A Michigan Wolf Hunt. 
In the northern and less settled portions of 
Tilichigan, wild animals are yet found in forest 
and swamps. The wildcat and deer are fre¬ 
quently seen, while wolf and bear are not par¬ 
ticularly scarce. In the southern portions all 
large game has long since disappeared. 
When forest fires have raged for days across 
the northern woodlands, their wild inhabitants 
have the choice of burning in their dens or 
seeking new homes. Frightened by the smell 
of smoke and by the flames, they frequently 
travel many miles before halting. Fugitives 
from one of the many fires which swept over 
this State during the autumn of 1908 supplied 
the excitement for the following story. 
During September the people of a neighbor¬ 
ing county were greatly excited by the report 
that a wild beast of some kind had taken up its 
abode among them. It was first seen by a 
young man whom I shall call Ed. One morn¬ 
ing about 4:,30, he started for the barn to feed 
the team he intended to drive to a distant fac¬ 
tory. He was within three or four rods of the 
barn door, when an object before him, dimly 
seen, howled twice, and Ed. turned and strove 
to reach the house with the fewest possible steps 
and in the least possible number of seconds. 
With the hired man, a lantern, an axe and a gun, 
Ed. returned to the barn. Nothing was to be 
seen of the beast, and for a day or two Ed. was 
forced to undergo many sound “roastings” from 
the family and neighbors. Two days later, his 
mother, looking after a flock of strayed turkeys, 
saw a large, gray animal bound away toward 
the forest with a fine, fat gobbler dangling by 
the neck. 
On the day following the turkey episode, just 
at dusk a man named Sam saw a large, gray 
animal running swiftly in the direction of a 
neighbor’s barn and swine lot, and recognized 
the animal as a wolf. Sam’s neighbor reported 
the loss of four small pigs and two larger ones. 
Other farmers began to speak of lost pigs, 
sheep and poultry, while a calf was found dead 
and partly eaten in a corner of its owner’s 
woodlot. 
A general hunt was now planned and the 
day set. Old muskets were taken down,- cleaned 
and loaded. Those who had up-to-date weapons 
were in the minority. 
On the morning of the appointed day men 
and boys gathered from miles around. The 
leadership of the hunt was vested in William 
Scott and in a hunter named Winchell. The 
party was to spread out over t-hree or four 
miles of territory, and when the trail was found 
by the dogs, three shots were to be fired as a 
signal. If the trail led toward the big swamp, 
near which the animal had been seen on each 
of its public appearances, one additional shot 
was to be fired, at which all were to close in to¬ 
ward the swamp, where a ring would be formed 
with the men only a few rods apart, and an ad¬ 
vance made. Strict orders were given to re¬ 
frain from firing unless the beast were seen 
or the signals were to be^ given. 
At 9:15 a shot rang out, followed by two 
more. They came from an open field at the 
south of the swamp section, and were fired by 
Winchell, whose ’coon hound had found the 
trail. Large tracks were seen in the mud, where 
an animal had gone to drink, and from here the 
trail led through a field toward the swamp. 
Here Winchell and his men waited, while the 
men were notified to form a line around the 
entire section. 
The advance began. Orders had been issued 
to beat every bush, stump or log large enough 
to shelter the beast, but for an hour only the 
trail was seen. Presently Winchell’s hound, 
old Trusty, following the trail, neared the edge 
of the swamp, and throwing back her head, gave 
vent to a deep full-throated bay. Every hair 
on her heck was on end as she led the men 
straight to the thicker brush, but when this was 
reached she paused, looked back at her master 
and wEined. Never before, Winchell said, had 
she hesitated to enter a thicket by day or night, 
and now at mid-day she refused to leave her 
master’s side. By this time a few more men 
had gathered in and the advance began again. . 
