The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-05-06
WOLF KILLING HIS TRADE
AND MR.. MURPHY or NONTAHA
MAkES IT A PAYING ONE.
He Gets - = Scalp. bat Just Now His -
ployers Are Withholding Part Of -
Bounty because Of Certain Rumors Geo.
cerninK the Methods Of the Thrifty flunaes.

He Gets - = Scalp. but Just Now His -
ployers Are Withholding Part Of ~
Bounty because Of Certain Rumors Geo.
corning the Methods Of the Thrifty fluAsss.
KEo HANDLE RANCH. Yellowstone County,
Mon April ~ The management OF the Flying
V ranch. which employs IA professional wolf
killer. has Just discovered one Of the secrets Of
the success OF Mr., Murphy. who has acquired
the reputation OF the champion wolf killer Of
the Mu,sclsleli Valley. The gray wolf IL IN
enemy OF cattle and once in a long time q pack
Of them will kill a horse. Generally. howe-u,
the range horses are sensible enough TO form Q
circle and defend themselves with their heelA
With cattle II is quit. different. One gray wolf
will often stampede a whole herd. When the
cattle are running the cunning wolves single
out a yearling or IA two-year-old and watching
their chance. they run In between the victim
and the rest Of the herd. Thus they accomplish
what. in the parlance Of cattlemen. 10 called
cutting out" After they have the steer BY
himself they keep worrying him until he %
tired. Al last they attack him from several
points and he falls 10 the ground
Now that sheep are rapidly taking the place
of cattle. the coyote is regarded AZ a pest also.
About five years ago the Flying V OUTFIT i'm.
ported Russian boar hounds, some great Danss
anu II DuiluOk luey put MuTpuy IN Cul0T8o OF
the hounds and offered him IS for every G1y
VOLTS scalp. This in addition to the o bounty
paid by the State made the net value Of q cray
wolf 10 Murphy 81. He hunted all the time and
made plenty of money. Atlast. being q thrifty
man It occurred to him that some time the sup.
ply Of gray wolves might run out and his good
job would be gone. At least the wholesale
slaughter would make them scarce and eject
nprrosnophip0 raApctinp in hia ipOouNA AfN~S
rejecting upon the matter for some time
Murphy came to the conclusion that prudence
required him not TO modest the she wolves.
That was three years ago. Since that time I'll
believed he has killed only pups and dog
wolves. lie visits the anne caves spring after
spring and his supply Of scalps is quite as large
this spring as heretofore. Some OF the COW.
boys on the Musselshell even accuse him OF
feeding and doctoring a sick mother wolf. but
that il probably a distortion OF the facts. The
other charge is so well founded. however. that
the Fving V people have withheld the extra y
bounty until Murphy can prove he Is not en-
couracing the breeding OF wolves
Whatever Murphy's policy may have been II
that matter. he is undoubtedly the most 70.
doubtable hunter OF wolves in the United States.
Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming, all put to-
gether. have not as many gray wolves as the
Musselshell Valley alone. The cause Of their
migration here is the sparity Of settlers and
the fact that antelope and deer are plentiful a.
well as cattle. During the spring, when the
antelope and deer are weak from hunger, wolves
find II quit" easy 10 catch the feebler ones.
Thirty days after the bunch grass has begun to
get green, gray wolves will not attempt the
useless task Of overhauling either the antelope
or the deer. During June and July. however,
they catch many young ones. but after that
thnN~ Vnh1f n.tENfa ~ pAn lhnAnn md e.
After the coyote the gray wolf is the greatest
coward OF all wild animals, The solitary horse
man in these parts who. twenty miles away
from any other human being. hears the dole:
ful howl Of the scavenger Of the plains. does not
Quicken his horses footsteps. II in low spirits
the dismal sound may add TO his downhcarted:
being pursued. That. sray wolves have at
lacked human beings Is true. but n was only
when they were most desperate from hunger Of
when they we're SO badly wounded they could
not run away. Range cattle and horses win
often attack a man on foot merely because
they are overpowered by curiosity, never hav.
ing seen a man without a horse. A gray wolf
might do the same thing, Il is an experiment
that has never been tried here. because II q man
Is going farther than a Quarter OF a mile from
Notwithstanding the pusillanimous nature Of
the gray wolf few men would relish Mrr-phys
, ,S1S are %, S Ssh%" rSar %,S By cav fer n,e c sD mo G I
That is one occasion on which the mother wolf
will surely fight She il actuated by the instinct
| Of Sel1-prefprVaU0n ~ wen ms pToteCuOn OF her
Young. Murphy has scars on every Part o, his
body They are, he will tell you, the result OF
had shots. When he enters a cave he takes two
cSl' s. fSFtyi to use al the e sn lGns until nrIf +. p as df e:
pups TO death. Occasionally. however. tho
mother wolf is in some nook sc, dark that he
cannot see her, and then II ia a hand to-hand
conflict. When he gets a chance to shoot twice.
and The wolf keeps coming. Murphy considers
all he gets as just punishment for having missed
If he confined his hunting to the old wolves
ne would not make more than a sixth as much.
because in every cave. he finds, from -four. to
thew are available for his purposes just the
same For a month after they are born the
nuns are watched constantly bv their mother.
Food Is brought to her bv the dog wolves and
she seldom ventures from the cave at all. In
the only encounter in which he was scratched
this year Murphy stood upon a FIAT rock only
female wolves ever killed on the Musselshell.
He WAS standing with his back 10 the rock
wondering whether the shot he had fired at
.Se m %'. . woIf came out Of the cave and ran
bet wecn Murrhv's legs He could not retreat
ard the wounded wolf would not Forty feet
shell Atlast he NniA,ed her, hut his. clothes
we're torn so badly that he almost froze to
death before he rotto the ranch.
the afternoons. II he IS not at the ranch nv
that time n party Of COWBOYS st out In search
Of him. Twice they, hnve found him ,nrcon-
SClnla from loss OF Dfnu ''Tf' Inf 'n'luNR
came back Ut 10 in tho morning and insisted
on having SOME one acconnanv him 10 the hills,
Who" his wish was granted Nurrhv WAS found
with n hrOhen leg Fiftv feo' above the log
near which ho was living was n she-wol' nacing
back and forth. growlinP Internationally and
occasionaIr stonpirr :" threaten 10 lean uron
tho wounded upr With the evoept'or of the
hundor. Bov. which is n rri"ilered character,
NInrnhv beora hla other dors from being plnt-
tors. and whom thnv onco draw Mood m a wolf
Il ,e neco.enrv Cor thoi- rooster N be- rromnt IN
o-1o- 70 ro' . rinco Of tho scalp TO prove his
right 10 the double bounty.