The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-03-11
WOLVES IN FARMYARDS.
Kill Cattle in MOntana-Hunt in
Big Packs.

For some unknown reason wolves
are coming back into our section OF
the State" said Frank Metzel. prom
inent as a stockman and ranchman OF
the upper Ruby Valley for many years,
in the Anaconda Standard, land they
are creating considerable havoc. They
think nothing nowadays of coming into
n barnyard and making a kill. and q
number of valuable animals have re-
Gently been destroyed by the varmints.
only a few days ago a pack invaded
one of the pastures near the c. X. Lara
bic Brook Nook ranch and killed two
finely bred colts while their dams were
powerless to prevent it, and with ranch
hands less than half a mile away.
There are a number of other incidents
in the valley where they have invaded
the corrals and killed calves. and it is
nothing infrequent for a killing to be
made in a pasture.
Until within the last few a our
section of the country had been free
from this curse OF the range, and it is
only in isolated cases that a gray wolf
was ever reported. Now they go In
packs and hunt systematically. / can
remember the older mon of the valley
telling of seeing wolf packs in the early
'70s, but those old-time hunters were
so relentless i'm their hunt of the ami
mails that few escaped, and it was be-
lieved that the entire wolf tribe of that
part of Montana was practically ex-
terminated. 1t is only during the last
few years-since the establishment of
the forest reserve system-that the
wolves have become particularly per-
niclous. There is some talk of the
forestry bureau putting in a trapper
t. hunt the wolves I'm the Madison re-
serve this winter.
THE situation regarding The wolves
in the upper part of the Ruby Valley is
really a serious one, and the stockmen
of the county are feeling the loss keen
ly, for a wolf is almost as big as a st.
Bernard dog and has an appetite In
proportion. 1t takes a lot to feed him,
and he generally likes to feet or warm
flesh and do the killing himself, or
else be in on It. He Is not a coyote to
play the iackal and feed off carrion.
For a while I secuted at the idea of
wolves being in the valley i'm numbers,
but I had occasion TO change my mind
a few weeks ago. | was above the
upper canyon looking after some stock,
and camped neal the Carruthers cabins.
Before daylight I got up and found that
the horses had moved out of the little
valley. and I started after them. Be
fore / had gone more than a mile it be-
gan to get light, and in the sagebrush.
not over 200 yards away, | could make
out thirty or forty objects moving
about, which I mistool for deer. Think
ing ii queer that deer should be in such
"A locality, | went a little nearer to in
vestigate. Then my hair stood on end,
for L could see that they were wolves,
all big. gaunt, hungry-looking chaps.
"Seeing me, they sidled slowly away,
trotting on a hilltop, where they came
against the skyline and | could dis
tinguish them clearly. ! counted eight
cen in the bunch, and fully that many
more went below the skyline, so that
they were lost in the shadows. That
was my first sight of wolves, but l can
assure you I do not want TO. see any
more of the critters. especially when [
am on foot and unarmed."