THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 27 



have several times come across carcasses of deer that had been killed 

 by wolves, the remnants of the, deer still warm. 



One day after I had finished some telephone line work at Quartz- 

 ville, and was returning to Foster, I came across two miners who were 

 prospecting on the Middle Fork of the Santiam River, and while in 

 conversation with them they told me that the day before, as they came 

 down Packer 's Gulch, they came upon the carcasses of seven deer that 

 had been killed by wolves, and from the number of wolf tracks I had 

 seen in the trail that day, I did not doubt their statement. 



These animals travel in packs, generally from five to seven in 

 number, which makes a deer an easy prey for them, and unless there 

 is something done in the near future to exterminate these animals, the 

 deer family of the Cascades will be a thing of the past, for I believe 

 that ninety per cent of the deer killed in this locality are slaughtered 

 by wolves. 



It is generally known that the gray wolf is very sly and cunning, 

 and in order to capture these animals one is obliged to spend consider- 

 able time in the forests locating their runways. I believe this is the 

 only successful way to capture them. 



I tried out these trail sets on three occasions, and find they are 

 very successful. The last set was made in October. My son and 1 

 decided to go to Iron Mountain for huckleberries. While hunting for 

 berries I found a trail that had been made by the wolves. We had 

 good luck in finding berries. On our return home my neighbor, Mr. 

 Buchanan, wanted me to go back with him for more berries, so I prom- 

 ised to do so. 



In a few days we were ready for the trip. I thought it a good 

 plan to take a few 7 traps with us, four in number. We arrived at our 

 camping place at 11 A. M. After we had fixed a temporary camp and 

 had eaten our lunch, we thought it would be better to make the sets 

 that evening, as we had plenty of time. After we had made the sets 

 we went to the huckleberry patch. We were very much disappointed. 

 The cold, frosty nights had caused the berries to fall off, so we returned 

 to camp and decided to drive to Fish Lake for a day or two and catch a 

 few fish. We had very good luck fishing, but were anxious to get back 

 to our traps we had set for I was sure if the wolves made their round 

 we would get some of them. On arriving at our camp, and the team 

 had been cared for, we were ready to look after our traps. 



The first trap we came to had been sprung by a wolf which had 

 gone a short distance, and had pulled his foot loose from the trap. The 

 second trap was gone, so we followed the drag we had attached to it, 

 and soon came upon the wolf. He was caught well up on the foot, and 

 was held fast. We soon made a good wolf of him. We then went to 

 the third trap. It had also been sprung, but the wolf had freed himself 

 from the trap, having been caught by one toe. The fourth trap had not 

 been molested. 



I am sure if my traps had been larger, I would have had three 

 wolves instead of one. 



WORDS OF APPRECIATION 



Newberg, Oregon, February 2, 1918. 

 Oregon Fish and Game Commission, Portland, Oregon. 



Dear Sirs: I am enclosing herewith 25 cents for a renewal of my 

 subscription to The Oregon Sportsman for another year. I think you are 

 doing a good thing for your brother sportsmen in publishing The Oregon 

 Sportsman. I would not be without it even if it was a dollar a year. 

 Yours respectfully, S. J. MADSON, 



