Specimens examined (8).—North Cave Hills, 1; N of Slim Buttes, 1; N end Slim Buttes, 1; 6 mi. N, 4 mi. W Camp Crook, 2; W of East Short Pine Hills, 1; E of Short Pine Hills, 1; Sheep Mountain, 1.
The coyote population in Harding County and adjacent areas is low owing to an active predator control program that is supported by local ranchers and by state and federal agencies. Our field parties neither saw nor heard coyotes, although tracks were found at one or two places in March of 1963. According to Robert Kriege (personal communication), the few coyotes that do reside in the area find refuge in the most rugged parts of the hills and buttes. Visher (1914:90) reported that this carnivore was "generally considered as abundant." Our specimens all are skulls of individuals killed by a federal trapper in the winter of 1961-62.
Canis lupus nubilus Say, 1823
Gray Wolf
Visher (1914:90) stated that wolves were "quite plentiful" in the early 1900's; he quoted figures for a two-month period in 1910 when a government trapper took five adults and 25 pups in the vicinity of the Short Pine Hills and two adults and 11 pups in the general area of the Cave Hills. According to local residents, wolves were common in Harding County in the 1920's. One (the famous "Three Toes") trapped 20 mi. NW Buffalo in July of 1925 had eluded capture for more than 13 years, and in that period caused an estimated $50,000 in damage to livestock (Young, 1944:259, 277). It seems likely that the skull of this animal, in the U.S. National Museum, is the one referred to by Goldman (1944:445).
Wolves apparently had become rare by about 1930. The last one known to have been killed in northwestern South Dakota was taken on January 27, 1945, near Red Elm, Ziebach County (Carl Cornell, personal communication). We have seen a photograph of this wolf, which was mounted and now is on display in Deadwood, South Dakota.
As noted by Goldman (1944:442), the subspecies nubilus probably is extinct.
Vulpes vulpes regalis Merriam, 1900
Red Fox
Specimens examined (6).—1 mi. S, 5 mi. E Ladner, 3; 3 mi. S, 12 mi. E Ludlow, 1; 2 mi. W Camp Crook, 3200 ft., 1; 4 mi. S, 1 mi. E Buffalo, 1.