IN TII1L 1' A R U'KST. 119 



generally timid, and keeps away from the abode of man, 

 except on convenient occasions, when it takes a fancy to a 

 lamb or a young porker. It often pays dearly for this 

 thieving propensity, for the rifle and strychnine are sure to be 

 ready for it the next time it visits the farm-yard, and if the 

 farmer does not open on it, a bait sprinkled with the poison 

 is almost sure to make it turn up its toes inside of three or 

 four hours. This is the most effective means of destruction 

 sheep -raisers can employ against it, and so effective has it 

 been found that the animal has been decimated in large tracts 

 of country where it was very numerous a few years ago. 



A certain class of persons known as " wolfers " earn their 

 livelihood by destroying it with poison. These men are a set 

 of reckless nomads who live on the borders of civilization, and 

 whose whole life seems to consist in braving cold, hunger, and 

 sometimes death, for several months in the year, and spending 

 the remainder in riotous debauchery. Those who make a 

 business of "wolfing" do nothing else; and it is doubtful 

 if the majority are useful for anything else. They commence 

 operations as soon as the winter sets in and continue it until 

 late in the spring. Their equipment consists of strychnine, 

 Hour, bacon, tea, cofTee, and sugar, and a few primitive 

 cooking utensils; the edibles being intended for themselves, 

 and the poison for the wolves. Travelling far away from the 

 settlements, they pitch their camp in a region where the 

 animals are numerous, and wood and water are convenient. 

 Having established themselves, their first duty is to procure a 

 bait, and whether it be a buffalo or a deer, they cut it up into 

 large pieces, sprinkle it freely with strychnine, and scatter it 

 about some distance from camp. The result is that from ten 

 to eighty wolves may be found dead the next morning within 

 an area of five hundred yards, and sometimes the number 

 exceeds even this. 



The carcasses are taken to camp, where they are skinned, and 

 being sprinkled with some more poison are placed as lures where 

 they will do most good ; and so the slaughter is continued fin- 

 several months, until scarcely one is left in a large tract of 

 oountrv. A\ hen the wolves eat the bait thev become sk-k, and 



