Trail and Camp-Fire 



falo were driven in toward evening, and the 

 butchering was not finished that day, the 

 wolves were sure to spoil whatever meat was 

 left there during the night. It was, therefore, 

 a common practice for the Indians to set 

 snares in the openings of the fence which in- 

 closed the buffalo corral, and in this way they 

 caught many wolves. Another form of trap I 

 have described in my book on the Blackfeet.* 

 They also trapped many wolves by means 

 of dead-falls, for in old times the fur of these 

 animals was highly valued by some tribes for 

 robes, and also for purposes of ornamentation, 

 the buffalo robes often being trimmed with a 

 margin of white wolf skin. 



In countries where buffalo were not abund- 

 dant, wolves killed for themselves and by run- 

 ning them down, deer, moose, caribou, and 

 perhaps elk, though, as these last animals go 

 in large droves in winter, it may be ques- 

 tioned whether the wolves often make suc- 

 cessful attacks on them. 



To-day the wolf feeds largely on domestic 

 animals. On the western range it kills many 

 colts, but chiefly calves and older cattle, as 

 already described. The she wolf which has a 



* " Blackfoot Lodge Tales," page 240. 



168 



