“Friend Jack: Your favor of the 18th inst. to hand, and was very much pleased to hear you had called on the President and to know that you take so much interest in the protection of Pennsylvania game. It is a step in the right direction. In regard to wolves I have hunted them a great deal when they had pups and do not think I would exaggerate any to say that I had found one hundred dens and had destroyed the young. Often would be able to kill the mother. What you read in the East about the dog wolf helping to raise the young is true. They stay together until the young is large enough to go with them and they all kill their food together because they can handle a large brute easier. I found once, in Wyoming, seventeen wolf pups in one den, eight black ones and nine greys. One of the females was also black and one grey, and both dogs were grey. One of the dogs was the largest I ever seen, and had the biggest foot. He made a track a third larger than any I ever saw. The old ones had evidently just butchered and was feeding the little ones when I came in sight about 400 yards away. I believe a wolf has got the quickest eye of any animal living, and just as my head came up over the hill the old ones all looked my way apparently at the same time. It was too far to shoot so I thought I would pretend I did not see them and just simply ride by. After riding some distance three of the old ones began to move away and to my surprise the big fellow came over to head me off. He was just on top of a bench about 100 feet high, and I knew it would not do to get down to shoot as one jump would take him out of sight so I cracked my heels and let my pony have them in the abdomen and ran for the top of the hill, but was running against the wind and when I reached the top my eyes was watering so I could not kill him, but give him a close call as I got a lock of his hair. I found another den the same spring (in 1899) and I got eight pups and there was five old ones. They had to go some distance to find horses and cattle and there was a plain trail that I could follow at least five miles without snow. Colts seem to be their favorite dish when they can get them.[[6]] Wolves mate in January and have their pups in March, but found one den once in February. Have known a few to have their young as late as April 1st. The pups grow faster than our domestic animals and usually leave the dens in May. I do not think the mother enters the den (after the pups get large enough to come out) in order to suckle them, as you can call them out by hiding and making a whining noise. For example, I set a No. 4 beaver trap in a hole where there was a lot of large pups and hid a little way off and made a noise like the female when calling and apparently they all started out at the same time and I caught two at once in the same trap and of course each one thought the other was biting his leg and I saw the most vicious scrap I ever seen out of animals of their size. They just held on to one another like bull dogs and apparently did not know I was around.
[6]. My own experience has been that wolves are more apt to kill cattle than horses, whereas with cougars the reverse is true. It is another instance of variability—doubtless both in the observed and the observers. Wolves may seize an animal anywhere in a scuffle, and a pack will literally tear a small deer to pieces; but when one or two wolves attack a big animal, like a bull caribou, elk or moose, or a horse or a steer, the killing or crippling wounds are inflicted in the flanks, hams or throat. Very rarely an animal is seized by the head. To any real naturalist or hunter, or indeed to any competent observer, it is unnecessary to say that no wolf, and no other wild beast, ever bites, or can by any possibility bite, one of these large animals, like a horse, moose, or caribou, in the heart; yet an occasional “nature fakir,” more than usually reckless in his untruthfulness, will assert that such incidents do happen; and, what is even more remarkable, uninformed people of more than average credulity appear to believe the assertion.
“Wolves go a long way sometimes for their food. I have tracked them twenty-five miles from where they made a killing before finding their den. The old dog will sometimes go off alone but does not often kill when by himself. Would just as soon have a male track as a female to follow for if you will stay with it it is dead sure to lead to a den and it is easy to distinguish the difference between the two tracks if you are on to your job.
“Wishing you a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year, I am,
“Your same old friend,
“R. M. Norboe.”
Mr. Bailey is one of a number of faunal naturalists, who, together with certain big game hunters who care more for natural history than for mere slaughter, are doing invaluable work in preserving the records of wilderness life. If Mr. George Shiras will put in book form his noteworthy collection of photographs of game, and of other wild creatures, and his numerous field notes thereon, he will render a real and great service to all lovers of nature.
The most exciting and interesting hunting book that has recently appeared deals with African big game. Many thrilling adventures with lions have been recorded since the days when the Assyrian kings engraved on stone their exploits in the chase; but the best lion stories that have ever been written are those in Colonel Patterson’s “Maneaters of Tsavo.”
It is now (January, 1908) nearly five years since my last trip to the Yellowstone Park. General Samuel Young, who is now in charge of the park, informs me that on the whole the game and the wild creatures generally in the park have increased during this period. The antelope he reports as being certainly three times as numerous as they were ten years ago, and nearly twice as numerous as when I was out there. In the town of Gardiner they graze freely in the streets; not only the inhabitants but even the dogs recognizing them as friends. Their chief foes are the coyotes. Last October four full-grown antelope were killed by coyotes on the Gardiner and Yellowstone flats, and many fawns were destroyed by them during the season. Practically all of the antelope in the park herd on the Gardiner flat and round about during the winter, and during the present winter there is a good supply of hay on this flat, which is being used to feed the antelope, mountain sheep, deer and elk. The sheep are increasing in numbers. Probably about two hundred of them now exist in the park. There are probably one hundred whitetail and one thousand blacktail deer, both of which species are likewise increasing; and the moose, although few in numbers, are also on the increase. General Young reports that from his best information he believes there are 25,000 wapiti in the park. Of the buffalo there are now in fenced pastures fifty-nine. These increase very slowly, the number of calves being small. There are probably about twenty-five of the original wild buffalo still alive. The bears are as numerous as ever. Last summer it became necessary to kill one black and two grizzlies that had become dangerous; for some individuals among the bears grow insolent under good treatment. The mountain lions, which five years ago were so destructive to the deer and sheep, have been almost exterminated. The tracks show that one still exists. Coyotes are numerous and very destructive to the antelope, although ninety-nine were destroyed during the past year. Beaver are abundant and are increasing. Altogether the American people are to be congratulated upon the success of the Yellowstone Park, not only as a national pleasure ground, but as a national reserve for keeping alive the great and beautiful wild creatures of the wilderness.