Show M itz M am 12 E yai n M y 0 rr vi W I 1 on flie a jag J W alt X ng W V 1 0 j 7 4 j A 41 ail 4 7 I 1 aw car N f em t 4 or 1 by ELMO SCOTT SCOTT WATSON uncle sw san Is nominally at peace with nil all other nations there Is one war iu in which lie he has engaged for the last ten years and which is still going on that is the war that Is being waged ceaselessly sly ail and relentlessly by a body of picked men the federal hunters huntera of the united states biological survey against the Ivar mints ibe hie mountain lions wolves bears coyotes lynxes and wildcats Ild cats which prey upon not only tire hie live stock on n the western ranges but also upon other wild game which uncle sam would save from extinction the beginning of this war dates back when the inroads ot of the varmints var mints upon the live stock clock industry became so serious that the government appropriated and handed over to the biological survey the job of protecting the herds und and flocks in fit the west by it campaign of extermination against tile marauders state county rind and private interests were linked up by the bureau and the resources of all pooled in a cause front from that beginning tins gronn the present organization of nearly of the roost ex expert P ert hunters and trappers in tile the stock country hired by chiefs of districts in 17 states slates to carry on oil the work of extermination they receive a month free ammunition traps and poison and they are on the lie job in every season pitting their i raft and their skill against the cunning of the gillest type of wild animal it if aou ou would see the last traces of the vanished frontier look for it among these federal hunters tol for it Is lit in their aar i ar on the beasts of prey that you oil will find the west that eliat Is still wild ild and we wholly lolly the other day denner dener newspapers carried the rows that a two year campaign to kill a moun talu rain lion linn which had been killing deer in tile the i arnero creek country near monte viste colo ended when the animal was slain main by hunter join johi W cook two years may seem a long time to on a war against one animal but ti this Is Is by no means unique in tile the work of the lie federal hunters linn just as it 1 Is proverbial of the canadian mounted police that they always get their men inen mi M Is it becoming proverbial among these hunters that they always gl got A their wolf or cougar or licar hear mil ind borne of the stories of if their long chases after clr these ie animal killers are arc as thrilling as tile the urns anis of man hunts in tile the old days of tile west outstanding among ablong these Is the story of the cuter cu iu ter wolf end and of 11 II 1 I williams the govern duent hunter uha finally ran him to earth for nine years the custer wolf eluded every effort to trap trail him and although often sighted no n in ismil n k sinan was ever able to bring hini him donn lie he v eat nothing not liing but his own kill fo 60 it was impossible to poison hlat at tile the beginning of Ns depredations among the live stock on oil ranches for a hundred undred li miles around custer S t D it a re lard was raised until a price of 00 had been act t upon his head lie he and Us his mate killed uen tonly wastefully maliciously finally ahli lot 13 mate vlas as killed but he did not take another and carried on oil a tone lone war tor for awhile finally Ii nally the ranchers around custer appealed to the hie government for the biological sur icy M tit nt 11 II P williams one of its best hunters to take lake up the chase after the outlaw williams arrived at custer in march 1920 20 and at once begin pitting hla his cunning against the wolfs all i lone they flioy played a game of hide and seek seck with the wolf N having severi several tl narrow escapes front from the traps which williams set the end cattle came ber 11 ija when the custer wolf stepped into one of williams traps ile he tore it from ts ino cimring oring A hundred undred li and fitly fifty yards away it vaught on oil it trpe tree but the frenzied strength of the broke the hie swivel la in the meantime meant lino wit 11 till was ivaa hot on tire the trail and three miles front from ila hit ti nce ace the trap had biad been set he came upon the ar livial al one shot eliot from his rifle and 11 ali reer of 0 the custer wolf that had cost the ranchers of south dakota more than in the stock ended it la Is not often that a wolf gets fin an extended obituary in tile congressional record but such was the case with old three toes another south dakota wolf that was an even more remarkable animal outlaw than attan the custer wolf during his career in II arding county S D old three toes Is known to have destroyed more inore than worth of live stock and although allbough more than tren men had been on oil his trail at one