KILLING OF STOCK AND GAME BY WOLVES.
Undoubtedly the wolves and coyotes of the United States and Canada
destroy more stock and game than all other predatory animals
combined. In the Western part of our country where stock raising is
one of the principal industries, the ranchmen suffer great losses
from the depredation of these animals, and in other sections the
wolves destroy large quantities of game. The reason that wolves are
more destructive than others of the carnivora is that when they have
the opportunity, they kill far more than they can consume for food.
Often they only tear a mouthful of flesh from the body of their
victim; sometimes they do not even kill the animal but leave it to
suffer a slow and painful death. The animals that are only slightly
bitten are sure to die from blood poisoning, according to the western
ranchmen.
[Illustration: Wolves Killing a Deer.]
The wolf's method of attack is from the rear, springing on its victim
and hamstringing it and literally eating it alive. The bite of the
wolf is a succession of quick, savage snaps and there is no salvation
for the creature that has no means of defense from a rear attack.
This peculiar method of killing prey can not be practiced
successfully on horses, owing to the fact that they can defend
themselves by kicking, but for all of that, a considerable number of
colts and a few full grown horses are killed. For this reason cattle
suffer more than horses, but while the horse is, to a certain extent,
exempt from attack by wolves, they are frequently killed by mountain
lions, because their method of attack, a spring at the head and
throat is more successful with these animals than with cattle. As
food, however, horse flesh is preferred to beef by both of these
animals.
One of the western trappers writes:
"Many times in the past thirty years I have watched wolves catch
cows. The wolf is by nature a coward and will not, singly, attack a
grown cow, though he will by himself kill a pig, chicken, calf, goat
or sheep.
"On the ranges, where the stockmen and settlements are far apart,
wolves go in bunches, from three to ten or even more, and when very
hungry a bunch of them will attack a grown bull. They frighten him by
snapping and playing around him till they get him on the run, when
the bunch give full chase and stay close at his heels. While he is
running in this way, one or more of them will grab him by the ham
strings just above the hock joint. The bull makes, of course, a
vigorous effort to free himself from the wolf, but before he can do
so, the sharp teeth of the latter have cut or partially cut the ham
string. They keep him on the run till they finally cut him down in
both ham strings and then he cannot go further or fight the hungry
wolves off.
"The whole bunch then eat his hams out while the bull is still alive,
and after they get their full they let him rest. When they want to
fill up again, they return and eat him till he dies, finishing the
carcass as they require food.
"I have seen horses and cattle killed by wolves in this way live for
several days with their hams eaten out, and have never seen the wolf
make his attack or give chase in any other way. Being cowardly, he
always follows behind and keeps out of all danger from the bull's
hoofs."
Of cattle, calves and yearlings are generally selected, partly
because the flesh of the younger animals is more to the wolf's liking
and partly because they cannot defend themselves as readily as full
grown animals, but full grown steers are also killed at times. Far
more cattle are killed than are eaten. The wolf prefers fresh food
always and in summer when their resources are unlimited they seldom
return to the carcass for a second meal.
In "Bulletin 72," issued by the United States Department of
Agriculture, the author, Mr. Vernon Bailey, has the following to say
on the subject:
"The actual number of cattle killed by wolves can not be determined.
Comparatively few animals are found by cattlemen and hunters, when
freshly killed, with wolf tracks around them and with wolf marks on
them. Not all of the adult cattle missing from a herd can surely be
charged the depredations of wolves, while missing calves may have
been taken by wolves, by mountain lions, or by 'rustlers.'"
Nevertheless there are data enough from which to draw fairly reliable
conclusions. In the Green River Basin, Wyoming, on April 2, 1906, Mr.
Charles Budd had 8 yearling calves and 4 colts killed in his pasture
by wolves within six weeks. At Big Piney a number of cattle and a few
horses had been killed around the settlement during the previous fall
and winter. At Pinedale, members of the local stockmen's association
counted 30 head of cattle killed in the valley around Cora and
Pinedale in 1905, between April, when the cattle were turned out on
the range, and June 30, when they were driven to the mountains. In
1906, wolves were said to have come into the pastures near Cora and
Pinedale and begun killing cattle in January on the "feed grounds,"
and Mr. George Glover counted up 22 head of cattle killed by them up
to April 10. Just north of Cora, Mr. Alexander, a well known
ranchman, told me that the wolves killed near his place in June,
1904, a large three year old steer, a cow, 3 yearlings and a horse.
