Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-04-25

$astsh OSRA
better way OF getting rid Of them than
by hunting them with dogs and horses.
The forest reserve people have oeen
examining the matter scientifically ana
the agricultural department mas just
put out a bulletin telling all abou
avs
For thrilling sport and for a test OF
skill and nerve. hunting them can hard
ly be excelled. but AS a method or de-
stroying wolves. it Is costly In horse
flesh. dogs and the time OF the best
riders. Nevertheless. this Is often the
only method employed by the ranch
men,
The Forest Reserve Bureau started
the inquiry to Learn IL the increase in
the reserves had anything to do with
the increase in wolves and the conclu-
sion is reached hat 1t has not. 1t Is
declared that the wolves do not breed.
as a rule. in the mountains. but In the
lands. chiefly bad lands. below the tim
Der line.
They feed as much as possible on
cattle and horses and on what game
they can catch. The cattle occupy the
low lying country in the winter months
and are driven into the mountains in
the summer. The wolves follow these
migrations so as to procure food.
The damage o by these animals
to the cattle industry of the country
is enormous. Arthur j. Tisdall. OF San
Miguel county. New Mexico. who for
many years has been keeping track Of
the damage done by wolves in the
west. says:
1T is my belief from figures 1 have
500. 900 animals annually. principally
calves and yearling cattle. The state
II county bountles result in very lit
tie good"
Vernon Bailey. who made the investi-
cation for the bureau. reports that in
a certain part of New Mexico he
learned that a moderate estimate OF
the stock killed by four wolves OF which
he got trace was a %yearling COW or a
calf every three days or approximately
400 head cattle TO each
Counting all as calves" saws Mr..
Bailey. lat a very low rate of $40 a
head. each wolf would at this rate cost
the ranchmen $1,000 a year. This esti-
mate OF $4.00 for the four wolves leaves
hungry. offsprings OF each pair. which
would begin to kill stock for themselves
i'm the fall and would continue to do
so as long as they lived"
Victor Culberson. another authority
In the same region. estimates the loss
on his ranch by wolves as at leas 10
per cent. North Dakota authorities saw
NhAN IN iCP'Ss WI 1sttAIc III lHdI S(IIn
from wolves are about is per cent of
the herds.
II. NJ. Allen. general manager OF the
Standard Cattle company. with ranches in
Wyoming and Montana. reports that his
company has paid in one year a bounty on
sW wolves. and he estimates that the loss
of cattle from these animals has amount
ed to as much as $1,000, 900 a year. A. i.
Boutwell,. who has lived in Wyoming many
years. puts the destruction of cattle at
from 10 to 20 per cent. of the herds, and
Lieut.. Il. L.. Munson of Choteau county.
Mont. says the loss is Is per cent. j. b.
Bennett of Stanford. Mont. says:
"A family OF wolves will destroy about
5000 worth Of stock yearly"
From nearly every western state come
the reports that the wolves are growing
moro numerous. In ten years Wyoming
mas paid bounties on a.0O. amounting to
more than $67 900. In 1906 South Dakota
paid bornties amounting to $4,000.
one county, Grant. in New Mexico. maid
$2.5o In bounties on 127 animals. Mime
sofa from 1866 TO 1895 paid S26O, 900 on these
bounties. and in the last ten years has
paid Sl2c,0N on nearly 10000 of the animals.
records of boun;ies are only an approx
mate indication of the number of these
animals. Hundreds of wolves are killed on
which 40 bounty is collected.
Ihcy thrive In certain well defined re-
Suns anu tHe forestry bureau says the
only way to get rid of them is by getting
track of their dens and killing the Young.
Mr.. Bailey says that between March "a
and April q, 1905, he found four dens con-
tanning 81 pups in the Green River valley
IN Wyoming. and there were evidently
two or three other dens IN the valley. He
adds:
Forty old wolves would seem a fair es-
innate of the numbe in this valley. Along
the p1Qt hnYco 0f tnn y-;.,1 rf.~.
tains, from Miners Delight to Union. at
least nineteen wolves were killed during
the year of 1905 and five pups were taken
from one den near Lander on May l. 1866
In three other valleys of the state boun-
ties were paid on about 1876 wolves last
year. Reports from Montana and Colo
RADIO indicate that the wolves are as nu-
merous as they are in Wyoming and New
Mexico.
The disappearance of buffaloes seems
to have caused a large Increase in the
wolves. according to some authorities. III
bunaloes were their former prey, but they
have found 1t easier to kill cattle than
buffaloes and hence they nave increased
all the more rapidly.
Although the wolves like game better
than any other raw food they find it easier
to kill the cattle than game. They spring
on their victims from behind and the
animals are eaten literally alive. Mr..
Bailey says that sometimes a calf or year
ling Will escape with a great piece torn
out OF 1t. while the wolf goes to catch an
other animal.
The ranchmen say that the injured ami
mails die usually Of blood poisoning. They
say alsO that more cattle are killed than
eaten because the wolves usually prefer
fresh meat. Mr.. Bailey adds:
I'm summer they rarely return for even
a second meal from the same animal: but
IN winter. when the cattle are gathered
mt pastures or stables. they often return
to a carcass until It's bones are nicked
There are no accurate data as tn the
amount OF game killed by the wolves. In
the far north caribou. moose and musk
oxen are their victims. while in the United