time or another it was not until junior inspector clyde V briggs of the biological survey went after him in 1925 that lie was finally run to earth here Is tile the story of old three toes as the report of inspector knowles printed in the congressional record last year gives elves it the history of 0 three toes toc Is a difficult one to trace his killing career Is known to have begun beg un in 1912 thirteen years apo ago legend has him killing at a still earlier time mr briggi states state that the animal Is an old one and he la Is certain that he was waa fifteen years year old rind and believed him to have been nearly twenty years yeara of age afe legend has it that this thin wolf alf came to county from montana but his actual birthplace seems to have been in or close to the horse pastures of charles wilson located in the blurts on the east aide of the little missouri river some eight or ten miles northeast of camp crook S rak dak with the stockmen stoc kmen of this wolfs early days mostly gone a reckoning of his depredations of those years beyond the fact act that he be was even then notorious cannot be made in 1923 the flar dInoir county sheep and wool growers association and the banks fit at buffalo S dak gathered information of his killings and at that time they advised me that the known value ef cf his hl kills equaled fully daring six weeks of slay may and june of this year 1925 lie he killed to the value of 2 belonging to devitt bros brois it wua wits near the devitt bros ranee that he was taken he killed for or other m mon during the of 1925 2925 but I 1 have trot not yet been furnished with the numbers or value of these killings in t total otal they exceeded devitt bros lesses so that his known depredations in 1925 alone amount to more than his largest kill in numbers of sheep tor for devitt bros was made in owr nights during may when 64 sheet sheep were destroyed at they were valued at and were a mixed bunch of ewes and lambs the story of 0 ni attempts tempts to capture three toes Is as interesting as Is the he history of illa his depredations more than men have tried tor for him the ibo men inen engaged in ti everal big drives that were made by stockmen stoc kmen no one seems to have had even the remotest chance of taking him aside from the traps that pinched oft 01 hla his toes and these were no doubt set met for coyotes and the happen happenings ingo no doubt occurred in the klie early days of hla his career palling failing to trap this wolf off hunts wre put on tor for him and individuals attempted to run him down on a night following one on of the hunts or drives made tor for hirn him he killed one of the I 1 rat saddle horses of the region on another occasion when a hunter was attempting to torun run him down and had a relay of some seven top tell saddle horses tile the wolf stopped during the afternoon at a sheet sheen corral and killed IS 15 sheep the storied of his adventures with various h hunters aters and groups of stockmen stoc kmen moin are arc interesting si s I orle one soon comes to believe that three toes was much better versed in human lore than were his hunters versed in volf as an mr briggs puts it mr briggs braggs taking this wolf in 15 dayn work was an achievement thai men who knew the con consider tilder the greatest event in the annals of wolf hunting I 1 was stationed on the harney nat national onal forest during oil all but the last two weeks of the career of the custer chaler wolf and know the history written and unwritten both ot of his depredations and hla his capture and from this intimate acquaintance of both animals the custer wolf was not even in this harding county wolfs wolfe class oui out in colorado big lefty a three legged lender leader of a wolf rack pack in the crested butte section ot of the state terrorized a wide range of country and caused tile losses running up into the thou thousands sandi in 1913 this wolf was wai caught in a trap hut but escaped by gnawing oft off hla his left front toot foot aust above the ankle and for the next eight years despite this handicap he maintained his supremacy over LIS his pack aud and left a trail of partly eaten carcasses icare carca asseg oses wherever lie roin med then in 1921 1021 11 A roberts roberta a government hunter took up the basit ot if putting an end to Us big leftus nefarious career lie was wait on the wolfs trail for three weeks but finally the animal step stepped peI into a trap which lie he had and set and tills this time nig big lefty did not escape up la a montana last old cripple foot a wolf queen who bad been a much sought after if 4 4 x v t ki N oay say UR flors ff ors AA A IL 7 1 t WS jw animal fur for felt or twelve years because of her raids on the file herds land fun flocks in the belt mountains country which had cost the ranchers more than finally