On the G O S Ranch, in the Gila Forest Reserve in New Mexico, May 11
to 30, 1906, the cowboys on the round-up reported finding calves or
yearlings killed by wolves almost daily, and Mr. Victor Culberson,
president of the company, estimated the loss by wolves on the ranch
at 10 per cent. of the cattle.
In a letter to the Biological Survey, under date of April 3, 1896,
Mr. R. M. Allen, general manager of the Standard Cattle Company, with
headquarters at Ames, Neb., and ranches in both Wyoming and Montana,
states that in 1894 his company paid a $5.00 bounty at their Wyoming
ranch on almost exactly 500 wolves. The total loss to Wyoming through
the depredations of wolves Mr. Allen estimated at a million dollars a
year.
In an address before the National Live Stock Association at Denver,
Col., January 25, 1899, Mr. A. J. Bothwell said: "In central Wyoming
my experience has been that these wolves kill from 10 to 20 per cent.
of the annual increase of the herds."
Lieut. E. L. Munson, of Chouteau County, Mont., writing in
_Recreation_, says: "It is said that in this country the loss from
wolves and coyotes is about 15 per cent. * * * Wolves in this
vicinity seldom kill sheep, as the latter are too carefully herded.
They get a good many young colts, but prey especially on young
cattle."
Mr. J. B. Jennett, of Stanford, Montana, says in _Recreation_: "A
family of wolves will destroy about $3,000 worth of stock per annum."
The loss caused by wolves and coyotes in Big Horn County, Wyo., is
estimated at three hundred thousand dollars per year. It has been
variously estimated that each grey wolf costs the stockmen from two
hundred and fifty to one thousand dollars annually.
Sheep, for some reason, are seldom troubled by timber wolves in the
West, but suffer considerably from the attacks of coyotes; in fact,
the loss occasioned the sheep men of Wyoming and Montana in this way
is enormous. In summer when the sheep are driven up into the
mountains, the coyotes migrate to those sections and kill sheep
whenever the opportunity is presented. In the fall when the sheep are
brought down into the foothills, the coyotes are also to be found in
great numbers in those parts. In all probability there is a greater
loss occasioned by the depredations of coyotes in the two states
mentioned than is caused by wolves and mountain lions combined.
Farther south, however, it is the wolf that does the most mischief.
Where timber wolves are plentiful and very little stock is raised, as
in the northern parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, sheep are
not safe from the attacks of wolves, and for that reason few sheep
are raised in those parts. It is probably the fact that the western
range is very open and the sheep always carefully guarded by herders
that they suffer so little from timber wolves in the Western States.
In the swamps of the Southern States, and especially in the lowlands
of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, hogs are sometimes killed by
wolves. In New Mexico, Texas, Colorado and Mexico where large numbers
of goats are raised, these animals are frequently killed.
That an immense amount of game is killed in the wilder and less
thickly settled portions of the United States and Canada goes without
saying. In the West the wild game does not suffer as much as does the
domestic animals, but in the heavily timbered portions of the country
where little stock is raised as in the states bordering on Lake
Superior and in the greater part of Canada large numbers of deer and
other game animals fall victims to these fierce creatures. Regarding
the killing of game on the western cattle range, Mr. Bailey has the
following to say:
"At Big Piney, Wyoming, I examined wolf dung in probably fifty places
around dens and along wolf trails. In about nine-tenths of the cases
it was composed mainly or entirely of cattle or horse hair; in all
other cases but one, of rabbit fur and bones, and in this one case
mainly of antelope hair. A herd of 20 or 30 antelope wintered about 5
or 6 miles from this den, and the old wolves frequently visited the
herd, but I could find no other evidence that they destroyed
antelope, though I followed wolf tracks for many miles among the
antelope tracks on the snow. Jack rabbits were killed and eaten along
the trails or brought to the den and eaten near it almost every
night, and a half eaten cottontail was found in the den with the
little pups. While wolves are usually found around antelope herds,
they are probably able to kill only the sick, crippled and young. The
following note from Wyoming appeared in the _Pinedale Roundup_ of
July 4, 1906:
While riding on the outside circle with the late round-up, Nelse
Jorgensen chanced to see a wolf making away with a fawn antelope. He
gave chase to the animal, but it succeeded in getting away, never
letting loose on its catch.
