154 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



owner told me that they remained out all night sometimes 

 in pursuit of wolves ; and if they traced a bear or panther, 

 they would not leave it until he arrived on the scene, or 

 hunger drove them away. They made their position known 

 by loud barking, and this they would keep up for twenty- 

 four hours if necessary. They got into trouble frequently, 

 through their ardor in the chase, and some of them car- 

 ried the wounds inflicted by the teeth or claws of an angry 

 bear or panther ; but they were so active, cautious, and sup- 

 ported each other so well in an attack, that the advantage 

 rested with them, as a rule. While they were not close- 

 quarter dogs, yet they were excellent " snippers " and good 

 " fencers," and could escape the leap of a panther or the 

 hug of a bear as well as any animals in the country ; but 

 their greatest delight was to collar a wolf and tear it to 

 death. They did not always escape scathless from these 

 contests, however, for in a life-and-death struggle their lu- 

 pine foe was capable of doing a fair share of work with 

 its long fangs. The fault he found with them was their 

 temper and stubbornness, and the difficulty he had in man- 

 aging them when once they got on the trail of an animal; 

 otherwise he liked them very much for their work. They 

 were good all-round dogs, that would do well at any game, 

 and it seemed to me that they were well suited for general 

 hunting in a country where there is so much variety and 

 abundance of large animals. 



The true wolf-dog, one that has the size, weight, strength, 

 speed, courage, and endurance to cope alone with the large 

 gray species, is not yet known in the West, and, until it is, 

 persons must be content to hunt it with any dogs that will 

 chase it and bring it to bay till the sportsman can finish it 

 with his knife, rifle, or revolver. If the Irish wolf-hound is 

 ever to be revived, that seems to be the country in which 

 it will be brought to perfection, as everything there is fa- 

 vorable to its full development. If that animal is nothing 

 more than a large deer-hound, however, as some writers as- 

 sert, it cannot cope singly with a wolf weighing from one 

 hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds, as it would lack 



