Visher (1914:90) stated that wolves were "quite plentiful" in the early
1900's; he quoted figures for a two-month period in 1910 when a
government trapper took five adults and 25 pups in the vicinity of the
Short Pine Hills and two adults and 11 pups in the general area of the
Cave Hills. According to local residents, wolves were common in Harding
County in the 1920's. One (the famous "Three Toes") trapped 20 mi. NW
Buffalo in July of 1925 had eluded capture for more than 13 years, and
in that period caused an estimated $50,000 in damage to livestock
(Young, 1944:259, 277). It seems likely that the skull of this animal,
in the U.S. National Museum, is the one referred to by Goldman
(1944:445).
Wolves apparently had become rare by about 1930. The last one known to
have been killed in northwestern South Dakota was taken on January 27,
1945, near Red Elm, Ziebach County (Carl Cornell, personal
communication). We have seen a photograph of this wolf, which was
mounted and now is on display in Deadwood, South Dakota.
As noted by Goldman (1944:442), the subspecies _nubilus_ probably is
extinct.
~Vulpes vulpes regalis~ Merriam, 1900