Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-11-08
THE GROWING WEST.
IIl.-The Last Range War.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

ALBUQUERQUE. N. M.-The range
wars Of the past are almost forgot
ten. There IL only one range war left
Struggles between different cattle
ranches. between cattlemen and sheep
men. between stockmen and homestead
ers, that were waged for undisputed
possession Of grazing land. are as much
out Of date as feuds on Broadway. A
man who owns stock in the west today
has only one enemy to fight for SOW
eretgnty within his fences. That enemy
10 the predatory wild animal-the wolf.
| the lion and the coyote. And this last
enemy 10 keeping up his end Of the
| struggle in right successful fashion. in
| spite Of traps and trappers, hunters.
poison and bounties.
Predatory animals are not able to
put any appreciable check on the de-
they can and do put q serious dent in
the profits now and again. Here in
| New Mexico. for instance. at a recent
| meeting Of the stockmen's associations,
the wild animal problem came in for
! more discussion than any other ques-
ton. At that, the members were un-
able to agree on any method for deal
Ing with wild animals better than the
present one. which Is admittedly in
The most destructive animal, from
the cattleman's point Of view. is the
| wolf. This Is quite a different animal
from his little cousin, the coyote.
%ol eh ts. coyote Il ,s called
in which the true wolf is held by the
cattlemen Is shown by the fact that his
head Is worth just seven times as much
in bounty money as the head Of
A full-grown wolf with a good d.
gestion will eat three steers a month.
He can be counted on to see that he
gets full rations as long as there is
range. Three steers month, or forty
head year-awolf will generally make
away with few extras when he is
feeling unusually energetic-represent
s an annual Taa board bin Of 1920 per
population Of New Mexico is estimated
to be in the neighborhood Of 500 indi-
viduals. Roughly speaking. therefore,
they win destroy 100000 worth of
The mountain lion ranks with the
wolf as an expensive though unlimited
| guest at the stockman's table. The
| southwest Is full Of lion stories for the
regalement OF the tenderfoot in which
the big cat figures as treacherous
and dangerous man-eater. Members of
| the lion tribe have a habit of follow
Ing traveller through timbered coun-
try when they are very hungry. some
times for days. and this 10 probably
the grain Of truth at the bottom Of
most OF these stories. As matter OF
fact, the mountain lion Is not danger
Gus where humanity Is concerned. It is
practically impossible to md an au-
thenttcated instance Of q lion attacking
man without extreme provocation.
There Is no shadow of doubt. however,
that the lions kill large numbers Of
Colt is the mountain lions favorite
diet. He is not fond of beef, like the
wolf. though he
Colt Meat Favored is ready enough
by Mountain Lion. co.ian nn t w ~.
| seems to have a sweet tooth that the
| sweetish flesh Of a colt appeals to i'm
mensely. So destructive are these great
| felines among horses that it is impos-
sible to breed and raise range horses in
a lion country. There are plenty of
| instances where such attempts to raise
horses have been put out of business
by the lions. and every stockman SUI
fers q greater or smaller annual loss
among his saddle stock, depending on
the number of lions in his neighbor-
hood.
The coyotes are generally despised
throughout the west, and they rarely
| attack large animals like steers or
| horses. They are exceedingly destruc-
tive among sheep, however. and care
less herder can lose a dozen muttone in
a night from these crafty little yellow
wolves. 1t is hardly possible to esti-
mate the damage done by coyotes with
any accuracy, because when carefully
guarded against they will turn and live
on rabbits and prairie dogs until they
again. A wolf. however. will get In his
work among the cattle with a regu-
larity far from praiseworthy: The fact
that cattle range without a herder has
great deal to do with this.
The wolves, the lions and the coyotes
are the most destructive predatory ami
| mails on the range. Wild cats destroy
some sheep every year, and the black
sheep are ranged In the mountains. but
the fact that he Is partly vegetarian
and the location of most Of the sheep
| ranges on the plains keeps him from
| figuring very largely in the total.
These are the forces ranged on one
side in the last range war. Against
them are the biggest interests in the
| state-the cattle and sheep men and
more recently the sportsmen, repre-
sented by the Game Protective Asso-
more responsible for the depletion of
game in the western states than all
the hunters.
The accepted method Of fighting wild
animals is by offering bounty for
their scalps-a method that is prov
ing so unsatisfactory here in New
Mexico that a number of the largest
owners are In favor OF doing away
with It. Besides the bounty system.
many Of the big ranches have a pro-
fessional trapper or hunter regularly
in their employ, and every cowpuncher
is under orders to carry a gun when
ever he is on the range, in order to
shoot any predatory animal he may
encounter. Only last week a cow
puncher in a machine was a helpless
spectator while a big timber wolf
pulled down a steer. The motorist had
forgotten his rife and before he could
get close enough to frighten the wolf
away the steer was lost.
Some of the defects in the bounty