222 Hunting the Grisly 



a well-grown steer or cow, disabling its quarry 

 by rapid snaps at the hams or flanks. Only 

 rarely have I known it to seize by the throat. 

 Colts are likewise a favorite prey, but with 

 us wolves rarely attack full-grown horses. 

 They are sometimes very bold in their as- 

 saults, falling on the stock while immediately 

 around the ranch houses. They even venture 

 into the hamlet of Medora itself at night 

 as the coyotes sometimes do by day. In the 

 spring of '92 we put on some Eastern two- 

 year-old steers; they arrived, and were turned 

 loose from the stockyards, in a snowstorm, 

 though it was in early May. Next morning 

 we found that one had been seized, slain, and 

 partially devoured by a big wolf at the very 

 gate of the stockyard; probably the beast had 

 seen it standing near the yard after nightfall, 

 feeling miserable after its journey, in the 

 storm and its unaccustomed surroundings, and 

 had been emboldened to make the assault so 

 near town by the evident helplessness of the 

 prey. 



The big timber wolves of the northern 

 Rocky Mountains attack every four-footed 

 beast to be found where they live. They are 

 far from contenting themselves with hunting 

 deer and snapping up the pigs and sheep of 