About a den near Cora, the numerous deposits of wolf dung on the
crest of the ridge not far away were found to be composed of horse
and cattle hair, though fresh elk tracks were abundant over the side
hills on all sides of the den, while cattle and horses were then to
be found only in the valley, 8 miles distant. Several jack rabbits
had been brought in and eaten and the old wolf on her way to the den
had laid down her load, evidently a jack rabbit, gone aside some 20
feet and caught a ruffed grouse eaten it on the spot, and then
resumed her load and her journey to the waiting pups. One small
carpal bone in this den may have been from a deer or small elk, but
no other trace of game was found.
Talking with hunters and trappers who spend much time in the
mountains when the snow is on the ground brought little positive
information on the destruction of elk or deer by wolves. Mr. George
Glover, a forest ranger long familiar with the Wind River Mountains
in both winter and summer, said that he had found a large blacktail
buck which the wolves had eaten, but he suspected that it had been
previously shot by hunters. In many winters of trapping where elk
were abundant, Mr. Glover has never found any evidence that elk had
been killed by wolves. Coyotes constantly follow the elk herds,
especially in spring when the calves are being born, and probably
destroy many of the young, but wolves apparently do not share this
habit. It seems probably, however, that in summer the young of both
elk and deer suffer to some extent while the wolves are among them in
the mountains."
In the Northern Peninsula of Michigan, wolves are very plentiful and
large numbers of deer are killed during the winter months, the
remains being found later by hunters, trappers, and lumbermen. The
same conditions exist in Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, also in
parts of Ontario, Canada. In the Rainy River District, wolves have
always been abundant and much game has been killed by them. Farther
east, they are just making their appearance of late years having
followed the deer which are coming into the country from some other
section. Farther east, in the eastern portions of New Ontario and in
some parts of Quebec wolves are also numerous. One of our friends
from Northern Wisconsin writes as follows:
[Illustration: Remains of Deer Killed by Wolves.]
"I have trapped and caught five old female wolves since I came to
Iron County, Wisconsin, six years ago. Two of them I got in Michigan,
Gogebic County, as I live almost on the line. There are times when
you can see six or eight wolf tracks all going down the river or
coming up at the same time. You can go again for a week and never see
a track. I have followed them for a week, in deep snow on snow shoes,
and never left their track, and in one week I set traps at 50
different deer that wolves had killed. I might have gotten a few more
wolves but the fox, mink, cats, skunk, owls and "porkys" (porcupines)
were bound to butt in. At one set I got a wolf, 3 foxes, 1 skunk, 1
mink and 10 porkys till June.
Two wolves caught a buck that would weigh 150 pounds, within 10 rods
of my camp one night. The next morning there was not one pound of
meat left on the bones.
I had a tent and one shanty in Gogebic County last winter, and I know
the wolves killed 500 deer on the snow. How many fawns and does did
they kill in summer time when you cannot see their tracks? The wild
cats are not so bad, a fawn, rabbit or partridge makes a meal for
them."
In the far north where the barren ground caribou is the principal
game animal, and where wolves are plentiful, there can be no doubt
that they kill large numbers of those animals. Musk oxen are also
killed, and farther south the moose is killed by wolves, but it is
our belief that the number is comparatively small. The moose is such
a large and powerful animal that even a band of half starved wolves
will, as a rule, pass it by, but there can be no doubt of the fact
that they do kill them on rare occasions.
The elk is a great enemy of the wolf and it appears that they are
seldom molested. Beyond all doubt the deer is the principal prey of
the timber wolf.