HUNTING WOLVES WITH DOGS.
Beyond all doubt wolf chasing as it is practiced in some parts of the
country is one of the most fascinating of sports and in a place where
the animals are fairly plentiful and the surface of the country is
not too rough, is also profitable. In parts of the states of
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, some of the professional wolfers
use this method of securing their game and in the states lying west
of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, also in
Western Canada, wolf hunting is a very popular sport among the
ranchmen.
Among the dogs that are most approved of by the wolf and coyote
hunters, may be mentioned the fox hound, the greyhounds, and stag
hounds of various varieties, the bloodhound and crosses of these
dogs. The grey hounds are the swiftest of dogs and a pair of them are
invariably to be found in a pack, the balance being some heavier and
fiercer breed of dog, such as the blood hound, fox hound or a cross
of the two. It is the grey hounds that run the game down and hold it
until the arrival of the balance of the pack, the heavier dogs doing
the actual fighting.
One who has followed wolf hunting extensively gives the following
short but interesting description of the sport: "On the open plains
of the west, wolves are often hunted with large swift running dogs,
grey hounds, stag or wolf hounds or their crosses. The hunters go on
horseback and the wolves are usually roused out of some coulee or
draw. Sometimes trail hounds are used to start the game, on breaking
from cover and being sighted by the running dogs the race is on.
Wolf, dogs and horsemen, race across the often rough and dangerous
ground at breakneck speed. The wolf, maneuvering to gain the coulee
or cover of some sort and get out of sight of the dogs (the running
dogs have only slight scenting powers and depend entirely on their
sight). The lighter and swifter grey hounds, as a rule, are the first
to overtake the wolf and by coming up alongside and snapping at his
flanks, force him to turn and face them, thus giving the heavier and
fiercer wolf hounds a chance to close in and grapple with and kill
the wolf. Unless the dogs are well trained and very courageous, a
large timber wolf often proves more than a match for the bunch of
four or five dogs."
No matter what kind of dogs are used, they must be good tonguers and
good fighters, and must have an abundance of strength and endurance.
It is needless to say that the dog must be trained and this must be
done at an early age. The young dog should never be run alone, for
the wolf is likely to fight it off and once the young dog is driven
back it will be spoiled for hunting purposes.
One of our Kansas friends in speaking of wolf dogs says: "We have
plenty of wolves (coyotes) and have had for the twenty years we have
kept dogs. As to breeding, we used an English greyhound bitch with
courage, speed and a special hatred for a wolf, crossed with an
English fox hound with all the qualities necessary, except the speed.
We then picked the bitch with the most good qualities and crossed her
with another fox hound whose ancestry is perfect. Here we get the dog
we are using now and with which we have made the most satisfactory of
catches. We seldom have a run lasting more than three hours and catch
many, when vegetation is not too high, in from one to one and a half
hours. Where this dog has the advantage over the fox hound is in
speed and the fact that it is ever on the watch ahead for the game."
Evidently the party who used this breed of dog has endeavored to
instill into the one type, all of the good qualities of the several
breeds that go to make up the regulation pack of wolf dogs. It is
surmised, also, that the one breed of dog is used alone, when chasing
wolves. In Western Canada, wolf hunting is a favorite sport and one
of the hunters from that section in speaking on this subject gives
the following method of hunting:
"First, we put a box on the sleigh big enough to hold our dogs and
then hook up a lively team, and strike across the country, leaving
the dogs run along side. When a wolf is sighted, we get the dogs into
the box and drive as close to the wolf as we can--that's usually from
three to five hundred yards--then turn the dogs loose and cheer them
to victory. The dogs usually run down the wolf within a mile, and we
follow as fast as horse flesh can take us. When the leading dog gets
alongside, the wolf stops, and in a second the dogs form a circle
around him and he is a goner. Some hunters just turn the dogs loose,
not knowing when they are ever going to see them again. That plan
would not work with me. Good hounds are too expensive to monkey with
that way. I have found that letting one or two dogs on a wolf trail
spoils them, because one wolf will give two dogs all they can handle,
and sometimes a little bit more, especially if they are young dogs.
It takes two old dogs at least, to handle one wolf, and I have seen
them get the hard end of it. The wolf perhaps would take to running
into the scrub and then it wouldn't be long until a pair of wolves
would be slashing your dogs or 'fleecing' the stuffing out of them."
[Illustration: Catch of a Canadian Hunter Who Uses Dogs.]
Those who make a business of wolf hunting, or in other words, those
who hunt for profit, do not always allow the dogs to fight and kill
the wolf, but carry a gun with them, on all occasions and if they
have an opportunity to shorten the chase by means of a well directed
bullet, do not hesitate to do so. A high powered rifle should be used
and one should learn to handle it in a business-like way. In the
Western States where the large ranches are rapidly disappearing and
the farm, with the barbed wire fence is taking its place, wolf
hunting will soon be a thing of the past. Mr. Jack Kinsey, one of the
most noted wolfers of the West, gives a description of an exciting
wolf chase, in which he illustrates this point, and we give the story
in his own words:
"While I was in Dakota last winter I had two exciting wolf chases. I
was stopping with Mr. Wm. Clanton, a cowman, living seven miles south
of Harding, S. D. One day I was in his shop putting a coyote hide on
a stretcher, when one of his neighbors drove up and asked Mr. Clanton
if he had a rifle. He said, 'Yes, there is a wolfer here who has
one.' 'Why,' his friend said, 'there are two big grey wolves just
back over that hill.'"
"I waited for no more but ran for my horse and gun. Clanton saw me
going to the barn and told me to bring his horse. Now I was not long
in getting those horses and we were soon on their trail. We followed
their tracks about one and one-half miles when we sighted them.
Picking out the largest of the two we both rode after him. The wolf
started west towards some bad lands, but Mr. Clanton was riding a
good young horse and he soon turned the wolf south, but now he was
headed straight for a wire fence.
"Mr. Clanton would have succeeded in turning him again, but he struck
a ditch full of snow, so the wolf got inside the pasture but I was
fixed for wire fences. I had my trapping axe on my saddle and soon
made a gate that we did not stop to fix up. We had run the wolf five
or six miles by this time, and our horses were pretty well winded. So
we pulled them up and let them take a slower gait until we got
through the other side of the pasture.
"As I said before, Mr. Clanton was riding the best horse, so he kept
the outside while I took advantage of the cuts. Mr. Clanton was just
far enough ahead of me to make one throw at the wolf with his rope,
but he missed him. The wolf cut in behind his horse, when I rode in
front of him and put a 30-40 soft point in his head. He was a very
large grey wolf. His hide stretched 6 1/2 feet long. On the way back
we saw three more wolves and two coyotes."
We give the following spirited account of a wolf hunt which occurred
in South Dakota:
"Will tell about one of my hunts behind a pair of wolf hounds that
are certainly right when it comes to coyotes. I left my home here in
Illinois on the 12th of December and arrived at Presho, S. D., early
the 14th, where my friends met me, and we started for the ranch,
which is about midway between Presho and Pierre.
"When we got to the reservation fence (Brule Reservation), we kept a
lookout for coyote signs, and located a place that we thought would
be all right, and planned a hunt for the following Saturday.
"The day proved all that could be desired, so we started out at noon.
Earl, Claude, Mort, Chas., Sheldon and myself, with the two hounds,
Ike and Lucy. A ride of about two miles brought us to the
reservation, and the hunt was on.
"Our outfit consisted of our saddled ponies and team and buggy, and
by standing up in the buggy seat we located two coyotes on the side
hill playing in the high grass. A circle around the hill and Lucy
discovered them and was off with Ike a second, as he was not as fast
as Lucy.
"Away we all go across the prairie with the team and buggy following
the reservation fence to keep the coyote away from the fence. It was
a short chase, as Lucy soon had Mr. Coyote by the hind leg and turned
him on his back quicker than it can be told, and Ike being close at
hand soon had him by the throat, so by the time we could get out
horses stopped and turned Mr. Coyote was no more.
"After skinning, we started for the buggy and Sheldon reported coyote
No. 2 headed south down the draw, and Earl went after him around the
hill and drove him back our way.
"A shout from that direction and the dogs have discovered No. 2 and
we are away with Lucy in the lead, and this time we are not far
behind, so that when the dogs got him we were right there, and the
coyote not much hurt, so he gets a rope halter and is stowed away
alive under the buggy seat.
"The dogs are panting hard and are very thirsty, with no water closer
than five miles, so we head for home, but not far away on the
hillside another one is seen and the buggy starts toward the left to
head him toward the ranch, so the dogs will be running toward home
when they jump him.
"This time Ike catches sight and is off, and Lucy cuts across to head
him off. It is a short chase, for old Ike soon has his favorite hold
and all is over.
"After skinning we started for home and as I hadn't ridden much for
over a year you can gamble I was feeling pretty sore, for the pace a
pack of hounds set isn't slow by a long shot. On driving into the
yard the dogs were not slow about getting into the house and lying
down.
"The live coyote we tied to the buggy wheel, and while I was gone
after a strap and chain he bit the rope off and 'cut the mustard' for
parts unknown with about a foot of rope still hanging to him.
"We have good hunting here in the spring and fall, plenty of chickens
and, some ducks and geese, with lots of jack rabbits and (Flicker
Tails), prairie dogs, and their side partners, owls and rattlers.
"Our outfit is the bar circle outfit, O and I think our Holstein
cattle are among the first herds in the state. Have since this hunt
disposed of my interest in the O but still have a bunch of cattle at
Presho, which supply the town with milk."