Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-11-17
THE HASKIN LETTER
.oUEsr OF THE LONE WOLF
oBv Frederic ]. Haskin)

| Job Just finished by II. p. Williams,
of Custer, South Dakota, who Is m
of the most experienced of the small
standing army of trappers employed
by the biological survey in its work
Of discriminating predatory animals.
Williams was directed to spend all
of his time In the task of getting one
old and cunning wolf, which had
been dining on beef and eluding ri
fle, trap, dogs and poison for years.
Ranchmen had despaired of W.
catching this old prairie pirate, but
word has just been received at the
biological survey that Williams has
been successful in his long hunt.
The hide of the Dakota freebooter
will probably be in Washington be-
fore long.
IL o think that the pursuit OF a
single wolf Is an Inadequate occupa-
ton for a government employee, you
should be informed that this wolf is
estimated to have destroyed $25,000
worth of beef and mutton during
his lifetime, and that he was piling
up the score at the rate of more
than a thousand dollars a year..
This wolf had developed a cum.
ming which compares f~avorably with
the mental operations of many hui
mans. For example, when he killed
a COW, 1t was his custom to travel a
few miles, and then come back.
paralleling his first track at a dis
lance of a few rods. He then return
ed to the edge of, the thick timber.
and waited. When hounds YER put
on his track, he watched them go by,
and retired to safety In one direction
while they were going In the other.
-
A Hard Job
To find and kill a single wolf in a
large and broken wilderness might
seem a hopeless task, but the gov
eminent hunters have gotten their
methods of work down pretty fine.
They know that a wolf, like a man,
is a creature Of habit, However
widely he may range, he always re-
turns to the same places eventually.
Furthermore. wolves are also like
men and like most other creatures,
In that they cannot do wholly with
out others of their kind. Wolves
have signboards, as have dogs. where
passersby register their presence
for the information of the next COM
err. By locating these canine regis
ters, the wolf hunter can map the
range of a wolf or that of a band OF
WOlNcS Will 1 dDlC dSCuidtys II
usually finds that a wolf travels in a
great circle, sometimes a hundred
and fifty miles In circumference. He
never kills twice in succession in the
same vicinity, but the hunters may
nevertheless guess about where the
next kill will be.
Wolves soon learn how to detect
poison in meat, and express their
scorn of such crude methods by
scratching dirt over the poisoned
bait. Poison will kill out the young
and foolish animals in a region when
ii Is first used there, but the surviv-
ors are wise and cannot be taken
that way. Traps are a more reliable
method, but the wolves soon get wise
to these, too. The utmost precautions
must be used to hide the scent Of
iron. The hunter stands on a calf
hide while setting the trap, he
smokes the trap itself and handles 1t
with blood-soaked gloves. Even so,
the wolf who is old and wise often
walks around the trap as carefully Is
though it were marked with a dan
ger sign. Hunting with hounds and
lying In wait with a rifle are the 9TH
er chief methods.
A Survivor of Early Days
The lobo or gray wolf is n of the
1 few figures Of the old West that still!
survives. These wolves in the early
days hung on the flanks of the bur-
falo herds In great numbers. killing
off the old bulls, the strays and
calves. They were 80 common that
buffalo hanters seldom wasted any
of their precious ammunition on
them. But when the buffalo herds
were gone and the cattle herds,
working slowly north from old Mex
leo, began to cover the great plains,
the Lobe became the greatest pest of
the business. Excepting his small
cousin, the coyote, he has been the
hardest of all the predatory beasts
to destroy. Time vas when the lord
ly grizzly used to come far down on
the plains. and kill the largest bulls
with a blow of his paw. The grizzly
could fight. but he could neither
hide nor run very we'll. Before the
repeating rifle he retired in dwind-
ling numbers to the farthest r~ecesses
of the mountain canyons. He still
kills q few sheep, but scarcely any,
where Is he a factor In the cattle
I business.
But the wolves, after just about
SO years of persecution, are still
very much a factor. They are great
ly reduced in numbers. but nearly
every section of open range country
still has its little band of wolves.
| And their appetite for beef Is enor-
nous. 1t costs 5 200 a year or more,
to support every one Of them. The
biological survey has therefore de-
| creed unmerciful war against them.
| and 1t Is probable that they are
doomed. In some sections. as in that
| where Williams hunted, only a sin
| gle wolf is left. In such cases the
wolf has been known to steal a
| march on civilization by-mating with
a dog and raising a litter of wolf
dogs that are just as bad as wolves,
and sometimes worse.