52 MISC. PUBLICATION 9 0, U. S, DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



ter months when the snow is deep and feed scarce, the coyotes go back 

 to these old carcasses, dig them up, and pick their bones. 



When a coyote den is located near a band of lambing ewes, a 

 kill of one or more lambs each night is made to feed the young. 

 Sometimes a single coyote will kill from $50 to $500 worth of live- 

 stock in a night, in addition to game. 



Coyote furs, when prime, sell at prices ranging from $1 to $20 

 each, probably averaging $7 during the past 10 years. Thousands 

 of them go on the market annually and are used for scarfs and muffs, 

 and for the fur trimmings on many kinds of wearing apparel. They 

 are also used as substitutes for many other more valuable furs. 



Gray wolves are cunning, powerful, and savage. They ruthlessly 

 slaughter young elk, deer, and any other game available." When the 

 buffalo had been exterminated by wasteful hunting for hides, and 

 elk and deer had been greatly reduced in number, the domestic cattle 

 and sheep placed on the ranges soon became the prey of the wolf. 

 Wolves usually hunt in families, or in so-called packs made up of 

 the old pair and a litter of pups; but a lone wolf will kill large 

 numbers of young cattle and has often been known to kill grown 

 cattle. The wolf frequently attacks an animal from the rear and 

 cuts the cords of the hind legs, commonly called the hamstrings, 

 so the animal can not use its legs. Wolves often get after a bunch of 

 cattle and kill or cripple several without feeding on more than one. 



Usually wolves are very sly, and they are seldom seen by man, but 

 at times they are extremely bold and make daytime raids near 

 ranches or sheep camps. A single wolf may destroy annually ap- 

 proximately $1,000 worth of livestock, in addition to game the value 

 of which can not be estimated, and certain individuals have been 

 known to do many times that amount of damage. Stockmen esti- 

 mated that a lone wolf ranging on the Fishlake Forest killed in 

 three years from $5,000 to $10,000 worth of livestock. When this 

 wolf was trapped by Federal and State hunters in 1925 these losses 

 were stopped. 



Wolves have been hunted so persistently that only a few remain, 

 and these are in the most isolated parts of the country. 



ECONOMIC LOSSES IN LIVESTOCK, GAME, AND OTHER RESOURCES 



The total destruction of livestock and game annually by these 

 animals can not be given. Stockmen for many years have realized 

 that their losses were heavy and have done what they could to pro- 

 tect their herds and flocks, but as more stock was placed on the 

 ranges the losses increased. Probably the heaviest losses occurred 

 between 1910 and 1917. Many sheepmen claimed that they suffered 

 losses of from 8 to 12 per cent annually of their lamb crop, as well 

 as many old sheep. Stockmen who grazed their cattle on the open 

 ranges the whole season lost heavily where wolves or stock-killing 

 bears were numerous. Also many calves were killed by coyotes. If 

 8 per cent is considered the annual loss, with approximately 2,800,000 

 range sheep and 360,000 beef cattle in the State, the sheep having an 

 average value of $8 per head and the cattle an average value per 



