1936] 



MAMMALS OF OREGON 



273 



From October 1, 1913, to May 10, 1914, bounty was paid on 30 

 wolves in Oregon from Douglas County, 10; Crook County, 6; 

 Clackamas County, 6; Linn County, 6; Lane County, 1, and Jackson 

 County, 1 (Oreg. Sportsman 2 (6) : 19, 1914). These records prob- 

 ably represented at that time the areas of greatest abundance of 

 wolves in the State, and the high bounty of $25 each for timber 

 wolves $20 paid by the State Game Commission added to the reg- 

 ular $5 paid by the State brought in an unusual number. As they 

 were submitted to Finley and Jewett for determination, the skins 

 were unquestionably of wolves and not coyotes. 



Jewett reports one large male wolf taken by Fred K. Sankey, 

 August 20, 1930, near Balm Mountain on the Umpqua National For- 

 est, where it had recently killed several of Winlock Hendrick's sheep. 

 The animal was very old with teeth much worn. Another old male 

 wolf was taken by Charles 

 Anway on the shore of 

 Crescent Lake in Klam- 

 ath County, where it 

 seemed to be the only 

 wolf ranging through the 

 previous winter. Two 

 other wolves were killed 

 in Douglas County and 1 

 in Lane County during 

 1930, and 1 near McKen- 

 zie Bridge in Lane Coun- 

 ty, January 1', 1931. 



General habits. These 

 large, dark-gray wolves 

 are forest dwellers and 

 forest hunters, rarely seen 

 except when caught in 

 traps and rarely caught except by the most skillful trappers. Usually 

 silent, shy, and stealthy, they follow the game trails or slip through 

 the deep shadows of the forest, disappearing at the first sign of 

 danger. The long musical howl of the wolf cannot be mistaken for 

 the yap-yap of the coyote. They are exceedingly intelligent in recog- 

 nizing and avoiding danger and have only man to fear, either as a 

 competitor in the hunt, or as a deadly enemy. Originally their game 

 was the black-tailed deer and powerful Roosevelt's elk, but now it 

 is mainly deer and any domestic cattle or sheep that come within 

 their reach. Usually they catch their prey by the ham or flank, tear- 

 ing out the flesh and sinews, often hamstringing the larger animals 

 and rendering them helpless to be torn and eaten at leisure. Blood- 

 thirsty in their hunting methods and terribly destructive to game 

 and livestock, they are nevertheless among the most intelligent of our 

 native animals and most difficult to trap or hunt successfully. 



Breeding habits. The Oregon Sportsman reports a female con- 

 taining four foetuses taken near Estacada the last week in March 

 and cites other records of young or mothers suckling young in 

 summer, but these give little data regarding breeding season. How- 

 ever, there seems no reason for supposing that the breeding habits 

 differ from the better-known gray wolves of the Great Plains, which, 



7209 36 18 



FIGUBE 62. Range of the two forms of the t>ig 

 Oregon : 1, Canis lycaon gigas; 2, O. I. 

 Type locality circled. 



wolves inJDregon 

 nubilus. 



