COURSING THE GRAY WOLF.* 



BY DUNCAN S. CAGE. 



LIVED some years in the Texas Panhandle, where the 

 question as to the best dog to use in coursing the Gray 

 Wolf was a vital one, and my experience in the mat- 

 ter may prove of interest to other lovers of that grand 

 sport. Let me premise by saying that I firmly believe that 

 any dog no matter of what breed or strength that will, 

 single-handed, seize and hold his grip on a Gray Wolf will 

 hardly survive his first encounter. The thick hair and 

 tough, loose skin of the Wolf protect him from serious 

 injury from the dog's teeth, while his own powerful fangs 

 cut at each snap like a circular-saw. Of course, where a 

 number of large dogs, of almost any breed, close in on a 

 Wolf, they may, in a combined attack, easily pull him 

 down and kill him, whereas it would be suicidal for any 

 one or two of them to attempt it alone. 



My conclusion was, that if destruction of the Wolves 

 is the only object, the ordinary Fox-hound is by odds the 

 best; not that dogs of this breed can capture or kill his 

 Wolfship, but they trail him to his den, and this once 

 located, his death is easily compassed. We used to use 

 balls of cotton soaked in liquid carbolic acid and turpen- 

 tine, and, igniting them, throw them in. In most cases this 

 soon brought the game out, so nearly suffocated that he 

 could be killed with a club though I must say we did not 

 practice this mode of dispatching him. A wheezing, foam- 

 ing, staggering Wolf might well bluff the Sorosis Club 

 itself; so we generally preferred to pierce him with bullets, 



* From Sports Afield, by kind permission of the publishers. 

 (475) 



