4?8 HUNTING WITH DOGS. 



that do take place are chiefly for the capture of cubs, the 

 dogs of the country being little capable of facing the old 

 ones. Were the dogs ever so courageous and strong, 

 indeed, it would hardly be worth a man's while to make 

 wolf hunting a regular pastime, as from the immensity of 

 the forests, and the wandering habits of the beast, the hunter 

 would never know where to find him. 



There are individuals, however, who follow up this 

 sport. "The Hof-Jagmastare, J. A. Strom," we are told, 

 for instance, " makes use of strong dogs of a powerful 

 breed for wolf hunting. In the early part of the summer, 

 when the cubs are small, he begins with six dogs; but in 

 the autumn, when the young follow the mother, twelve to 

 twenty-four dogs are slipped from their couplings at once." 



When speaking of destroying wolf cubs at the Lya, 

 or lair a plan, by the bye, which, if more generally adopted, 

 would tend more than anything else to diminish the number 

 of those beasts M. Strom tells us : " Wolves do not pair 

 at Christmas time, as many believe, but in the end of 

 February or beginning of March ; and the cubs are born 

 after the lapse of nine weeks. They are blind for eleven 

 days, and do not leave the Lya before they are a month 

 old, during which while the mother never goes far from 

 them, but seeks her prey in the vicinity that is to say, 

 within a distance of from three to four miles of home. 

 When at this time, therefore, she repeatedly attacks cattle, 

 her lair, which one may be assured is not far off, should 

 be sought for. This can be done by twenty to thirty 

 persons, who, forming line, beat the country before them 

 in the same manner as with a Dref-Skall. Whilst the 



