Wolf-Coursing 



three of them can easily kill another animal of 

 same size and weight ; but the wolf, with his 

 wonderful vitality and tenacity of life, com- 

 bined with his thickness of skin, matted hair 

 and resistant muscles, is anything but an easy 

 victim for even six or eight times his number. 

 I spent the winter of 1874-75 i^i a portion 

 of the Rocky Mountains uninhabited except 

 by our own party. Wolves were very plenti- 

 ful, and we determined to secure as many pejts 

 as possible. Owing to the rough nature of 

 the country and our inability to keep up with 

 the dogs on horseback, we tried poisoning, but 

 with only moderate success. While others 

 claim it is an easy matter to poison wolves, 

 we did not find it so. In a country where 

 game is plentiful, it is almost impossible to 

 poison them. We tried trapping them, with 

 like results. Always mistrustful and intensely 

 suspicious, they imagine everything unusual 

 they see is a trap laid to betray or capture 

 them, and with extreme sagacity avoid every- 

 thing strange and new. When caught, they 

 frequently gnaw off a foot or leg rather than 

 be taken. Our cabin was surrounded by a 

 stockade wall, over which we could throw such 

 portions of deer carcasses as we did not use, 



325 



