WOLVES IN RELATION TO STOCK, GAME, AND THE NATIONAL 

 FOREST RESERVES. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The enormous losses suffered by stockmen on the western cattle 

 ranges and the destruction of game on forest reserves, game pre- 

 serves, and in national parks through the depredations of wolves 

 have led to special investigations by the Biological Survey in co- 

 operation with the Forest Service, to ascertain the best methods for 

 destroying these pests. The results appear in the present report, 

 which includes also field notes on the distribution, abundance, and 

 breeding habits of woh^es. 



The chief object of the report is to put in the hands of ever}' hunter, 

 trapper, forest ranger, and ranchman directions for trapping, poison- 

 ing, and hunting wolves and finding the dens of young. If these 

 directions are followed it is believed that the wolves can be so reduced 

 in number that their depredations will cease to be a serious menace to 

 stock raising. Prime wolf skins are worth from $4 to $6 each, enough 

 to induce trappers and enterprising ranch boys to make an effort to 

 secure them if a reasonable degree of success is assured. Stock own- 

 ers need little encouragement to catch or kill wolves on their own 

 ranges, and it is believed that the forest rangers will be able to keep 

 them down on the forest reserves. Their complete extermination on 

 the western range is not, however, to be expected in the near future, 

 and it is only by constant and concerted effort that their numbers can 

 be kept down sufficiently to prevent serious depredations. 



DISTRIBUTION OF WOLVES. 



The wolves of North America are divided into two groups — the 

 smaller coj^otes, or prairie wolves, of the western United States, 

 Mexico, and southwestern Canada, comprising several sj)ecies and 

 subspecies; and the larger gray, black, or timber wolves, distributed 

 practicalh' throughout the whole of Xorth America from Florida 

 and the table-land of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. These large 

 Avolves — commonly called '' loafers " or " lobos "^ — include at least 

 half a dozen species or geographic races, comprising the small dark 

 gray or black wolf of Florida and the southeastern United States, the 



