don
05-27-2003, 10:22 AM
the descendants of generations of wolves who had escaped traps, poison, and bullets--would not easily fall prey to their human foes.
In Montana two of these magnificent predators proved so adept at avoiding hunters and so skilled at feeding upon man's domestic stock as to become enshrined in the state's myth and folklore. So infamous had these two wolves became, that they were nearly accorded the attention given to such human predators and anti-heroes as the James Gang, the Youngers or the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. The press referred to these wolves as "outlaws," while the government and stockgrowers' organizations offered rewards to the bounty hunter who could bring them in. Indeed, if one were to give in to the temptation to attribute human emotions to animals, it would seem that these two wolves had declared war on the stockmen who had been the driving force behind their species' near extinction. These two wolves who simply failed to surrender to man's superior technology, who refused to recognize that there was no longer a place for their kind in Montana, achieved such notoriety as to be given names. The first of these outlaws was known as the Ghost Wolf, the second was called Snowdrift.
According to local lore, the Ghost Wolf was first sighted in the Judith Basin Country in 1915. The Ghost Wolf's home range stretched from Highwood Mountains to the Little Belt Range, an area of some million acres. It was in 1920 the Ghost Wolf turned outlaw and began raiding the ranches of the Judith Basin, pulling down cattle, sheep, and horses at will. By the mid-1920s, so feared and famed had this prairie pirate became that the Associated Press began to run stories on the Ghost Wolf of the Judith Basin, while local ranchers offered a $400 reward for his capture--Wanted Dead or Alive. And so ensued and wolf-hunt that would rival that of any man-hunt in annals of the Old West. Traps were set, poison bait were scattered across the length and breadth of Central Montana. Posses were formed to bring the outlaw wolf to "justice." Men hunted the Ghost Wolf on horse back, foot, and snowshoes; from automobiles and airplanes, all to no avail. For ten years the Ghost Wolf evaded the best that man had to throw against him. Some sources estimate that all told the Ghost Wolf killed nearly two thousand head of livestock the during the "Roaring Twenties." In May 1930 the Ghost Wolf finally met his end. Al Close, a rancher in the Little Belts, with the aid of Mike, a red Irish terrier, and Nick, a black and white sheep dog, tracked down and shot the Ghost Wolf.
A near contemporary, both in chronological and geographical terms, of the Ghost Wolf was Montana's second great outlaw wolf, Snowdrift. Although the Snowdrift Wolf's home range also included the Little Belt Mountains and Judith Basin, at times, this great predator roamed across the Missouri and into the Bear Paw Mountains. Having lost one toe on his left paw in a trap, Snowdrift, a large light-colored male, left a distinctive calling card in the form of his four-toed track, at some 1,500 kill-sites during his career as a stock killer. Snowdrift first began to exact his toll from Montana's stockgrowers in 1900, it is estimated that by the time of his death in 1923 his predation had cost local ranchers over $30,000 in stock losses. After eluding the usual posses for well over a decade, the Snowdrift Wolf was finally ran to ground in the Highwood Mountains in May 1923 by Don Stevens, a government hunter, and Stacy Eckert, a US Forest Ranger. Stevens and Eckert succeeded in snaring Snowdrift in a leg-trap. Catching the old outlaw in a trap did not, however, mean that this terror of plains would meekly surrender and await his fate. Snowdrift wrenched his trap free from its anchor and for days, with his front paw still clenched in the steel jaws of the trap, managed to elude his pursuers. Finally, after four long days the Snowdrift Wolf was cornered and shot. In 1884 the Montana territorial legislature for the first time provided for the payment of a bounty on wolves, one dollar for one (dead) wolf. In 1911 the state offered a $15 bounty on wolves, but so few wolves were left that no hunter or trapper succeeded in collecting a single bounty check. In 1933 the bounty provision for wolves were removed from the law books, there was simply no longer any need for it. Just exactly how many wolves were "harvested" in Montana . . . well its impossible to say. In 1884 bounties were paid on 5,450 wolves, in 1885 the number was 2,224, in 1886 2,587--in all, between 1884 and 1933 Montana paid well over $340,000 in bounty money on some 80,000 wolves.
-----------------------------------
The point of these stories is as much about the predation, cost and effort our ancestors endured to grow food for our country, as well as personal survival in making a living.
We may admire or be fasinated by suscessful preditors, but that does not reduce their impact on man.