An exclamation from Ed, who was a step 
or two in advance, caused the others to look 
in the direction indicated by his outstretched 
hand. A few feet to the west was a small moss- 
covered hummock, and on this lay the partly 
eaten body of a large rabbit. The moss and 
leaves around it were stained with blood, and 
a row of the familiar tracks leading toward the 
center of the swamp showed the cause of the 
cottontail’s demise. From the freshness of the 
signs, the killing had occurred within the half- 
hour and the beast had but just been driven 
from his dinner. 
The men on the opposite side had an ex¬ 
tensive tract of woodland to cross before reach¬ 
ing the swamp, in which it was plainly evident 
the beast had sought refuge. While they were 
discussing the advisability of entering the 
swamp without waiting for the others to reach 
it, a crackling of brush was heard. A moment 
later Scott was seen tearing into view. He 
was supposed to be on the north side, but the 
only explanation he gave was “heard that dog 
and thought I’d come.” Again the men began 
to enter the swamp. 
A sudden rush through the bushes, too far 
away to permit a view of anything but their 
waving tops, caused the men to stop with 
weapons in readiness for a shot. Evidently the 
beast felt himself getting into close quarters and 
was testing the possibilities of making a break 
through the line. Carefully the men went on 
scanning every brush under which the animal 
might possibly be hiding. 
Suddenly a shot rang out and then a volley, 
all seeming to come from the north side. 
“They’ve got him,” cried Scott in disgust that 
he should not have been in at the finish. But 
just then the attention of all was called to the 
waving weeds and brush from away over near 
the eastern edge of the swamp. Six of the 
men had gone around the swamp on a run at 
the first sound of firing, leaving only Scott, 
Ed and two others at this point. These four 
closely watched the movement in the brush to- 
see what might come forth. Slowly something 
advanced to the border of the thicket near the 
eastern side at a distance of seventy or eighty 
yards. Then out from the brush cautiously- 
stepped a long, lank, grayish-colored animal. 
The pointed ears tipping slightly forward, the 
sharp nose and the closely drawn lips were 
signs not to be mistaken, even by the inex¬ 
perienced as belonging to any beast but a 
large, gray wolf. 
A slight movement caused by one of the men 
raising his rifle drew the animal’s attention, 
and with a sudden bound it was under cover, 
while the bullet went to one side. It was 
evident that whatever had been killed by the 
men on the north side, there was at least one 
wolf left in the swamp. 
A crowd of men laughing and talking now 
came round a bend. Two of them were carry¬ 
ing a large gray body between them, which, on 
closer view, proved to be the mate of the wolf 
we had just seen. 
The story of each party proved of intense in¬ 
terest to the other. The men from the north 
were surprised to learn that another full-grown 
wolf still lurked in the swamp, and the party 
on the south were equally anxious to hear the 
story of the killing. The wolf killed had at¬ 
tempted to break through the line at a point 
where the brush was thickest and was seen by 
two men at tbe same time. One armed with 
an old-fashioned muzzle-loading rifle had fired 
the first shot, but failed to stop the beast, al¬ 
though plainly it had been hit. 
The other man then fired at a distance of 
ninety yards with two loads of BB shot, which 
seemed to touch up the wolf to greater ex¬ 
ertions. 
Undoubtedly she would have escaped had not 
a young man named Crow caught sight of her 
and turned loose with a .40-65. The third shot 
brought her down at nearly two hundred yards. 
Crow had shot deer several seasons and had 
thus learned to shoot moving game with a 
rifle, an ability possessed by but few of these 
hunter-farmers. 
The men now formed another line and 
entered the swamp. Thinking the hunt over, 
fully three-fifths had departed for home when 
the first wolf had been killed. Those/remain¬ 
ing were too few to form a line as close as the 
first had been, but by placing the best shots 
further apart in the open spaces and the poorer 
marksmen nearer together in the underbrush, a 
fairly close watch could be kept. 
It was at this point that I first entered the 
hunt. I took a place near Winchell and entered 
the brush with the others. I pushed my way 
along, slowly holding my carbine clear of the 
brush with one hand and parting the branches 
with the other. I had just entered a thicker 
bunch of underbrush and had paused to listen, 
