Show un uncle cl ja ool on flie var A CZIP 5 4 4 1 N 4 Q A n N K M by ELMO SCOTT WATSON uncle san sam Is nominally lit dt peace with all other nations there la Is one war in which he lifts has engaged for the last ten years mid and which Is still going on oil that Is the war that Is being waged ceaselessly cen se lessly and relentlessly by a body of picked men tile the federal hunters of tile the united states biological biolo glent survey surey ti the varmints var varin mints ints the lie mountain lions wolves bears coyotes lynxes and wildcats which prey upon hot only the live stock on tile western ranges but niblo upon other wild game which w blell uncle sum sain would save from extinction the beginning of tills this war dates back to 1915 when the inroads of the varmints var mints upon tile the live stock industry became so serious that the government appropriated 11 ll and handed banded over to the biological survey the job of protecting the herds and flocks in the west by u campaign of extermination against the marauders state county c and private interests were linked up by the bureau and tile the resources of all pooled in a I 1 common cause prom from that beginning hns has grown the present organization 0 of nearly of the most expert hunters and trappers in the stock country hired by chiefs of districts in 17 states to earr curry on tile the work of the receive a month free traps and poison and they are on oil the lie job ll 11 in very fery season seaon pitting their craft find and their skill ii gInst of tile the wiliest oiliest type of wild anin Mil if you would see the last traces of the vanished frontier look for it among these federal hunters for it is in their war on oe beasts of prey that you yon will find the west that la Is still wild and woolly the other oilier lay day denver newspapers carried the news that a two year campaign to kill a mountain lion which had been killing deer in a the carnero creek country near alonte viste colo bladed when the animal wits was slain by hunter join john W cook two years may seem a long ion time to carry on a war against one animal but this la Is by no means unique in it the work of the federal hunters just us as it Is proverbial of the canadian mounted police that they always get their men so BO Is it proverbial among these hunters that they always get their wolf or cougar or bear slid and some soine of tie the stories of their long chases after these animal killers are as thrilling us tig the 0 y yarns arns of ninn man hunts in the old days of the west outstanding amon these Is the story of the custer wolf filid and of 11 II 1 williams the government hunter who finally ran him to earth for nine years the wolf eluded every effort to trap him bill anti and often no marksman was ever able to bring him down ile he would eat nothing but his own kill so it was impossible to poison ielson 1111 hint at the lie beginning of his depredations among the live stock on ranches for a hundred nilles around ouster S D a reward was raised until a price of had been and his mate killed set upon his bis head lie he wantonly maliciously finally ills his mate was killed but he did not take another and carried onn on a lone war for awhile finally the ranchers around custer appealed to the government for help tile the biological survey sent 11 I 1 williams one of its best hunters to take up the chase after the outlaw williams arrived a nt at anster cil ster in march 1920 and at once began pitting ills his cunning against the wolfs wolfa all summer long they played a 8 game of hide and seek with the wolf halving several narrow escapes from tile the traps which williams set the end canie came october 11 1920 when the custer wolf stepped into one of williams traps ile he tore it from As ta noring mooring A hundred and fifty yards away it caught on a trw tree but the frenzied strength of the broke the si swivel in the meantime wll wit lini wil hot on the trail and an d three miles from the pance fie I 1 le irna had bad been set he be caroe came upon the from hla his rifle and tj one shot ali 0 i f the custer wolf wol f that fird cost the rin kliers of south dakota more than in live stock ended it Is not often that a wolf gets geta tin nn extended obituary in the congressional record but such was tile the case with old three toes another south dakota wolf lint flint was nn an even more remarkable animal outlaw than tile the custer wolf during tits his career in harddng county S D old TI three ree toes Is known to have destroyed more then than worth of live stock and although althou more than linn men had been on hta his trall trail at tile one time or another it was not until junior inspector clyde if k briggs of the biological survey went lifter after him blin in 1025 1925 eliat lie he was wan run to byrth here Is the story of old three toes as tile the report of Ing inspector knowles printed tit in the congressional record last year gives elves it the history of three toes to Is a difficult one to