HUNTING WOLVES IN EASTERN NEBRASKA. 



ARTHUR L. ANDERSON. 



Wolves and coyotes have again descend- 

 ed on the fold in Nebraska. Scarcity of 

 feed on the Western ranges and conse- 

 quent diminution of the herds and flocks, 

 together with the increasing warfare that 

 has been waged against them, have driven 

 these outlaws of the genius cams nearer to 

 civilization the past winter than they have 

 come in many years. At one time coyotes 

 were as abundant in Nebraska as prairie 

 dogs and jack rabbits; but with the reces- 

 sion of the frontier they also receded and 

 were nigh disappeared. 



Whatever the cause wolves and coyotes 

 are again plentiful in that State. Farm- 

 ers do not relish this propinquity, and 

 have taken active steps to induce the in- 

 truders to retire. 



Ordinary methods of dealing with the 

 pests have proved inefficient. The offer of 

 bounty has served but to induce the un- 

 scrupulous to breed wolves for the pur- 

 pose of selling their scalps to the public. 

 A few years ago a bunch of enterprising 

 cowpunchers gathered up hundreds of 

 wolf scalps in Montana and Wyoming and 

 shipped them to Eastern Nebraska and 

 Western Iowa, where several counties 

 were nearly bankrupt before the fraud 

 was discovered. 



Such things tended to discourage the 

 practice of paying bounties and left it in- 

 cumbent on the farmers and stock raisers 

 to fight the wolves themselves. What was 

 a popular sport in the early days of the 

 State has been revived, and grand wolf 

 drives are being carried on in counties 

 where they have not been known in many 

 years. 



One of the most primitive methods of 

 hunting was the formation of a cordon of 

 men around a specified area, who gradu- 

 ally drove to a common center all animals 

 caught within the slowly narrowing circle. 

 This practice was followed before 

 the first dog ceased to be a wolf. 

 When the Nebraska farmers decide on a 

 wolf drive notice is given to all residing 

 within the area to be beaten over, usually 

 a space about 20 miles square. Every able 



bodied man and boy joins the hunt, for the 

 fun of the thing is ample repayment to 

 anyone with a drop of red blood in his 

 veins. Captains are chosen to control the 

 sides ; always 4, for the territory is marked 

 in a square, and the beaters approach along 

 its 4 sides. Ample precaution is taken to 

 secure the safety of all concerned from 

 anything but unavoidable accidents. JSfo 

 fire arms save shot guns are allowed ; rifles 

 and revolvers being too dangerous. In 

 some cases even the shot gun is tabooed, 

 the killing being done with clubs. 



On the day appointed the sides set out. 

 The captains agree as to the points where 

 the columns shall converge, the aides are 

 instructed in their duties and the hunt be- 

 gins in earnest. Slowly, steadily the lines 

 move toward the place of meeting, which 

 is of necessity an open meadow or field, 

 driving everything before them. As the 

 area is cut smaller and smaller the alarm 

 of the enclosed animals becomes frantic ter- 

 ror. Prairie chickens, quails and other game 

 birds, rabbits and the like, flee in wild dis- 

 may from the approach of the human 

 walls ; while the wolves, seeming to realize 

 the trap in which they are caught, dash 

 back and forth in search of shelter or a 

 place to escape. 



Those that try to break through the cor- 

 don are shot as they run. Around each of 

 the 4 sides stands a solid wall of men and 

 boys armed with every weapon with which 

 a wolf may be killed, and yet which is not 

 essentially dangerous to the users or their 

 companions. Here the dogs are brought in 

 play. These are generally strong hounds, 

 who can easily cope with a wolf in open 

 fight. When the dogs are set to work the 

 wolves are in the extremity of fear or of 

 desperation. Some rush wildly to one side 

 or the other of the square that has caught 

 them, only to be shot. Others are pulled 

 down by the dogs. No matter whether 

 they fly or fight, death is their portion. 

 Sundown of the day of the wolf drive finds 

 the farmer homeward bound, rejoicing that 

 a dozen to 20 more of his 4-footed foes 

 have died. 



"Fifty dollars for such a little dog !" ex- 

 claimed the possible buyer. "It doesn't 

 weigh over 4 pounds." 



"I know, mister," said the dog dealer ; 

 "but I'm not offering it to you as sausage." 

 —Judge. 



