THIRTY YEAES A HUNTER. 53 



the winter, when the river was covered with ice, the 

 deer would fall into the air holes and become an easy 

 prey. "We took ofT the skin and if the deer did not 

 prove to be very good, we would leave half of it to 

 the wolves, but if it was good, we left the refuse parts 

 to encourage them in pursuing the deer. Often 

 while we were dressing deer the wolves would stand 

 within twenty rods, howling most discordantly. We 

 finally obtained a gun and dogs, and turned our 

 attention to hunting. "We commenced about the 

 first of July, and continued until November. The 

 wolves and dogs hunting together, sometimes one 

 and sometimes the other obtaining the deer, and 

 if it fell into our hands we always left the wolves 

 their portion to keep them near, for we considered 

 them of great assistance to us in hunting. • As there 

 was no bounty on wolves at that time, and we had 

 no sheep for them to kill, we never destroyed them. 

 They often aided us to three or four deer in a week. 

 When we were fire-hunting, and had killed a deer, 

 we often stopped to dress it, and left the wolves 

 their portion, and if we had not the fortune to catch 

 one, we would catch fish and leave them, to keep 

 them in our vicinity. The howling of the wolves 

 upon our track was generally mingled with the 

 scream of wildcats, and often they would fight over 

 the food we left them. Frequently when our dogs 

 were chasing a deer the wolves would take it from 

 them, and the dogs would sometimes take one from 

 the wolves in the same manner. The wolves and 

 the dogs would often be in pursuit of the same deer, 



5* 



