Wolves and Wolf Nature 



swift for short distances, but have not the 

 strength to stand a long chase. In such a 

 case a mother will often stay behind her 

 young, and will try to fight off the coyote, 

 butting him with her head and striking him 

 with her forefeet. He pays little attention to 

 her, except to snap at her, and keeps on after 

 the kids. Several times I have seen a mother 

 antelope lead her little ones into the midst of 

 a bed of cactus, where the wolf could not go 

 without getting his feet full of thorns. If the 

 bed is small, the wolf makes ferocious dashes 

 up to its border, trying to frighten the little 

 ones so that they will run out on the other 

 side and he can start after them again, but 

 usually the mother has no trouble in holding 

 them. I have several times killed young an- 

 telope whose legs had been bitten by coyotes, 

 but which had got away. 



The coyotes understand very well at what 

 time of the year the young antelope are born, 

 and at this season they spend much time sit- 

 ting about on the hills and watching the old 

 does. These, however, are often pretty well 

 able to take care of themselves, and I have 

 seen an old doe, which unquestionably had 

 young hidden somewhere nearby in the grass, 



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