392 The Wilderness Hunter. 



and a weight of 130 pounds; a big buffalo-wolf of the 

 upper Missouri stands thirty or thirty-one inches at the 

 shoulder and weighs about no pounds; a Texan wolf 

 may not reach over eighty pounds. The bitch-wolves are 

 smaller ; and moreover there is often great variation even 

 in the wolves of closely neighboring localities. 



The wolves of the southern plains were not often for- 

 midable to large animals, even in the days when they most 

 abounded. They rarely attacked the horses of the hunter, 

 and indeed were but little regarded by these experienced 

 animals. They were much more likely to gnaw off the 

 lariat with which the horse was tied, than to try to molest 

 the steed himself. They preferred to prey on young ani- 

 mals, or on the weak and disabled. They rarely molested 

 a full-grown cow or steer, still less a full-grown buffalo, 

 and, if they did attack such an animal, it was only when 

 emboldened by numbers. In the plains of the upper Mis- 

 souri and Saskatchewan the wolf was, and is, more danger- 

 ous, while in the northern Rockies his courage and 

 ferocity attain their highest pitch. Near my own ranch 

 the wolves have sometimes committed great depredations 

 on cattle, but they seem to have queer freaks of slaughter. 

 Usually they prey only upon calves and sickly animals ; 

 but in midwinter I have known one single-handed to at- 

 tack and kill 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 assaults, 

 falling on the stock while immediately around the ranch 



