VI 

 WILD ANIMALS AND MEN 



WOLVERINE AND HUNTER 



One evening, while sitting before the fire in Oo-koo-hoo's 

 lodge, we heard sounds that told us that Amik had returned, 

 and presently he entered the tepee, full of wrath over the havoc 

 a wolverine had wrought along his trapping path. The pelts 

 of more dead game had been ruined; deadfalls had been broken; 

 and even some of his steel traps had been carried away. There 

 and then Oo-koo-hoo decided that he would drop all other work 

 and hunt the marauder. 



For its size — being about three feet in length and from 

 twelve to eighteen inches high — the wolverine is an amazingly 

 powerful creature. In appearance it somewhat resembles a 

 small brown bear. Though it is not a fast traveller its 

 home range may cover anywhere from five to fifty miles. It 

 feeds upon all sorts of small game, and has been known to kill 

 even deer. It mates about the end of March, dens in any 

 convenient earthen hole or rocky crevice or cave that may 

 afford suitable shelter; and it makes its bed of dry leaves, grass, 

 or moss. The young, which number from three to five, are born 

 in June. Whenever necessary, the mother strives desperately 

 to protect her young, and is so formidable a fighter that 

 even though the hunter may be armed with a gun, he runs 

 considerable risk of being injured by the brute. It has been 

 known to take possession of the carcass even of a caribou and 

 to stand off the hunter who had just shot it. Also, it has been 

 known to drive a wolf, and even a bear, away from their quarry. 



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