worth while to many. On account of their size and strength 

 they have few natural enemies and may be the chief agency 

 in checking their increase. 



So long as the coyote is thus held down numerically, I be- 

 lieve that in the state as a whole it must do fully as much 

 good as harm, in view of its vermin destroying propensities 

 and as a scavenger. It is true that it does destroy some of 

 our game birds and others of economic value, yet I believe 

 also that such depredidations are as a rule far less frequent 

 than is commonly supposed and do not appreciably affect the 

 sum total of such life in this state. I have known large tracts 

 in the nortwestern part of the state where in past years there 

 were ten prairirie-wolves to one found there today, alongside 

 of as many foxes, yet the game-birds such as the sharp-tailed 

 grouse, the prairie-hen, the upland plover and others, were 

 vastly more numerous then, than they are in that same region 

 today. 



To the timber-wolf special interest attaches because of its 

 relation to our big-game animals, moose and deer, the latter 

 particularly. Being a forest animal the beast itself is seldom 

 seen and its presence is made known chiefly by signs. Grave 

 accusations have been made against the timber-wolf in regard 

 to the heavy toll annually exacted on the deer of our north 

 woods. It is sometimes charged that more deer are killed 

 during the year by this beast alone than by all other causes 

 combined. Beyond the mere assertion I have failed to find 

 tangible evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, brought forth 

 in support of such contentions. With the possible exception 

 of some of the most remote localities, where the greater num- 

 ber of timber-wolves are found, and where few, if any, hunters 

 go to shoot deer, I believe that such assertions are wild specu- 

 lations and cannot be accepted for the deer-inhabited regions 

 of the state as a whole. This wolf, like the coyote, finds the 

 bulk of its food in the "small fry," such as mice, rabbits, 

 wood-chucks, chipmunks, sometimes birds and their eggs, and 

 even the musk-rat. But there are many exceptions to this 

 rule, and there are exceptional seasons. The winter often 

 drives it to depend upon larger game. 



During the last three summers spent in the Superior Na- 



26 