Food is a weapon, and a bigger predator load is only one piece of the picture. Stalen, Mao, Pol Pot, have demonstrated such.
In Montana two of these magnificent predators proved so adept at avoiding hunters and so skilled at feeding upon man's domestic stock as to become enshrined in the state's myth and folklore. So infamous had these two wolves became, that they were nearly accorded the attention given to such human predators and anti-heroes as the James Gang, the Youngers or the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. The press referred to these wolves as "outlaws," while the government and stockgrowers' organizations offered rewards to the bounty hunter who could bring them in. Indeed, if one were to give in to the temptation to attribute human emotions to animals, it would seem that these two wolves had declared war on the stockmen who had been the driving force behind their species' near extinction. These two wolves who simply failed to surrender to man's superior technology, who refused to recognize that there was no longer a place for their kind in Montana, achieved such notoriety as to be given names. The first of these outlaws was known as the Ghost Wolf, the second was called Snowdrift.
According to local lore, the Ghost Wolf was first sighted in the Judith Basin Country in 1915. The Ghost Wolf's home range stretched from Highwood Mountains to the Little Belt Range, an area of some million acres. It was in 1920 the Ghost Wolf turned outlaw and began raiding the ranches of the Judith Basin, pulling down cattle, sheep, and horses at will. By the mid-1920s, so feared and famed had this prairie pirate became that the Associated Press began to run stories on the Ghost Wolf of the Judith Basin, while local ranchers offered a $400 reward for his capture--Wanted Dead or Alive. And so ensued and wolf-hunt that would rival that of any man-hunt in annals of the Old West. Traps were set, poison bait were scattered across the length and breadth of Central Montana. Posses were formed to bring the outlaw wolf to "justice." Men hunted the Ghost Wolf on horse back, foot, and snowshoes; from automobiles and airplanes, all to no avail. For ten years the Ghost Wolf evaded the best that man had to throw against him. Some sources estimate that all told the Ghost Wolf killed nearly two thousand head of livestock the during the "Roaring Twenties." In May 1930 the Ghost Wolf finally met his end. Al Close, a rancher in the Little Belts, with the aid of Mike, a red Irish terrier, and Nick, a black and white sheep dog, tracked down and shot the Ghost Wolf.
A near contemporary, both in chronological and geographical terms, of the Ghost Wolf was Montana's second great outlaw wolf, Snowdrift. Although the Snowdrift Wolf's home range also included the Little Belt Mountains and Judith Basin, at times, this great predator roamed across the Missouri and into the Bear Paw Mountains. Having lost one toe on his left paw in a trap, Snowdrift, a large light-colored male, left a distinctive calling card in the form of his four-toed track, at some 1,500 kill-sites during his career as a stock killer. Snowdrift first began to exact his toll from Montana's stockgrowers in 1900, it is estimated that by the time of his death in 1923 his predation had cost local ranchers over $30,000 in stock losses. After eluding the usual posses for well over a decade, the Snowdrift Wolf was finally ran to ground in the Highwood Mountains in May 1923 by Don Stevens, a government hunter, and Stacy Eckert, a US Forest Ranger. Stevens and Eckert succeeded in snaring Snowdrift in a leg-trap. Catching the old outlaw in a trap did not, however, mean that this terror of plains would meekly surrender and await his fate. Snowdrift wrenched his trap free from its anchor and for days, with his front paw still clenched in the steel jaws of the trap, managed to elude his pursuers. Finally, after four long days the Snowdrift Wolf was cornered and shot. In 1884 the Montana territorial legislature for the first time provided for the payment of a bounty on wolves, one dollar for one (dead) wolf. In 1911 the state offered a $15 bounty on wolves, but so few wolves were left that no hunter or trapper succeeded in collecting a single bounty check. In 1933 the bounty provision for wolves were removed from the law books, there was simply no longer any need for it. Just exactly how many wolves were "harvested" in Montana . . . well its impossible to say. In 1884 bounties were paid on 5,450 wolves, in 1885 the number was 2,224, in 1886 2,587--in all, between 1884 and 1933 Montana paid well over $340,000 in bounty money on some 80,000 wolves.
-----------------------------------
The point of these stories is as much about the predation, cost and effort our ancestors endured to grow food for our country, as well as personal survival in making a living.
We may admire or be fasinated by suscessful preditors, but that does not reduce their impact on man.
Food is a weapon, and a bigger predator load is only one piece of the picture. Stalen, Mao, Pol Pot, have demonstrated such.