THE RANCHMAN'S RIFLE ON CRAG AND PRAIRIE 



143 



boring- ranchman had a half-breed fox-and-greyhound, who, single-handed, 

 ran into and throttled a coyote. I have been very anxious to try my 

 dogs on a big wolf, intending to take along a collie and a half-breed 

 mastiff we have to assist at the bay. The mastiff is a good fighter, and 

 can kill a wildcat, taking the necessary punishment well, as we found out 

 when we once trapped one of these small lynxes. Shep, the collie, is an 

 adept at killing badgers, grabbing them from behind and whirling them 

 round, whereas Brandy always gets his great lop-ears bitten. But how 

 they would do with a wolf I cannot say ; for one of these long-toothed 

 wanderers is usually able to outrun and outfight any reasonable number 

 of common hounds, and will kill even a big dog very quickly. 



A friend of mine, Mr. Heber Bishop, once coursed and killed a wolf 

 with two Scotch deer-hounds. After a brisk run the dogs overtook and 

 held the quarry, but could not kill it, and were being very roughly han- 

 dled when Mr. Bishop came to their assistance. But a ranchman in the 

 Indian Territory has a large pack of these same Scotch dogs trained 

 especially to hunt the wolf; and four or five of the fleet, high-couraged 

 animals can not only soon overhaul a wolf, but can collar and throttle 

 even the largest. Accidents to the pack are, of course, frequent. They 

 say that the worry is enough to make one's hair stand on end. 



Before leaving the subject, it is worth noting that we have with us the 

 Canada lynx as well as his smaller brother ; and, more singular still, that 

 a wolverine, usually found only in the northern forests, was killed two win- 

 ters ago in a big woody bottom on the Little Missouri, about forty miles 

 north of Medora. The skin and skull were unmistakable ; so there could 

 be no doubt as to the beast's identity. 



I have had good sport on the rolling plains, near Mandan, in follow- 

 ing a scratch pack of four fleet, long-legged dogs. One was a wire-haired 

 Scotch deer-hound; his mate was a superb greyhound, the speediest of the 

 set. Both were possessed of the dauntless courage peculiar to high-bred 

 hunting dogs. The other two were mongrels, but, nevertheless, game fighters 

 and swift runners : one was a lurcher, and the other a cross between a grey- 

 hound and a fox-hound — the only one of the four that ever gave tongue. 

 The two former had been used together often, and had slain five 

 coyotes, two deer (white-tails), and an antelope. Both the antelope and 

 the deer they had fairly run down, having come up close on them, so that 

 they had good send-offs ; but there is a wide individual variation among 

 game animals as regards speed, and those that they caught — at any rate 

 the antelope — may not have been as fleet as most of their kind. They 

 were especially fond of chasing coyotes, and these they easily overtook. 



