AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



67 



this Wolf having had a hearty repast, the third night, 

 his pursuers knew it would be fruitless to give him further 

 chase, and therefore gave it up. 



It was not long, however, before this depredator paid us 

 a visit, and destroyed as beforementioned, seven sheep 

 for the farmer that had requested us to join in the pursuit 

 of him. 



We had never heard of a Wolf being run down with fatigue 

 and starvation, but our acquaintance with the animal con- 

 vinced us of the practicability of the thing, and knowing 

 this was the only probable chance we had to exterminate 

 him, we agreed to follow him until this was the case, or 

 an opportunity offered during the chase of shooting him 

 with our rifles. 



When the request was made to me by our neighbour, 



Capt. W who was .standing near, asked me what I 



thought of it? I replied, " he must die, or our word will 

 be forfeited." "Well," says he, "let us fly to arms, but 

 then, again, let us be s^itisfied that it is the ' three-legged 

 Wolf.' " We went to the place where he had destroyed the 

 sheep, and found to our satisfaction, that it was the old 

 depredator we had heard so much about. We, without 

 delay, prepared ourselves for the chase; our dress consisted 

 of a complete suit of flannel, next to the skin, and over 

 this another suit of strong linen or tow cloth, (pantaloons 

 and frock) to fit tight, and on our feet moccasins: this was 

 our usual hunting dress, and required to be very strong, in 

 consequence of briars, laurel, under-brush, and snags; in 

 our frocks we had pockets sufiiciently large to carry pro- 

 vision for the day; thus equipped, with rifles in our hands, 

 and dogs that would seize any wild animal, but a Wolf, we 

 started. It was nine o'clock in the morning — there were 

 fifteen ready to join us, and the ground was covered with 

 a fine tracking snow, about eight inches deep. Some of 

 the company were considered very fast runners, and those 

 who are acquainted with the Catskill and Delaware moun- 

 tains, are sensible that a horse cannot travel over them, 

 and that every thing of the kind must be done on foot. 

 We took the track, and followed it about three miles to 

 the foot of a mountain; and our rule, on these occasions, 

 was to keep a fast walk on the track until the animal jumped 

 from his bed, and then the fleetest man was to go ahead at 

 full speed. 



We found the Wolf had gone up this mountain, which 

 was about three miles to the summit, and very steep in 

 places, but about two-thirds of the way up, we aroused him 

 from his bed, this we could tell by the snow that he had 

 beaten down to repose on. We ascended the mountain as 

 fast as we could, and, on arriving at the top, discovered 

 that he had steered his course towards the Susquehannah. 

 I then started off at full speed, and continued so for about 



two miles, when I looked behind to see what progress my 

 companions were making. W — was close to me, but the 

 others were just in sight — says he, "go on, H — , if he 

 keeps this course, about five miles ahead he will cross a 

 large field, and if we run faster than he has previously 

 been chased, we may surprise, and get a shot at him." I 

 immediately recollected the field, and coincided with his 

 reasoning. About one mile behind this field, we feared 

 he would cross the Cooquago Creek, ascend a mountain, 

 and enter a large windfall,* that was on the top of the 

 mountain, as it is the case with most wild animals, when 

 hard pressed, they will avail themselves of these diiBcult 

 places to escape, and bears, wolves, or panthers, will glide 

 through them with ease, when it is almost impossible for 

 man. I therefore exerted myself to the uttermost, and, 

 although the ground was covered with hemlock logs, &c. 

 I did not heed them, but sprang over them with ease, I 

 ran these five miles in a very short period, and as I ap- 

 proached the field, I saw the Wolf about three hundred 

 and fifty yards ahead, and finding that I could get no nigher 

 to him, I levelled my rifle and fired; I saw the snow fly 

 close to his side, but he went off unhurt. My rifle would 

 drop her ball, in that distance, nearly three feet, conse- 

 quently, I had to guess the proper range. In a moment, 

 Capt. W — was by my side, and asked what I had done? I 

 told him that I had not struck him. We continued our 

 chase, and I loaded as I ran, and only stopped to put down 

 the ball. 



It appears that this Wolf knew, by experience, (having 

 been so often chased) how far exactly to keep ahead of his 

 pursuers; but it was evident in these five miles we gained 

 on and surprised him, for he was not fully aware of our 

 nearing him until my rifle ball struck within a foot of his 

 side; this put him to a greater speed, and I did not recover 

 my lost ground until I had run ten miles, so equal did we 

 run, and part of the distance was run through the windfall 

 spoken of. He kept his course to within a few miles of 

 the Susquehannah river, and then turned towards the west 

 Branch of the Delaware, and ascended a mountain which 

 was covered with hemlock and laurel. The last four hours 

 we run him so hard, that he would lie down every oppor- 

 tunity he could get, and this laurel hill afforded him means 

 of rest, for it was so thick we could hardly creep through 

 it. In this place he took several turns to elude our pursuit, 

 and one of us went back in order to way-lay him, in hopes 

 that he would give an opportunity to shoot him, but the 

 thicket being so dense, that we could see but a very short 

 distance in it, and the Wolf glided out on the opposite side 



* A windfall is a place in the forest, where a hurricane lias passed, and 

 swept the trees to the ground, iu a large confused mass, and mostly occurs 

 on the tops of mountains, and in the most dense thickets. 



