"I have killed other grown wolves in the den and have never known one to show fight. Of course, I always use a lantern to see what I am doing, and would not enter a den without one." The young wolves should be killed immediately and live pups should never be handled with bare hands, as blood poisoning is likely to result from a bite.
CHAPTER VI.
HUNTING WOLVES WITH DOGS.
Beyond all doubt wolf chasing as it is practiced in some parts of the country is one of the most fascinating of sports and in a place where the animals are fairly plentiful and the surface of the country is not too rough, is also profitable. In parts of the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, some of the professional wolfers use this method of securing their game and in the states lying west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, also in Western Canada, wolf hunting is a very popular sport among the ranchmen.
Among the dogs that are most approved of by the wolf and coyote hunters, may be mentioned the fox hound, the greyhounds, and stag hounds of various varieties, the bloodhound and crosses of these dogs. The grey hounds are the swiftest of dogs and a pair of them are invariably to be found in a pack, the balance being some heavier and fiercer breed of dog, such as the blood hound, fox hound or a cross of the two. It is the grey hounds that run the game down and hold it until the arrival of the balance of the pack, the heavier dogs doing the actual fighting.
One who has followed wolf hunting extensively gives the following short but interesting description of the sport: "On the open plains of the west, wolves are often hunted with large swift running dogs, grey hounds, stag or wolf hounds or their crosses. The hunters go on horseback and the wolves are usually roused out of some coulee or draw. Sometimes trail hounds are used to start the game, on breaking from cover and being sighted by the running dogs the race is on. Wolf, dogs and horsemen, race across the often rough and dangerous ground at breakneck speed. The wolf, maneuvering to gain the coulee or cover of some sort and get out of sight of the dogs (the running dogs have only slight scenting powers and depend entirely on their sight). The lighter and swifter grey hounds, as a rule, are the first to overtake the wolf and by coming up alongside and snapping at his flanks, force him to turn and face them, thus giving the heavier and fiercer wolf hounds a chance to close in and grapple with and kill the wolf. Unless the dogs are well trained and very courageous, a large timber wolf often proves more than a match for the bunch of four or five dogs."
No matter what kind of dogs are used, they must be good tonguers and good fighters, and must have an abundance of strength and endurance. It is needless to say that the dog must be trained and this must be done at an early age. The young dog should never be run alone, for the wolf is likely to fight it off and once the young dog is driven back it will be spoiled for hunting purposes.
One of our Kansas friends in speaking of wolf dogs says: "We have plenty of wolves (coyotes) and have had for the twenty years we have kept dogs. As to breeding, we used an English greyhound bitch with courage, speed and a special hatred for a wolf, crossed with an English fox hound with all the qualities necessary, except the speed. We then picked the bitch with the most good qualities and crossed her with another fox hound whose ancestry is perfect. Here we get the dog we are using now and with which we have made the most satisfactory of catches. We seldom have a run lasting more than three hours and catch many, when vegetation is not too high, in from one to one and a half hours. Where this dog has the advantage over the fox hound is in speed and the fact that it is ever on the watch ahead for the game."
Evidently the party who used this breed of dog has endeavored to instill into the one type, all of the good qualities of the several breeds that go to make up the regulation pack of wolf dogs. It is surmised, also, that the one breed of dog is used alone, when chasing wolves. In Western Canada, wolf hunting is a favorite sport and one of the hunters from that section in speaking on this subject gives the following method of hunting: