WOLF CATCHING.
This article by R. H. Winslow was originally contributed to the
HUNTER-TRADER-TRAPPER, but being of special interest is reprinted
here:
"It was my misfortune sometime ago to contract a nervous disorder,
which quite incapacitated me. After securing the medical advice of
one of the world's best specialists, it was apparent that I would
find health, if at all, only in a 'journey to nature.' Accordingly I
decided to leave New York and spend a year in the West, there to hunt
quail, prairie chicken, wild turkey, rabbits, bob cats, wolves, deer
and bear.
"At first I went to Oklahoma and from there traveled by easy stages
to the Mill Iron Ranch in Northwest Texas, which I have thus far made
my headquarters.
"The feathered tribe, rabbits, prairie dogs and bob cats interested
me for a while, but soon my thoughts became centered on wolves.
Indeed, they are extremely interesting, and I was not long in
discovering that it would be necessary to cope with animals of almost
human intelligence. Too, they were quite plentiful--could be seen any
day while riding over the plains--and night they made hideous with
their howls. Would I hunt them with horse an gun, horse an dogs, or
attempt to trap them? That was the question confronting me.
[Illustration: A Texas Specimen.]
"My first experience with horse and gun came about in this way: Two
young cowboys, Ernest Edwards and Robert Russell, were with me
hunting prairie chicken; we saw a wolf lying in the sage grass about
five hundred yards away, and decided that although we had shot guns,
we would endeavor to ride up sufficiently close to get a shot.
Edwards and I were within about eighty yards of the wolf when he
started; both fired, and Russell started immediately in pursuit.
Russell ran after him for about three miles, when the chase was taken
up by Edwards, who, upon his famous sorrel, 'Playmate,' was soon
within a few yards of him and fired with his shot gun. Three shots
brought him to the ground.
"After this I saw cowboys try to rope wolves, but seldom with
success; and frequently they would attempt to kill them from their
mounts with carbine or revolver, but were likewise seldom successful.
It was not long, accordingly, before it was evident to me that very
little success would attend my efforts with horse and gun.
"The next plan was to try riding to the hounds. There are on the
ranch many imported wolf-hounds, two grey hounds and two blood
hounds. It comprises about a million acres and these dogs are allowed
to roam over it at will; sometimes they are at Estellme; sometimes at
Shamrock; sometimes at Aberdeen; sometimes at other places. There is
no regular hunting with them by the foremen or cowboys, and none of
the owners live on the ranch. These hounds are perfectly trained,
though, and understand quite well the ways of a wolf. The following
is my first experience with horse and dogs: "The day before my
arrival at the Beasley Camp, which included a house of a dozen or so
rooms, barns and the like, a beef had been killed and the waste left
laying about a hundred yards from the house. We had just gone in to
luncheon when one of the boys noticed a large wolf going up to eat
upon this waste. Within an incredibly short time we were out of our
seats, some yelling for the dogs which were lying around the porch,
and others straddling the horses already saddled. The chase was on.
It lasted, however, for only about twenty minutes, for the wolf was
soon 'picked up.' After this we had several other chases.
"Formerly, hunting with hounds here was practicable and extremely
interesting, but now that there are wire fences everywhere it is
quite impossible to follow the dogs, and, moreover, when after a wolf
they frequently leave the ranch and go upon the premises of some
'nester' (farmer) who has planted poison.
"In a pack of a dozen dogs, say, there are generally two grey hounds
used as 'tripping' dogs; that is, they run ahead of the main body and
trip or throw the wolf, sometimes twice--so the others have time to
come up and jump on. Generally they do no fighting themselves.
"The last plan was to try trapping, and I have found that most
successful.
"I found that, first, it was necessary to boil the traps, preferably
in blood, so as to kill the odor of steel; secondly, that my gloves
and the soles of my boots should be dipped in blood, so as to kill
all human scent; thirdly, that I should prepare a large number of
round logs, about four feet long and weighing about forty pounds,
with a notch in the middle of each, to receive the chain. Then came
the consideration of bait.
