The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-03-09
WESTERN WOLVES.
THE LOSSES OFCATTLEMEN PUT
 AT MILLIONS ANNUALLY.

Not Less Than Five Hundred Thou 1 sand Animals Killed Yearly, Says an
 OHciaI Report-The Wolves In-
 creasing in Numbers-NTuch Game
 Also Killed by the PrOwIers.
 Wolves are increasing in the prarie and mountain regions of the West and the cattle rangers, who suffer most from their depredations, are seeking a better way of getting rid of them than by hunting them with dogs and horses. The Forest Rerserve people have been examining the matter scientifically and the Agricultural De- partment has just put out bulletin telling all about wolves and their habits. This paper says:
 For thrilling sport and for a test of skill and nerve, hunting them can hardly be excelled, but as a method of destroying wolves, it Is costly in horsehlesh, dogs, and the time of the best riders. Nevertheless, this is often the only method employed by the ranc3lmen."
 The Forest Reserve Bureau started the inquiry to learn if the increase in the reserves had anything to do with the increase in wolves and the con- clusion is reached that it had not It is declared that the wolves do not breed, as a rule, In the mountains, but in the lands, chiefly bad lands be- low the timber 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 noun tains in the summer. The wolves fol- low these migrations so as to procure food.
 The damage done by these animals to thes cattle industry of the country is enormous. Arthur J. Tirdall of San Miguel county, N. M, who for many years has been keeping track of the damage done by wolves in the West, says:
 Tt is my belief from figures I have made that they destroy not less than 100000 animals annually, principally calves and yearling cattle. The State and county bounties result in very little good.'
 Vernon Baily, who made the investi- gation for the bureau, reports that in a certain part of New Mexico he learend that moderate estimate of the stock killed by four wolves of which he got trace was yearlng COW or calf every three days or approximate ly 100 head of cattle to each wolf.
 Counting all as calves" says MT. Bailey, lat the very low rate of S1O a head, each wolf would at this rate cost the ranchmen $1,OOO a year. This estimate of $4,O00 for the four wolves leaves out of consideration the five to ten hungry offspring of each pair, which would begin to kill stock for themselves in the fall and would con- tinue to do so as long as they lived ! Victor Culberson, another authority in the same region, estimates the loss es on his ranch by wolves as at least 10 per cent. North Dakota authorities say that the losses of cattle in that State from wolves are about Is per cent. of the herds.
 R. M. Allen, general manager of the Standard Cattle Company, with rench- es in Wyoming and Montana, reports that ihs company has paid in one year a bounty on 800 wolves, and he esti- mates that the loss of cattle from these animals has amounted to as much as $1,O00,OO0 year. A. J. Botfl- well, who has lived in Wyoming many years, puts the destruction of cattle at from 10 to 20 per cent. of the herds and Lieut.. E. l.. Munson of Choteau county Mon, says the loss Is 15 per : cent. J. B. Bonnet of Stanford, Mon, says
 "A family of wolves will destroy about $3,00O worth of stock yearly"
 From nearly every Western State come the reports that the wolves are growing more numerous. In ten years Wyoming has paid bounties on 10000, amounting to more than $6S,000. In |, 1906 Dakota paid bounties amounting to $15,0O0.
 One county, Grant, in New Mexico paid $2,5OO in bounties on 127 animals Minnesota from 1866 to 1895 paid $260,- 900 on these bounties, and in the last ten years has paid $120,0OO on nearly 30000 of the animals.
 Records of bounties are only ap- proxImate indication of the number of these animals. Hundreds of wolves are killed on which no bounty is col lected.
 They thrive in certain well defined regions, and the Forestry Bureau