Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1930-03-13

sumcd. Many times it is not neces-
sary to use the dogs. "A high-poWered
rifle also adds to the chances to kill
q coyote with a minimum Of effort.
There are hunters who will claim
that a person cannot successfully hunt
coyotes in q car of the type | use
said MI. Matt. 'Those who doubt the
efficiency Of my system may inyesti-
gate, either at my headquarters at
Selma, or they may check with some
of the ranchers on whose holdings l
have hunted"
While Mr.. Matt has killed hundreds
of coyotes, he never has taken a wolf.
He insists that there are very few
wolves in the northwest, and that many
of the so-called wolves are nothing
more than big coyotes.
anyone who knows anything about
wolves will tell you that a wolf eats
only what he kills." said Mr.. Matt.
Il know of no instance where a wolf
has been poisoned. The majority Of
wolves killed nowadays are trapped or
shot. You often hear stories of wolves
weighing 1875 to lao pounds. l have
yet to see that proved. The largest
wolf l ever heard of that was actually
weighed, tipped the beam at SO pounds.
The big wolves usually average be-
tween 70 and so pounds. A wolf is
just about twice as big as a coyote.
The largest coyote I ever weighed made
about 40 pounds.
But I do not pretend to be a wolf
expert. l have tried to kill wolves,
but / never had any luck. A wolf once
killed two of my dogs, and there are
very few dogs that will actually attack
a wolf. l know of instances where as
many as seven dogs have chased a
wolf and the wolf has escaped. The
best wolf hunter | know Of is Bud
Delrample, who was working in Wyo-
ming the last l heard OF him. Traps
and a rifle are his mainstay and he has
a tame wolf that he raised called Bru-
no, which be stakes out between traps,
and uses in various ways. Anyway, he
gets wolves where. others fail"
Good Dogs Needed
In admitting that he is not o wolf
expert, Mr.. Matt told OF one of the
methods used b. bud Delrample. On
locating a den or a place known to be
frequented by Wolves. Mr.. Delrample
locates the two or three highest points
overlooking the den. He then sets
traps on the high places and, due to
the practice of wolves always looking
over a den before returning, he often
gets results.
Good dogs must be available to a
successful coyote hunter, IN the opinion
of Mr.. Matt. At present he has II
dogs. These DOGS have the blood OF
Scottish deer hounds, Russian Borzio
or wolf hounds and the English grey
hound, mixed. This cross-breed COM
bines the good qualities OF the three
breeds, he explained. The brain pow
err comes from the Scottish deer hounds
which are smart but rather slow. The
Russian wolf hound is very dumb, but
speedy. while the English greyhound
has speed and great nerve in a fight.
It is this combination that Mr.. Mat
said he has developed and found highly
successful.
Shotgun is Effective
"There are also so-called hunters
who will claim that a car cannot be
driven close enough to a coyote to
use a shotgun continued Mr.. Matt.
well, I use a ~16-gauge shotgun with
NO. q SnOJ, preferred, anu WIN ldil y
open country 1 find no trouble in get
ting within shotgun range"
But Mr.. Matz wa not always a coy
ote hunter. At one time he was
North Dakota agent for a life insurance
company. He said he made somewhat
Of a record in that line, specializing on
rural customers. but i'll health forced
him to seek a different occupation for
a time. He came to Great Falls / n
the late fall of 1923 and started his
coyote hunting. Since that time he