I have several times seen wolves run down and stopped by greyhounds after a break-neck gallop and a wildly exciting finish,but this was the only occasion on which I ever saw the dogs kill a big,full-grown he-wolf unaided.Nevertheless various friends of mine own packs that have performed the feat again and again.One pack,formerly kept at Fort Benton,until wolves in that neighborhood became scarce,had nearly seventy-five to its credit,most of them killed without any assistance from the hunter;killed moreover by the greyhounds alone,there being no other dogs with the pack.These greyhounds were trained to the throat-hold,and did their own killing in fine style;usually six or eight were slipped together.General Miles informs me that he once had great fun in the Indian Territory hunting wolves with a pack of greyhounds.They had with the pack a large stub-tailed mongrel,of doubtful ancestry but most undoubted fighting capacity.When the wolf was started the greyhounds were sure to overtake it in a mile or two;they would then bring it to a halt and stand around it in a ring until the fighting dog came up.The latter promptly tumbled on the wolf,grabbing him anywhere,and often getting a terrific wound himself at the same time.As soon as he had seized the wolf and was rolling over with him in the grapple the other dogs joined in the fray and dispatched the quarry without much danger to themselves.
During the last decade many ranchmen in Colorado,Wyoming,and Montana,have developed packs of greyhounds able to kill a wolf unassisted.Greyhounds trained for this purpose always seize by the throat;and the light dogs used for coursing jack-rabbits are not of much service,smooth or rough-haired greyhounds and deer-hounds standing over thirty inches at the shoulder and weighing over ninety pounds being the only ones that,together with speed,courage,and endurance,possess the requisite power.
One of the most famous packs in the West was that of the Sun River Round Club,in Montana,started by the stockmen of Sun River to get rid of the curse of wolves which infested the neighborhood and worked very serious damage to the herds and flocks.The pack was composed of both greyhounds and deer-hounds,the best being from the kennels of Colonel Williams and of Mr.Van Hummel,of Denver;they were handled by an old plainsman and veteran wolf-hunter named Porter.In the season of '86the astonishing number of 146wolves were killed with these dogs.Ordinarily,as soon as the dogs seized a wolf,and threw or held it,Porter rushed in and stabbed it with his hunting-knife;one day,when out with six hounds,he thus killed no less than twelve out of the fifteen wolves started,though one of the greyhounds was killed,and all the others were cut and exhausted.But often the wolves were killed without his aid.The first time the two biggest hounds--deer-hounds or wire-haired greyhounds--were tried,when they had been at the ranch only three days,they performed such a feat.Alarge wolf had killed and partially eaten a sheep in a corral close to the ranch house,and Porter started on the trail,and followed him at a jog-trot nearly ten miles before the hounds sighted him.Running but a few rods,he turned viciously to bay,and the two great greyhounds struck him like stones hurled from a catapult,throwing him as they fastened on his throat;they held him down and strangled him before he could rise,two other hounds getting up just in time to help at the end of the worry.
Ordinarily,however,no two greyhounds or deer-hounds are a match for a gray wolf,but I have known of several instances in Colorado,Wyoming,and Montana,in which three strong veterans have killed one.
The feat can only be performed by big dogs of the highest courage,who all act together,rush in at top speed,and seize by the throat;for the strength of the quarry is such that otherwise he will shake off the dogs,and then speedily kill them by rabid snaps with his terribly armed jaws.Where possible,half a dozen dogs should be slipped at once,to minimize the risk of injury to the pack;unless this is done,and unless the hunter helps the dogs in the worry,accidents will be frequent,and an occasional wolf will be found able to beat off,maiming or killing,a lesser number of assailants.Some hunters prefer the smooth greyhound,because of its great speed,and others the wire-coated animal,the rough deer-hound,because of its superior strength;both,if of the right kind,are dauntless fighters.
Colonel Williams'greyhounds have performed many noble feats in wolf-hunting.He spent the winter of 1875in the Black Hills,which at that time did not contain a single settler,and fairly swarmed with game.
Wolves were especially numerous and very bold and fierce,so that the dogs of the party were continually in jeopardy of their lives.On the other hand they took an ample vengeance,for many wolves were caught by the pack.Whenever possible,the horsemen kept close enough to take an immediate hand in the fight,if the quarry was a full-grown wolf,and thus save the dogs from the terrible punishment they were otherwise certain to receive.The dogs invariably throttled,rushing straight at the throat,but the wounds they themselves received were generally in the flank or belly;in several instances these wounds resulted fatally.Once or twice a wolf was caught,and held by two greyhounds until the horsemen came up but it took at least five dogs to overcome and slay unaided a big timber wolf.Several times the feat was performed by a party of five,consisting of two greyhounds,one rough-coated deer-hound,and two cross-bloods;and once by a litter of seven young greyhounds,not yet come to their full strength.
Once or twice the so-called Russian wolf-hounds or silky coated greyhounds,the "borzois,"have been imported and tried in wolf-hunting on the western plains;but hitherto they have not shown themselves equal,at either running or fighting,to the big American-bred greyhounds of the type produced by Colonel Williams and certain others of our best western breeders.Indeed I have never known any foreign greyhounds,whether Scotch,English,or from continental Europe,to perform such feats of courage,endurance,and strength,in chasing and killing dangerous game,as the homebred greyhounds of Colonel Williams.
