Wolf-Coursing 



them to a common center and kill them in- 

 discriminately. I have always preferred hunt- 

 ing them with hounds to any other method of 

 extermination. The enjoyment of sport in- 

 creases in proportion to the amount of danger 

 to man and beast engaged in it, and for this 

 reason coursing wolves has always held a pe- 

 culiar fascination for me. A number of years 

 spent in the far West afforded me ample op- 

 portunity to indulge my tastes in this line of 

 sport, so my knowledge of wolf-hunting and 

 the habits of the wolf has been derived from 

 personal experience and from association with 

 famous hunters. 



The principal drawback to the pleasure of 

 wolf-coursing is the danger to a good horse 

 from bad footing, and the possible mutilation 

 and death of a favorite dog — death and de- 

 struction of hounds being often attendant 

 upon the capture and death of a full-grown 

 wolf. I do not know that I can give a better 

 idea of the sport than by describing a day's 

 wolf-hunting I enjoyed in the early seventies 

 near Raw Hide Butte, in Wyoming. 



We had notified the cook, an odd character 

 who went by the name of Steamboat, to call 

 us by daybreak. As we sat up late talking 



327 



