39 8 The Wilderness H^mter. 



ways, I regret to say, missed. Often the wolf when seen 

 was running at full speed for cover, or else was so far off 

 that though motionless my shots went wide of it. But 

 once have I with my own rifle killed a wolf, and this was 

 while travelling with a pack train in the mountains. We 

 had been making considerable noise, and I never under- 

 stood how an animal so wary permitted our near approach. 

 He did, nevertheless, and just as we came to a little stream 

 which we were to ford I saw him get on a dead log some 

 thirty yards distant and walk slowly off with his eyes 



turned toward us. The first shot smashed his shoulders 



% 



and brought him down. 



The wolf is one of the animals which can only be 

 hunted successfully with dogs. Most dogs however do 

 not take at all kindly to the pursuit. A wolf is a terrible 

 fighter. He will decimate a pack of hounds by rabid 

 snaps with his giant jaws while suffering little damage 

 himself ; nor are the ordinary big dogs, supposed to be 

 fighting dogs, able to tackle him without special training. 

 I have known one wolf to kill a bulldog which had rushed 

 at it with a single snap, while another which had entered 

 the yard of a Montana ranch house slew in quick succes- 

 sion both of the large mastiffs by which it was assailed. 

 The immense agility and ferocity of the wild beast, the 

 terrible snap of his long-toothed jaws, and the admirable 

 training in which he always is, give him a great advantage 

 over fat, small-toothed, smooth-skinned dogs, even though 

 they are nominally supposed to belong to the fighting 

 classes. In the way that bench competitions are arranged 

 nowadays this is but natural, as there is no temptation to 