"At first I used no bait but depended solely upon trail setting and
for the following reasons: A trapper who was formerly in the employ
of the Hudson Bay Company told me of a setting by which he attained
the greatest success, and it is as follows: Take a forked stick the
shape of a V, the prongs being about two and a half feet long and
with knots or projections on them; fit this V around a mesquit bush
so the bush will be pressed closely into the sharp part of the V;
place the bait, preferably a rabbit--close against the tree and in
the sharp part of the V; then set the trap, completely covered, with
springs bent inward, eighteen inches back from the bait and in the V,
with the chain covered and fastened to the bush. A wolf will go into
a V but will never step over anything two inches high to get bait. I
tried this setting but without success. The wolves would go nightly
within about ten yards of my traps but no nearer.
"Then I tried staking out a cow's head with the stake driven down so
it would not project at all above. But before driving the stake in
the ground I had the rings attached to my chains on it and under the
head. Around this head I set ten traps in a circle. As before, the
wolves would go within about ten yards, but no nearer. I decided,
therefore, temporarily, to use no bait, but to try trail setting, for
nightly two particular paths were literally covered with wolf tracks.
"My traps, logs, gloves and boots having been prepared, they were
taken in a wagon to places for settings; the traps were sunk into the
ground so that when leveled there was about a quarter of an inch of
dirt on top of the tredles; then the chains were sunk; and finally
the logs. About the setting: The center of the tredle should be in
the center of the trail; place under the tredle a piece of
cotton--over it, a round piece of paper twice its size with a place
cut out over the restraining lever; cover very carefully and be quite
sure there are no lumps to get caught between the jaws when thrown;
and, lastly, leave no loose soil visible so there will be no trace
whatever of any disturbance of the earth. Three traps should be set
in a row with the jaws, when set, six inches apart. This plan was
entirely successful, and I caught wolves nightly. In using a log such
as has been described there should always be used with it the
two-pronged drag such as is furnished with the No. 4 1/2 Newhouse
traps. A wolf may get a few hundred yards away, but he will never
break loose, and may be traced quite easily. It is unnecessary but I
use a bloodhound on the ranch, 'Red,' for this purpose. With a
stationary fastening something may break.
"In time it became my good fortune to drift around to the bull
pasture where Curtis Brown, a nice young cowboy, is feeding cotton
seed to half a thousand bulls. Here I found trail trapping almost
impracticable on account of the bulls following the trails and
throwing the traps, and because, seemingly, the wolves would go
directly to the carcass of a dead bull without reference to any
trail. Accordingly I would watch the carcass closely (about twenty
bulls have died) and wherever a wolf had begun to eat on a carcass I
would set my traps so as to catch him when he returned to his meal.
This plan has been all one could ask.
"Finally, I tried luring wolves to my bait by setting four traps in a
row as described in trail setting; but between the second and third I
buried a bone or lump of meat which had been allowed to roast and
smolder all the night before. Wolves could smell this miles away,
would come to it and get in the traps. This, indeed, is the best
scheme I know anything about.
"I have noticed that Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton and others say a she
wolf or dog staked out in the mating season is an infallible lure;
and a captive wolf that will howl is good at any time.' We have a
number of female wolves around the camp now and have had them for a
long while, one is quite gentle and they howl. They have been staked
out frequently with a circle of traps around each, but no wolf has
been near.
"Aside from the sport to be obtained in trapping wolves, the
pecuniary feature is of interest to the trappers. In New Mexico where
they are much more plentiful than in Texas, there is a bounty of
twenty dollars each on Lobo wolves (Canislupus) and two and one-half
dollars on coyotes. Moreover the trapper does not have to wait for
his money for the large ranch owners pay cash for the scalps in order
to have him trap on their range, thus decreasing the number of wolves
and thereby protecting their cattle and sheep. Too, the trapper is
usually furnished a horse or two."