Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1894 — WOLF HUNTING IN RUSSIA. [ARTICLE]

WOLF HUNTING IN RUSSIA.

One Who Has Tried It Says It la the Most Dangerous Sport. San Francisco Chronicle. • ' Wolf hunting is probably the most dangerous sport there is. With a servant and a couple of fast horses attached to a sleigh, I have gone out and baited the ground for the brutes pn numerous occasions. A fat hog tied to a tree never failed to attract a pack. The trouble was that it drew too many. The wolves would gather to the number of 200 or 300 and devour’ the pig. Then we would dash upon the scene and the fun would commence. They are as fleet as a deer. To say that they are as fleet as wolves would be more like it. They can outrun the horses every time, and if they are not picked off as fast as they come up, you might as well give up the fight and permit yourself to be devoured. Imagine yourself making a running fight with a band of 300 hungry and maddened wolves and with the knowledge that if cne of the fleet little brutes reaches your horses you are a dead man, and you can possibly imagine what a nervy sport it is. It requires a cool head and a good eye. If you miss your mark, you’re gone. .Your only chance of safety is in keeping your horses up. It is generally a long tight. You look back, see the carcasses of the animals dotting the snow fora mile or two in your wake, and still they pursue you in great numbers. Slowly the pack thins out. Many have dropped bleeding to the ground. Others stop to devour the carcasses. The more that fall the more timid the rest become. I consider wolf hunting the most dangerous sport there is. Tiger hunting in India is tame beside it. If you go into the jungles of India to shoot a tiger, you are accompanied by a long retinue. You shoot your prey from the howdah of an elephant. If you miss your victim there are twenty bullets ready for him before he springs. A person might as well go tiger hunting in a menagerie. The only unsatisfactory ! part of the sport which wolves afford is that after vou are all through you haven’t anything to show for your efforts. But it is great sport.