18 WOLVES IK KELATION TO STOCK, GAME, AND FOKEST EESEEVES. 

 DESTRUCTION OF GAME BY WOLVES. 



The amount of game killed is even less easily determined than of 

 cattle, but, judging from the evidence obtained, wolves kill far less 

 game in the western United States than either coyotes or mountain 

 lions. 



At Big Piney, Wyo., I examined wolf dung in probably fifty 

 places around dens and along wolf trails. In about nine-tenths of 

 the cases it was composed mainly or entirely of cattle or horse hair; 

 in all other cases but one, of rabbit fur and bones, and in this one case 

 mainly of antelope hair. A herd of 20 or 30 antelope wintered about 

 5 or 6 miles from this den, and the old wolves frequently visited 

 the herd, but I could find no other evidence that they destroyed 

 antelope, though I followed wolf tracks for many miles among the 

 antelope tracks on the snow. Jack rabbits were killed and eaten 

 along the trails or brought to the den and eaten near it almost every 

 night, and a half-eaten cottontail was found in the den with the 

 little pups. While wolves are usually found around antelope herds, 

 they are probably able to kill only the sick, crippled, and young. 

 The following note from Wyoming appeared in the Pinedale 

 Roundup of July 4, 1906 : 



While riding on the outside circle with the late round-up Nelse Jorgensen 

 chanced to see a wolf making away with a fawn antelope. He gave chase to 

 the animal, but it succeeded in getting away, never letting loose on its catch. 



About a den near Cora the numerous deposits of wolf dung on 

 the crest of the ridge not far away were found to be composed of 

 horse and cattle hair, though fresh elk tracks Avere abundant over the 

 sidehills on all sides of the den, while cattle and horses were then 

 to be found only in the valley, 8 miles distant. Several jack rabbits 

 had been brought in and eaten, and the old wolf on her way to the 

 den had laid down her load, evidently a jack rabbit, gone aside some 

 20 feet and caught a ruffed grouse, eaten it on the spot, and then 

 resumed her load and her journey to the waiting pups. One small 

 carpal bone in this den may. have been from a deer or small elk, but 

 no other trace of game was found. 



Talking with hunters and trappers who spend much time in the 

 mountains Avhen the snow is on the ground brought little positive 

 information on the destruction of elk or deer by wolves. Mr. 

 George Glover, a forest ranger long familiar with the Wind Eiver 

 Mountains in both winter and summer, said that he had found a 

 large blacktail buck which the wolves had eaten, but that he sus- 

 pected it had been previously shot by hunters. In many winters of 

 trapping where elk were abundant, Mr. Glover has never found any 

 evidence that elk had been killed by wolves. Coyotes constantly fol- 

 low the elk herds, especially in spring when the calves are being born, 



