JOHNSON — HABITS OF TIMBER WOLF 
13 
approximately twenty-five feet away. Its size indicated a full-grown 
animal. 
The floating object upon which the wolf had been feeding proved to 
be an adult cow moose, recently dead. It lay in a pool about six or 
seven feet deep, but a short distance above the swift water of the rapids 
and was held in place by a long pole lying crosswise in the current. 
The nearer shore would probably have presented some difficulty in 
landing for an animal the size of a moose because -of a number of large 
boulders at the edge of the water, while upstream passage was entirely 
barred by a mass of drift ; but the opposite bank offered easy hauling- 
out places down as far as the turbulent water of the rapids. Whether 
the moose had accidentally drowned or had died suddenly from some 
natural cause while in the river to feed is a matter of speculation, and 
the possibility remains that the . cow had been frightened or driven 
into the river by wolves and had there floundered about until exhausted. 
In the back, opposite the kidneys, a large deep hole had been eaten 
into the carcass and it was here the wolf was feeding when surprised. 
No other part of the moose, so far as could be observed in the difficult 
situation, bore any signs of attack. 
On August 14 of the present year another opportunity presented 
itself for a near view of a timber wolf in its native haunts, this time 
with more disastrous termination for the wolf. It was in the same 
general region of the Forest Reserve but further out, namely on the 
upper courses of the Isabella River, at what is known as Rice Lake. 
Accompanied by my wife I was spending a few weeks’ vacation in 
some further observations in that territory, under federal and state 
permits. 
At 10:30 in the forenoon on the date mentioned we were on our way, 
by canoe, for a day’s exploration about the shores of Rice Lake and had 
stopped to fish for a little while in a favorable spot in the Isabella River, 
at the entrance into the lake. Below this point the river is flanked on 
each side by a meadow of grass and low shrubbery extending back at 
different points from perhaps twenty-five to a hundred or more yards 
before the timberline proper is reached. While thus quietly engaged 
we noticed an animal moving along the edge of the river on the east 
bank, about three hundred yards down stream. A glance through 
the field glass revealed it as a wolf and it was then moving at a slow 
trot. We determined to follow it on the chance that an opportunity 
for a near approach should present itself, for although we were but 
poorly equipped, our only arm being a little 410-gauge shot-gun, we 
