The Afro-American advance., 1900-09-29
coLoRApo,s COYOTES.
A Big Round-Up of the Animals {,
PromfsedZ This
season.

Eastern Colorado ranehmen value an
ordinary coyote at $3.50. This seem
ingly extravagant price viii result in
another great hunt this fall, in which
it ia expected that thousands of the lit.
tie animals will fall victims To the 44s
OF the cowboys or the hounds of the
sports from the east.. The plains coun.
try In eastern Colorado which was once
the breeding ground and home Of thou
sands Of buffaloes. is now populated by
thousands of coyotes. and 50 destruc-
tive have they become 10 stock hat the
state and cattle barons working 10.
gether are offering s37. % for every coy
ote scalp presented offer will re.
suit In attracting hundreds of hunters
from Nebraska. Kansas. Wyoming and
western Colorat o. and even now in the
region infested many hunters are max.
iBg big money.
For the past five years the ranchmen
have admitted their inability to cope
with the increasing numbers of wolves,
but they have waited patiently in the
hope that the animals might be sue.
cessfutly killed by poison. The wolves
however, have been 50 we'll fed on veal
and lambs from the herds that piece
of beef lying on the prairie has no at
traction for their cultivated tastes, and
they pass ii by.
About a month ago Gardner Bros.
ranehmen of Yuma county. lost 36 head
Of cattle. and for many days they could
tHot account for the mortality. Large
and small stock we're suddenly attacked
by a mad frenzy and would continue in
that condition until death. The cattle
would paw the earth and attempt TO
bite and hook everything in sight,
whether animate or inanimate. Froth
from the mouths of the beasts was scat
tered over the range. Ranchmen were
alarmed and did not dare to attempt
to quiet or corral The cattle either on
foot or on horseback. After three days
three dozen cattle were found dead.
Former State Veterinarian Greswell
was called down 10 investigate the
sauses Of the mortality, and he forward
ed a complete diagnosis 10 Washington
with the result that DIR. Salmon. of the
department Of agriculture, pronounced
il rabies. Then the Gardner boys re-
membered that they had killed a coy
ote which bad acted very strangely
about two weeks previous 10 the death
Of the stock. 1t had secluded itself in
vacant ranch cabin and was nearly
dead from exhaustion when one of the
cowboys on the roundup dispatched ii
with a club.
The great stock region was alive 10
the danger by this time. and besides
the regular $3.50 offered for every wolf
scnlp by the state of Colorado, two
ranchmen offered ten dollars each for
every wolf captured, and the Eastern
Colorado Live Stock association, as a
body. offered St5 for every animal
killed. In Denver scores Of sportsmen
with dogs ane guns are arranging to
make an expedition to the range of
sand hills in which the coyotes are
breeding. and letters from Nebraska
and Kansas indicate that hundreds will
be on the ground from neiRhboring
states. Many Wyoming people are al
ready there The sand hills break
monotonously level prairie. of plain,
near the state Line between Colorado
and Nebraska, and IL is here mat the
little animals breed by thousands every
year
Twelve years ago, when one of these
big wolf hunts was held, il was believed
hat the coyote was thing of the past
because so many OF the animals had
been slaughtered. Eighteen hundred
4
tality appears to have had little effect
upon this coyotes. While the cowboys
do not fear them, instances have been
known where the children of ranchmen
have been attacked by them and have