THE WOLF QUESTION. 



FROM MONTANA, AT LARGE. 



Stanford, Mont. 



Editor Recreation: .1 send you an- 

 swers to your wolf questions which state 

 the facts as I know them: 



i. Where are you located? 



All over Montana. That is, I travel all 

 over it. 



2. Are gray wolves troublesome in your 

 region? 



Yes, in some places. In others not. 

 They, however, go wherever cattle or 

 horses range. 



3. What do they destroy? Horses? Cat- 

 tle? Sheep? 



Colts are their favorite meat. They 

 do not hesitate to kill cattle, also. They 

 occasionally kill sheep; but I think only 

 in cases where they are pressed by hunger. 



4. About what amount of damage should 

 you estimate they do in a year, in your 

 county or range? 



A family of wolves will destroy about 

 $3,000 worth of stock per annum. 



5. Did you ever know of a gray wolf kill- 

 ing or harming a human being? 



Never. Have heard plenty of fairy 

 stories in this line but take no stock in 

 them. 



6. Are wolves increasing in numbers? 

 Since the present bounty law went into 



effect they are decreasing. 



7. Have you any reason to believe wolves 

 can signal across country, and so tell each 

 other what parts are dangerous or where 

 the hunting is good? 



I believe they can. 



8. What is the average and the greatest 

 weight and measure of a wolf, according to 

 your certain knowledge? 



Have one. Have never weighed or 

 measured one, though I have killed hun- 

 dreds. 



9. Do you consider the coyote a nui- 

 sance; or do you consider the harm done in 

 killing lambs, etc., more than balanced by 

 the good they do in keeping down gophers, 

 ground squirrels, etc.? 



I do; but think there should be a bounty 

 on coyotes, .as well as on wolves. On 

 coyotes $3 to $5; on wolves $10 to $15. 



10. What do you consider the best means 

 — legislative and practical — of dealing with 

 the wolf question? 



The State should fix the bounty and 

 then let the stockmen club together and 

 hire experienced trappers. Pay them so 

 much a month, and let them keep the boun- 

 ties they get; but they must hunt on a 

 given range, where their employer's stock 

 is. If the trapper has a good dog to trail 

 wolves in the spring he can find their dens 

 and get the whole family. 



J. B. Jennett (Old Silver Tip). 



FROM THE CORPUS CHRISTIE REGION. 



Port Lavaca, Tex. 



Editor Recreation: Allow me to tell 

 you of an affair that recently came to my 

 notice. A friend of mine, W. B. Garner, 

 manages a ranch for T. M. O'Connor, 20 

 miles below here. The ranch contains 

 97,000 acres of land and has some 25,000 or 

 30,000 head of cattle on it. The wolves are 

 a great source of annoyance, as well as 

 damage, to the owner and manager. Mr. 

 Garner has hit on a method of poisoning 

 the wolves which is fairly successful, and 

 an account of it may interest your readers. 



Armed with a 2 inch auger and a bucket 

 of tallow, well saturated with strychnine, 

 he goes forth, and at reasonable distances 

 apart he bores holes, an inch deep, in the 

 fence posts and fills them with the poisoned 

 tallow. He bores the holes some 2 feet 

 from the ground. 



He claims 2 distinct advantages for his 

 method of poisoning the wolves. One is 

 that the bait, when once placed, will remain 

 effective all winter unless eaten up by a 

 wolf or a dog. The other is that, having to 

 slowly lick out the tallow, the wolf will 

 not get enough poison to act as an emetic; 

 but will stop as soon as the poison begins 

 to get in its work. He says a wolf or a dog 

 will eat tallow when no other food will 

 tempt him. 



If Mr. Garner desires to kill possums or 

 polecats, he bores the holes 6 or 8 inches 

 from the ground, and " the harvest is 

 great." These little pests seldom live long 

 enough to get 10 feet from the post, while 

 a wolf frequently goes half a mile. 



The wolves are fairly plentiful here and I 

 have several times been able to ride to 

 within 200 yards of them, when armed only 

 with a shot gun. 



H. M. Brown. 



FROM IDAHO. 



Parma, Idaho. 



Editor Recreation: We have no wolves 

 here. The coyote alone is left on our 

 dreary, sage brush plains. The gray 

 wolf has been crowded out before the ad- 

 vancing tide of immigration. I last heard 

 him howl some 15 years ago; but Cousin 

 Coyote is everywhere. Each night they 

 give a grand chorus in the fields near my 

 house. Sometimes they come within 100 

 yards. Occasionally the dog makes a bold 

 dash and drives them 200 or 300 yards. 

 Then they turn and hustle him home. In 

 the gray dawn 2 or 3 shadowy forms may be 

 seen watching the house, as though they 

 enjoyed the humor of the thing. 



I have seen a coyote sit within 50 feet of 

 the road as I drove by. Apparently he 



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