met her fate at the hands of 0 a government hunter barney brannin was on old cripple foots trail for eighteen months but al all of tie the tricks of ills its profess profession lon were ivere of no avail against tire cunning old cattle killer finally lie he located her den in a rough mountain country plugging up the entrance lie began to dig down into the hie den front from above scarcely hall had au ail opening been made whan iipp old cripple foot sprung sprang through the new hole and made a dash for liberty only to tumble dead as aa branning Bran rille rifle cracked down in arizona only a few iii months ago a wolf known its as the king of arlona arizona cow killers was shot down by a government hunter thereby solving saving the ranchers in eliat state thou thousands sandi of dollars and so BO it goes lit in every part of the IN west est the outlaw wolves whose deeds give them more than local renown do not last long after one of the biological surveys hunters gets on their trail since they went on the job of systematic extermination of these animals the number of wolves killed each year rear has steadily declined showing that these boasts beasts are fast disappearing in 1925 1923 only 52 wolves were killed by the fedei at al hunters as against against in 1916 and in 1921 only one each was taken in 1925 in the states of colorado utah and Wy wyoming orning and none corone at all in idaho and south dakota these figures are based upon the number of scalps brough tInto district offices of 0 the biological survey by the government hunters the 31 killed in arizona the 31 in new mexico and the 33 in montana for the most part came across the international boundaries from canada and mexico the figures for 1920 1026 are not yet available but it I 1 la probable pro Lable that they will SLOW show a further decline front from those of 1925 what Is true of lobo Is true of his younger brother the coyote in 1916 only coyotes were accounted for but in 1925 a total of 2 of the little wolves met their deaths at the hands of the federal by gun trap and poison mainly the latter in addition to the lie work of the federal hunters others accounted for several thousand more and the grand total for the year was so it Is beg beginning nning to look as though the coyote as well as the big wray gray wolf will eventually be wiped out mountain mount alik lions have never been so plentiful as wolves and coyotes so that cougar record of the biological survey is not so impressive pressile Im as aa it 11 Is for wolves and coyotes A total of 1404 of these animals have been killed since the govern inept hunters li went on oil the job and 1025 1925 was the big year with a record of of this number anore than halt were killed in arizona wit where re federal hunters accounted for of the big cats formerly cougars were tr tracked with driven into a cove cave or treed rind then shot trap ping was difficult because no scent could be f found to smear upon traps to lure them into its jaws then the survey hit upon a happy idea catnip which Is IR proverbially attractive to cuts might he be attractive to these big wild felines the drug dIN IRIon of the bureau of plant industry cooperated 1 with tile survey by developing oil 0 of catnip on it a large scalp peale and the use of this scent lias has hern been so successful that it now appears its as though the cougar Is doomed to go the way of the wolf and tire coyote one of tile the most camou 4 and at tte tie federal hunters li of cougars Is 19 old pen den lily wha ranges over the apache forest preserve in arlom and who lias has the record of ha hating bog in four yearn yeara tracked to death lions and 40 hears bears llly was a hunter front from his childhood child linord lays days in louisiana and has bus hunted in nil all parts of the world it was a big bear old club foot a giant who had been killing stock in the blue river country of arizona which first brought lily to that plate hunters fl down there said that hut old club fout foot could not he be killed put but lily proved that they were wrong after its ills SUCCORS success in ill getting this animal lie he stayed in fit arizona and turned lis attention to the mountain lions for which the th ranchers of that stale mate are devoutly thankful pears are not sought by the federal hunters except when they go bad and become idlers lers bears of this clars fla ssi cent to ile be on the increase front from 1015 to 1 1020 20 the government brin hunters were railed upon to kill only SIT bar bao bears but in 1925 alone I 1 they hey biad to put an end to the cattle and beep luling lia ling of bears grizzlier grizzlies Grizz lies are the worst offenders and one big fellow killed by a survey man in 1920 1020 had killed 32 in lend nd of cattle during the spring which preceded eded his death and some tio 50 the previous year |