trace hla file killing career Is known to have begun in 1912 thirteen years ago legend has him killing at a still earlier time mr states that the an animal mal la Is an old one and lie Is certain that he was fifteen years yearb old and believed him to have been nearly twenty years of age legend has it that this wolf came to harding county from montana tu but his actual birthplace seems to have been in or close clone to the horse pastures paiit ures of charles wilson located in the bluffs on ill the a ea east a t mide of the little missouri river some eight or te ten n rallen nor northeast theas I 1 0 of f camp crook 8 da dak k with the stockmen stoc kmen of 0 this wolfs early days day mostly gone a reckoning of his depredations dallons of those years beyond the tact net that he was even then notorious cannot be made in 1923 the harding hai county sheep and wool growers association and the banks at duffalo Hul Talo alo S dak gR gathered information of oc hla his killings and at that time they advised m me a that the known value ef cf his kills equaled fully during six weeks week of may and june of thle this year 1925 he killed sheep to the value of 2000 belonging to devitt erne it was near the devitt bros range that he was taken he killed tor for other men d during u ring the raring of 1925 but I 1 have not yet ben been furnished with the tha numbers or value of these killings hillings in total they exceeded devitt dros broa losses leases so that his known depredations in 1925 1926 alone amount to more than his largest kill in numbers of sheep tor for devitt bros was made in two twi nights during mity may when 61 64 sheep were destroyed they were valued at 1380 and were a mixed bunch of 0 ewes end and lambs the story atory of attempts attempt i to capture cabure three toes to Is an am interesting as Is in the history of his depre depredations depredate dati ns more than ISO men have tried for him besides ih mn men engaged in several big drives that were made by stockmen stoc kmen 40 no one stems to have had even the rem remotest test chance of taking him aside from the traps that pinched off his toes and these were no doubt set get tor for coyotes and the happenings no doubt occurred in the early days of his career falling failing to trap this wolf hunts were put on for him individuals attempted to run him down un on a night following one of the hunts hunt or drives made ade for him he killed one of the test best saddle horses of the region on another when a hunter was attempting to run him down and had a relay of tome seven top saddle horses t the he wolf s stopped t during the afternoon fit at a sheep cheep corral and killed IS sheep the stories of its ills adventures with varl various 0 is hunters and groups of stockman stockmen stoc stor kmen fire are interesting BA al a l dle at e soon boon comes comer to helie ip that three toes was wa rr uch ach better verse berged verged it in human lore than were his hin teri versed in as mr air brings briggs puts it mr bir brig goo taking tills this wolf voll in 16 15 days work was an achievement that men who ho knew the tin animal imal consider the greate pit event in the annala of wolf hunting I 1 was stationed on the ile harney national forest during curing all but the me last it two wo weeks of the career of the custer wolf and know the history written aritte a and u unwritten nw ritten both of hla his depredations and ahja s capture and from this Int intimate imilie acquaintance of both animal tp the ouster custer wolf was not even in this harding county wolfs class clans 0 out ut in colorado ol orado WK 1319 defly u 11 three legged leader of a wolf pack in the crested butti butte deetion sei lion of the state terrorized a wide range ranee of if country and tired the stockmen stoc kmen losses lopees running up into the thousands andr in 1913 tills wolf was dalight in a trap but escaped by gnawing off ahls hl left front toot foot just above tile lie tinkle ankle and for file he next eight years despite this handicap lie he maintained ills supremacy over his pack and left a trail of partly eaten carcasses wherever he roamed then in fit 1921 n H A roberts a government hunter took up the task of putting an end to dig big leftus nefarious career ile he was on the wolfs trail for three weeks but finally tho th animal stepped into n limp rap which he hit and set and this time nig big lefty did not escape up in montana last summer old cripple foot a wolf queen who had been a much sought after 4 r 2 N owr 4 animal for foe wn tin or lele eurs ears 1 amso ao of tier raids on ill the in als ond flocks in it the tie licit mot lioun in bains country which hinl hill cus ost A tile ranchers more than finally lonill met inet het hei fute tit nt thu the hands 0 of a government hu buntic riter Hi irini brannin was on old cripple foots 1 on g troll rail for eighteen months but all of tile the flicks of if ills profession were are of mi it amill against the cunning old i attle battle killer finally he