before the storm, and, coming to a
little knoll blown bare by the wind, had all
lain down to rest. They were so still that
the ranchman had to ride near them to sat
isfy himself that they were not dead. Find
, ing that none of his own stock was in the
| bunch, he rode away. He had gone a mile
when, locking back, he saw seven gray
wolves that had come out OF the head of n
canyon near by end were making toward the
cattle. With his field glass he could get an
excellent view of the wolves and follow
closely all their movements They were
having a hard time to make their way
through the snow, sinking in 1t to their
bellies at every jump, but they kept on un-
til they were within few yards OF the bare
sp2t where the cattle were lying, when they
all drew together and made survey of the
field then started On, widening out into a
line as they did so. Up to this time none
OF the cattle had moved, but now one OF
the cows and a steer rose to their feet and