be located locate d tier don tit in it amigh mountain plugging up lip file entrance lie begun began to flit dig down into the dun den arom above scarcely arcely bc had on oil open ing been made when old Crill cripple pla foot sprang through the new in liole hole and ronde made it a dash for liberty only to tumble lead dead ns its rifle era cracked eked down in arizona only it few months ngo ago a wolf wol known as vie king of arizona cow killers was shot down by it a government hunter thereby saving the ranchers in III that state thousands of dollars and so it goes in every part of the west the outlaw whose otiose deeds rive give them more than local renown do not last long after one of tile ha biological surveys sur veya hunters get gets 3 on oil their trall since they went ent on the juh job of systematic external notion nation of these the HIP auml nii pr of wiles killed each year lins has steadily declined showing that these beasts are fast dl disappearing appearing i in only ia 3 2 wolves were killed liy fly tile the fide ial hunters as against in 1910 1916 and 5 23 13 in 1921 only one ench each wai taken in 1020 1925 in the states of colorado utah and wyoming and none at all in it idilio south dakota these fig agurs tires are bused upon the nui number tiber of scalps brought into district onies offices of 0 ali lie bi log leal survey by the government got eminent hunters the U 31 killed jn arizona the 31 in new and the 33 in Alon montana tatia for the most part clime came across the lie international boundaries from froin cabinda and lix icil the figures for fir 1923 19 l ure are not yet let but it Is probable pio bable that they the will show it a further r decline froni from those of 1925 what lint Is true of lobo Is true of aig li younger brother brot lier the coyote in 1010 1916 only 11 SIX were ne counted for but in li total if f 2 of 0 the little wolves met their dealfi at the hands of the lie federal by bv gun nl trall and poison mainly hie lie lutter latter in addition to file work of the federal fd eril litin others for several thou son fand diore ond nud the lie grand total to the year eair was 87 so it la Is beginning to look as though the coyote its HB wi 11 as the hig big gru gray wolf will eventually be ale out mt lions lne have neer nen so plentiful na as ilc bolves 8 and coyotes so tint that augar cougar record of the survey la Is not so impressive as it Is for bolms and coyotes A total of 1401 1 of these have been killed since tile the gon 1 anent hu dunier nier went on oil the jot job ond 1925 was the big benr v ith a reco d of of tills this number nito more than alinn half liala were killed in arizona where federal hunters ne counted for of the ba big S rots rats formerly I 1 orini aly cousars cougars trucked with d dogs 98 driven lw it cave ae or it treed taped aria kiil then shot trap ernp jolie tilt no acerit could he be found to kille miniie fir apon traps trail to lure them into its jaws thi HIMI il if ali biological lil mimey lilt lift upon a happy idea catnip alilia Is proverbially attractive to cots cats Illig lt I 1 iw to these big wild felines feline 9 the drug dimi of f tile bil bureau of plant industry co j operated ich tile the simey billney by bv developing oil off of catnip on a large I 1 irge sent tind the th use of this seen tins tills lifie 11 successful t it 11 now appe r as ag taw ll 11 agar la Is doomed to go tile the way of tile the alf in 1 comite one nf f it clr most fiut ious aind successful fut of the federal I 1 1111 i ii of ars 4 ii 1 ld id bell ivoti aily I alv who brunges ni 11 apachi forest preserve in arizona anti nal wl clr lia I 1 he feord of liming in four fenre 1 in 11 1 il ith it 1 1 and 46 hears bears 1115 wits wag a front from his s 0 lays in Lou louisiana idana und and fills it ii in I 1 in till all parts if f the world it II was a big in id club clail fow I 1 fai n giant sIlvert ll who had and beell 1 n im R g in the lie blue river auntry country of aritomi idel 1 ich first brought lily illy to hint flint state hunters doni 1 there sidd ilat it it old club foot could not IP be allied isitt ill proved that they were wm arn n g fier tits ills sues su es it lit getting tills this an aal inal annl lip lie htam I 1 in arli ariz na n i mid and burned ills hip attention to the file I 1 llon hon for which th ill ranchers ran chera of that S tat anre devoutly bears ore nr i t sought by 1 the federal hunters except win 11 hey go iad hl tl and became killers of itil lass seeto to ile he on the increase prom 1 all 1 I to alie government hu hunters were culled coiled upon 1 kill v bud bad hears beam but in jr alone aley ali i had to put an end to tile the cattle calale and I 1 jillee killing activities of bears bearg Grizz grizzlier grizzlies lies are tile w worst arst offenders ne and one big fellow killed by b it il survey nan inan in 1020 1920 had killel 32 head of entile cattle during the lie spring which erect preceded d lug his death und tind some W the previous car |